Rio Grande Lodge No. 192
The Name
The Rio Grande de Mindanao is the name the Spaniards gave to the Pulangi River. It is the longest river in Mindanao and together with its tributaries, forms the chief means of transport for conveying people and produce up and down stream to the coast.
The Lodge
Rio Grande Lodge No. 192 traces its formal beginning to November 28, 1968 when Grand Master Joseph E. Schon issued a dispensation to thirteen Master Masons authorizing them to form a lodge in Kabacan, Cotabato. At the annual communication of the Grand Lodge in April 1969 it granted a charter to the lodge and assigned to it the number 192. Grand Master Manuel M. Crudo constituted Rio Grande Lodge on September 8, 1969 with the assistance of Dalmacio Enrique, Ceferino Villanueva, Guinaid Guiani, and MW Esteban Munarriz. Immediately thereafter the following elected officers were installed: Benjamin J. Guiang, Worshipful Master, Ceferino Ramirez, Senior Warden, Feliciano B. Munda, Junior Warden; Faustino B. Eligido, Treasurer and Guillermo V. Bersamin, Secretary.
In 1971, the moving spirit in the founding of the lodge, Bro.Cornelio Azarcon and Sister Azarcon donated a piece of land for the Kabacan Masonic Center. After barely seven years, the members succeeded in constructing their own building largely through their own contributions. The building is now known as the C. V. Azarcon Masonic Center.
In October 1983, Rio Grande Lodge No. 192 ably sponsored the petition for dispensation for the formation of Midsayap Masonic Lodge U. D. (later to be numbered. 267) thus proudly registering itself as a mother lodge. Many of its members registered themselves as charter members of the new lodge. It also sponsored the Rio Grande Chapter of De-Why in 1980 and in 1991 it organized the International Order of Jobs Daughters.
Rio Grande Lodge has generously sponsored the financial expenses of two physically handicapped children for treatment at the Masonic Hospital for Crippled Children in Manila who have since been restored to a normal physical condition.
Location: Kabacan, North Cotabato