Although Freemasonry was introduced into the country in 1856, it can not be said that this event started Filipino Masonry.   In 1889 a Filipino lodge was established in Barcelona by Graciano Lopez Jaena.  A second lodge was organized later in Madrid.  These were the seeds of Filipino Masonry brought to the country. 

At the start of the 1896 revolution, various standards were used by revolutionary leaders to rally their troops. Collectively, all these flags served as symbols of the struggle for freedom. The ultimate symbol was the flag brought home by Gen Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898 which became the official flag of the country.     

Marcelo H. del Pilar was an icon not only of press freedom but also of Philippine Masonry.  With Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Antonio Luna, Mariano Ponce and other Filipino patriots in Spain he fought for colonial reforms, editing the propaganda newspaper La Solidaridad after Lopez Jaena; and later conceptualizing the organization of  Masonic Lodges in the Philippines to propagate the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the first national organization of Filipino Masons in the country. 

The Katipunan was not just a cry for freedom. It was a national  aspiration made flesh. It caught the passion of ordinary people, willing to stake their lives and overcome the dread of reprisals; believing that worse fate awaited their families if they did not stand up to face their oppressors. It was a secret society that had a formal hierarchy composed of a supreme council and local councils, and a ritual of membership often mistaken for Masonry. Moreover, it had an ideology embodied in its  Ang Kartilya ng Katipunan, authored by Emilio Jacinto.