The Manila Philippines Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Quezon City, Philippines. It is the 29th operating temple of the LDS Church.

History

The LDS Church was officially recognized in the Philippines in 1961 and in a meeting with servicemen, American residents, and Filipino members on 28 April 1961,

Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 1995 until his death in January 200 ...

dedicated the country. Church membership grew quickly in the Philippines necessitating a temple. On April 1, 1981, the LDS Church announced that a temple would be built in the Philippines. Earlier that year, the church had purchased land in Quezon City, in the Metro Manila area. The site was partly chosen because of its accessibility to members throughout the temple district. The groundbreaking and site dedication for the Manila Philippines Temple were held on August 25, 1982. Hinckley, then serving as a member of the church's

First Presidency Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency ...

, dedicated the temple on September 25, 1984. The temple has four ordinance rooms and three sealing rooms and has a total floor area of . Beginning on December 2, 1989, during the

1989 Philippine coup attempt File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, rebel forces briefly occupied the temple grounds and some surrounding auxiliary buildings. Dignardino Espi, director of temple security at the time, convinced the rebels not to enter the temple itself. Following a standoff with government troops, the rebels vacated the area on December 4. The temple suffered only superficial damage during the incident. As of 2020, the Philippines had 800,000 church members, the fourth largest number of any country in the world. There is another operating temple in

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and capital of the Cebu Province. Ac ...

and one under construction in Urdaneta. Four more temples were announced in 2018 and 2019, which are the

Alabang Alabang is a barangay in Muntinlupa, Philippines. At one time the area was a farming district, and has since grown from a village to a major commercial center, which includes the Filinvest City and Madrigal Business Park, and a transportation hu ...

Cagayan de Oro Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Cagayan Valley region, coverin ...

, Davao City, and

Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang Bacolod; fil, Lungsod ng Bacolod), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Western Visayas, Philippines. It is the capital of the province of Negros Occidenta ...

temples, but no dates have been set for the groundbreaking ceremonies."First Presidency Announces Groundbreaking Date for 4th Temple in PH"
''

Church News The ''Church News'' (or ''LDS Church News'') is a weekly tabloid-sized supplement to the ''Deseret News'' and the '' MormonTimes'', a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is ...

'', 24 January 2020. Retrieved on 5 April 2020. The Manila Philippines Temple also serves members in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia,

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, Micronesia, Guam, and

Kwajalein Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese: ) is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilia ...

. The LDS Church has more than 800 buildings and 20 missions in the country. In 2020, the LDS Church canceled services temporarily in response to the spread of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

.Lovett, Ian
"Mormon Church Cancels Services World-Wide Amid Coronavirus Crisis"
'' The Wall Street Journal'', 12 March 2020. Retrieved on 3 April 2020.

References

External links

*
Manila Philippines Temple official site

Manila Philippines Temple
at ChurchofJesusChristTemples.org {{LDS-Asia The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines Temples (LDS Church) in the Philippines Religious buildings and structures in Metro Manila Buildings and structures in Quezon City 20th-century Latter Day Saint temples Religious buildings and structures completed in 1984 1984 establishments in the Philippines

History

See also

References

External links