[The Wide Shot] Joining the Aglipay revolution

“Errol, ayan na (Errol, that’s it),” I whispered to our videographer, Errol Almario, as we covered a religious ceremony a week ago.

Minutes before this, I told Errol that we need to capture a unique practice by this homegrown church in the Philippines. The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), which broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in 1902, sings the Philippine national anthem during their Masses. I was anticipating this but was unfamiliar at which point of the Mass to expect the singing. 

So when I heard the first notes of the Lupang Hinirang, I hurriedly motioned to Errol, who then rushed closer to the altar so that we can get a better view. 

At that point of the Mass, the IFI’s Obispo Maximo — their equivalent of a Catholic pope — raised bread and wine at eye level, for the whole congregation of over 1,000 people to see. The IFI leader closed his eyes while the church’s other bishops opened their palms and gestured toward the bread and wine, believed to be the Body and Blood of Christ. 

(Watch the exact scene in the YouTube video below.)

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Ah, when I heard it, my heart jumped and I couldn’t explain the feeling. I was as moved as when I first heard the IFI, also known as the Aglipayan Church, sing the Lupang Hinirang on Palm Sunday, March 24.

The song carried much more significance last Saturday, August 3, as it was the IFI’s 122nd anniversary. 

The most exalted song of Filipinos, and the most sacred act of worship for IFI members (which mirrors the highest form of worship for Catholics like myself), proved to be a powerful combo that stirs the soul. The unseen forces of religion and nationalism, as scholars would tell us, can be potent (and, at times, combustible) motivators for good or evil. 

It was like a call to join a different kind of revolution. 

We Filipinos can learn much from the IFI, a homegrown church known for its nationalistic roots. 

The establishment of the IFI was proclaimed by labor leader Isabelo delos Reyes of Vigan, Ilocos Sur, on August 3, 1902. It was part of a struggle for freedom that began when Filipinos revolted against their Spanish colonizers — including oppressive Roman Catholic friars — in the late 1800s.

Gregorio Aglipay of Batac, Ilocos Norte, a former Roman Catholic priest who was excommunicated in 1899 due to his revolutionary activities, became the IFI’s first Obispo Maximo or Supreme Bishop. 

The first members of IFI rejected the second-class treatment of Filipino priests, coming from a context where Spanish friars controlled Catholic parishes. As Aglipay declared in a manifesto on November 16, 1902: “The time has come for a Filipino National Church for the Filipino people, ministered by the Filipino clergy. Years of friar oppression made this imperative.” 

The IFI was also borne out of a desire to defend the rights of laborers, in the context of inequalities at that time.

It was, in fact, during a meeting of the Union Obrera Democratica (Democratic Workers Union) when Delos Reyes proclaimed the establishment of the IFI. 

Bishop Godofredo David, a former Obispo Maximo, pointed out to Rappler in a March 2024 interview that their reason for separating from the Roman Catholic Church “was not doctrinal.” The IFI, for one, maintains the sacraments and keeps the statues of saints. Their reason for separation “was the excesses of the colonizers represented by the (Catholic) Church.”

Those who first heard the proclamation of the IFI, he pointed out, were laborers mostly in the printing business who “knew unfair labor practices.”

The IFI continues its strong human rights tradition to this day.

David said this is why the motto of IFI is pro Deo et patria, which means “for God and country.” He said in Filipino, “You cannot just pray and pray while the Filipino masses continue to be poor and oppressed. For us, worship and activism come hand in hand.”

The IFI’s current Obispo Maximo, Joel Porlares, told us more about their church in an interview during their 122nd anniversary last August 3. I honestly thought it would be a brief ambush interview, but Porlares, the most in-demand person at IFI on that day, graciously hosted us in his Manila office and sat down for a 17-minute interview about the Aglipayan Church. 

Referring to the establishment of the IFI in 1902, Porlares said in Filipino: “The IFI represented the voice of the voiceless in those days. And even today, we would like to see ourselves in that instance.”

Porlares said the IFI’s motto is pro Deo et patria because “first and foremost, we offer this ourselves to God,” and second, “we would like to serve our people.”

He continued: “Because, as Christ said, how can you serve God when you do not even respect your people? So to respect God is to actualize that in your countrymen, your fellow human beings.”

I asked Porlares about people who say priests should stay away  from politics and activism because the church is their proper place. 

“These people misunderstand the mandate of Christ. What did Christ say? ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’” said Porlares, adding that this entails loving people of other faiths. “When it comes to loving your neighbor, do you choose them? Will you only choose to love people from the same church?”

“You cannot choose your neighbor,” he said. “Therefore, love cannot be selective.”

(Watch our interview with Obispo Maximo Joel Porlares below.)

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It’s because of this activist stance that many of the IFI’s bishops and priests have been targeted by the government for their alleged links to communists. This practice, called red-tagging, was especially rampant during the bloody regime of Rodrigo Duterte but it continues today under Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

Porlares challenged accusations by red-taggers, but said he takes pride that their church stands for the oppressed.

“I would take it as a crown — to represent, as Supreme Bishop, a church where bishops, priests, and members are red-tagged. It is an honor, to tell you the truth. Because we would like to be the voice of the voiceless, in the same way that Gregorio Aglipay did back then,” he said. 

His statement reminds me of the words of Father Pedro Arrupe, the late superior general of the Jesuits, the biggest male religious order in the Catholic Church. Arrupe is best remembered for promoting “faith that does justice.”

In a 1973 speech to Jesuit high school alumni, Arrupe said Jesuits should form “men for others” (now phrased as “men and women for others”) in Jesuit schools. These are men and women “who cannot even conceive of love of God which does not include love for the least of their neighbors.”

These are “men and women completely convinced that love of God which does not issue in justice for others is a farce.”

I believe this is also the core of the Aglipayan Church’s pro Deo et patria.

While I am a Roman Catholic and have no plans of converting to any other faith, I deeply admire the Iglesia Filipina Independiente for expressing love of God through love of country. 

The Aglipay revolution, more than a century of defending the poor and oppressed, beckons us all. – Rappler.com