A Brief History of the

IGLESIA FILIPINA INDEPEDIENTE

By The Rev. Fr. Jojo Pamatmat

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI), also known as the Philippine Independent Church and the Aglipayan Church, irrupted from the struggle of Filipinos in the late 19th century for religious and political freedom denied by Spain for nearly 400 years of its occupation of the Philippines. But the Spanish-American War in 1898 saw the end of one foreign dominion, and the beginning of another. Under the new US colonizer, the struggle for Filipinization of the clergy continued. After Rome had miserably failed to address the issue, Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr., popularly known as Don Belong, led in the proclamation of the IFI in a meeting of the labor union at the Centro de Bellas Artes on August 3, 1902. With the proclamation the formal break from Rome of the cream of the Filipino clergy began.

A constitutional break from Rome took place when the new church approved its first Constitution on October 1, 1902. Led by Father Gregorio Aglipay, the Constitution was signed by the Filipino secular priests who joined the new church. Father Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan became the first Obispo Maximo of the IFI. His consecration, presided by Father Jose Evangelista, and participated in by eleven other priests, took place on January 18, 1903 in the provincial chapel on Calle Lemery near Azcarraga.

When the schism began, Filipino priests had already occupied most of the church buildings. But in 1906 the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of returning all properties to the Vatican. Consequently, many Filipinos who had joined the IFI returned to the Roman Catholic Church. Those who remained loyal to the new Filipino church, now bereft of buildings and other properties, continued to maintain a nationalistic and independent posture.

In August 1947, the General Assembly of the IFI petitioned the Episcopal Church to bestow upon its clergy the gift of Apostolic Succession. In November 1947, the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church granted the petition. On April 7, 1948, the Supreme Bishop, the Most Rev. Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr., and two senior Bishops of the IFI, Manuel N. Aguilar and Gerardo M. Bayaca, were bestowed the gift of Apostolic Succession at a service in the Pro-Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Manila, Philippines. Bishop Norman S. Binsted acted as Consecrator, and was assisted by two other Episcopalian bishops: Robert Franklin Wilner, suffragan missionary bishop of the Philippine District, and Harry Sherbourne Kennedy, missionary bishop of Honolulu. General Emilio Aguinaldo acted as sponsor for the three Filipino bishops. As an immediate result, candidates to the priesthood in the IFI were invited to attend St. Andrew’s Seminary, an Episcopal Church seminary in Quezon City. In 1960, the Supreme Council of Bishops and the General Assembly of the IFI unanimously voted to enter into full communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church, also known as the ECUSA (Episcopal Church in the United States of America).

During the 60th General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan, the Concordat of Full Communion between the IFI and the ECUSA was approved on September 22, 1961. Afterwards, several other concordats with non-Roman national churches in Europe, Africa and Asia were approved bilaterally.

Two years before the concordat was signed, the ministry of the IFI to the Filipinos in Hawaii began with the arrival of Reverend Timoteo Quintero in August 1959 at the invitation of the Episcopalian Bishop of Honolulu. A few years later, two IFI priests, Fausto Andres and Jacinto Tabili, joined Rev. Quintero.

Continued substantial increase of Filipino immigrants in the United States saw the urgent need for specific guidelines on how the IFI may be assisted by the ECUSA in reaching out and ministering to its members in this country, as well as how the two churches may collaborate in a common witness to the love of God in Christ in a multicultural society. Accordingly, the Honolulu Agreement was signed in 1985 by the Supreme Bishop and the Presiding Bishop of the IFI and the ECUSA, respectively. Subsequently, a number of IFI congregations came into being and have been gathering for worship and fellowship in Episcopalian churches in California, Illinois, and New Jersey. One IFI congregation, however, has been using a church building of its own since 1977 in Tampa, Florida. With a number of IFI clergy already residing in the United States, a missionary diocese in North America was formed, under the episcopal leadership of the Rt. Rev. Eugenio Loreto, to provide pastoral and ministerial care to Filipino immigrants and Filipino Americans. In 1990, the missionary diocese became a regular diocese of the Philippine Independent Church, with the Rt. Rev. Vic Esclamado as the diocesan bishop. In September 2004, the Rt. Rev. Raul C. Tobias was appointed to be the bishop of the diocese.