Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations Secretaries' Files: Philippine Mission

Presbyterian mission work in the Philippines commenced shortly after Admiral Dewey's victory in Manila in 1898. By April of 1899, missionaries had begun arriving in the Philippines and by January of 1900, a Filipino Church had been organized and the Mission was formally constituted.

The Presbyterian Church was the first Protestant denomination to recognize the duty of American Christians to provide spiritual guidance to the Filipino peoples. In 1901, the Executive Committee of the Board of Foreign Missions called a conference in Manila with representatives from the American Board, the Baptist Missionary Union, the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Board of Foreign and Domestic Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Reformed Church in America to formulate a strategy of evangelization for the Philippines. This conference resulted in the creation of the Evangelical Union of the Philippine Islands, the purpose of which was to unite all evangelical forces operative in the Philippines. Originally comprised of Methodists, Presbyterians, United Brethren, Baptists and Congregationalists, the Union was reconstituted in 1929 as the National Christian Council and included representatives of the Baptists, Disciples, Methodists, Union and United Evangelical Missions (Presbyterians, Congregationalists, United Brethren) and churches, as well as the American Bible Society and the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

As a result of the 1901 accord, Presbyterian work in the Philippines was to encompass various stations on the islands of Luzon, Negros, Leyte, Panay and Samar. On Luzon, stations were established in Laguna (1902), Albay (1903), Tayabus (1905), Camarines (1911), Batangas (1917) and in Manila, which had first been occupied in 1899 and was to be divided equally between the Presbyterian and Baptist missions. On the island of Negros, a station was opened in Dumaguete (1901). Stations on Cebu and Bohol were commenced in 1902 and 1909 respectively. Tacloban on the island of Leyte was opened in 1903 and Iloilo on Panay was jointly occupied by both the Presbyterian and Baptist missions until 1925. On Samar, the station at Catbalogan was occupied in 1930.

The Presbyterian Church's ministry in the Philippines was medical, educational and evangelical nature. Medical work was first initiated in Iloilo in 1900 with hospitals, dispensaries and nurses' training facilities later established at Albay, Bohol, Dumaguete and Tacloban. Because of the elaborate and costly educational program established by the American occupation, the Board of Foreign Missions limited its educational efforts to three institutions. These included Silliman University in Dumaguete, the first Protestant school established in the Philippines; the Ellinwood Bible School and Union Theological Seminary, established in 1899 and 1907 respectively and both located in Manila.
The Board of Foreign Missions encouraged the Filipino Church to be self-supporting and its
plans for evangelizing the vast untouched regions were contingent upon this concept. Evangelization was effected via weekend and bi-monthly Bible institutes, annual Vacation Bible Schools, kindergarten instruction and informal home visitations.

The goal of the Church's work in the Philippines has been to establish a self-supporting indigenous national church. This has not yet been realized, and although the Filipino people are for the most part at the head of their churches, these churches and their related institutions are still heavily dependent on support from the United States.