BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Cheryl Omolon was 8 years old in 1985 when her family traveled from Bacolod City to Manila, Philippines to be sealed in the Manila Philippines Temple. The Lord’s house had been consecrated the previous year.
“It took us 24 hours, almost a day, to get there by boat,” she said of going to the Lord’s home, the only one in the Philippines at the time. Since the patron’s housing had not yet been completed, they stayed in a nearby meetinghouse. Now, Omolon and her husband Roger “Oggy” Omolon, who live in Bacolod, are preparing to build a new temple closer to home while serving on a public committee that oversees safety and security.
When the Bacolod Philippines Temple is dedicated by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Sunday, May 31, it will take minutes, not hours, for Omolon and other members of Negros Island to arrive at the temple.
The Bacolod Philippines Temple is the sixth in the Philippine Islands and the third to be dedicated in the country this year. This is the second project in the Visayas region and the first in Negros Island, the fourth largest island in the country. Bacolod City is the capital of Negros Occidental and is known as the “City of Smiles”.
It will be the 217th temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
2026 also marks the 65th anniversary of the day Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, assistant of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and later President of the Church, blessed the Philippines on the grounds of the U.S. Military Memorial Cemetery in Manila. Missionary work began in earnest in 1961.
“I am deeply grateful to be able to draw closer to the Lord’s house.”
The Cebu City Philippines Temple was dedicated in 2010. Although closer than Manila, for many people, reaching their master’s home required either a several-hour drive across Negros Island, a ferry ride to Cebu Island on the east side of the island, or a flight to Cebu City.
“Previously, we would travel over 24 hours by boat just to visit the Manila temple, then 8 to 10 hours to visit the Cebu temple, and we had to spend significant funds just to visit these temples,” Bacolod Philippines North Stake President Joaquin Tayo Montero wrote in an email to Church News.
And many people, including young people, are now spending more time in the temple.
President Montero said young people “will have more time to go to the House of the Lord, will perform baptisms for the dead more often, and will not have to endure long journeys on boats and buses.”
Dennis Ceniza, president of the Cadiz Philippines Stake, said he is grateful for the proximity of the temple.
“The Bacolod Philippines Temple is now very accessible to members within the temple district,” he wrote in Church News. “We are deeply grateful for the increased opportunity to be closer to the House of the Lord and participate in temple work.”
He said Filipino culture is rooted in family.
“Filipino culture is deeply rooted in strong family ties, respect, faith, and community unity. Similarly, the Church, through the sealing power of the priesthood and the sacred ordinances performed in the temple, teaches that families can stay together forever by remaining faithful and keeping the covenants they make, reinforcing Filipinos’ belief that family relationships endure beyond this life.”
Chona Rosales of Bacolod, a member of the open house and dedication committee, said they were preparing a name for the temple because of its geographical proximity.
“The temple made everything possible,” Rosales said. Rosales also plans to volunteer as a temple employee.
Pioneers of Bacolod
The first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Bacolod were two married couples who were baptized in Metro Manila in 1964, a report from the church’s Philippine Newsroom explained.
Rosario Barredo and her husband, Carlos Flores Barredo Sr., were in Manila’s Santa Mesa neighborhood when missionaries began meeting with the family where Barredos was recovering from an illness. The Barredos had to convince the missionaries of their interest in continuing the lessons. They were baptized in August
In Makati, also in Metro Manila, missionaries knocked on the door of Rufino Alvarez Villanueva Jr. and his pregnant wife Josefina Pieda Sacro. The couple was baptized in October 1964 and eventually returned to Bacolod to help Rufino Villanueva with his fish farm.
When missionaries were sent to Bacolod in April 1967, their first priority was to find the Baledos and Villanuevas. Missionaries also received their first baptisms and began teaching in June. The first branch was organized in 1968, with Rufino Villanueva as branch president.
The number of Church members increased and more branches were established in each region of the divided Visayas.
Remus G. Villarete served as president of the Bacolod Philippines District for two years before it became a stake. He was sustained as stake president in July 1981.
“In less than a year, we were able to split the stake into two,” Villarete said, adding that the church continues to grow in the area. He also served as president of the Philippines Cagayan de Oro Mission, an Area Seventy, and a counselor in the Church’s Philippines Area Presidency, meeting with and learning from several Church leaders.
Villarete and his wife, Yvonne Villarete, are now in their 70s and were baptized in the island’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1975. They made countless visits to the Manila Philippine Temple, dedicated in 1984, which required many days of planning, and to the Philippine Temple in Cebu City, on an island east of Bacolod.
“We are grateful for this,” Yvonne Villarete said of the Lord’s home, which is now 30 to 45 minutes from her home. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
Both will become temple employees after the dedication ceremony.
“I’m happy to serve the Lord,” said Remus G. Villarete.
By 1990, the Philippines Bacolod Mission was established from the Philippines Cebu Mission.
Charlie Revillo served in Bacolod and helped establish a mission. He was one of the first missionaries, along with his brother Elder Carlos G. Revilo Jr., currently a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Philippines Area.
Charlie Revilo recalled that people were “very receptive” to the gospel and “the members really helped make introductions to get us to work.”
Revilo, who moved to Herriman, Utah, 10 years ago, returned to Bacolod for the recent temple open house. He visited the mission, still in the same location, and reunited with those he had helped teach. Revilo served as president of the Philippine Butuan Mission and met several young missionaries with whom he served.
“It’s going to be a great spiritual blessing for the members there. When they make their covenants, they become better people,” Revilo said of the temple.
Alma Vida Villanueva Tan, the daughter of Latter-day Saint pioneers from Bacolod City, said during a temple public media day on April 13 that her parents flew to Salt Lake City in 1974 to be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, the church’s Philippine Newsroom reported.
“After 50 years of being a member of the Church, I am finally able to attend the temple in my hometown,” she said. “For me, the temple is a step closer to home, the House of the Lord, a place where we can be still and feel His love and learn about Christ as we prepare ourselves and our families to return to our Heavenly Father.”
philippine temple
There are 14 Lord’s houses consecrated, under construction or announced in the Philippines, with more than 905,000 Church members. This is the fourth highest membership of any church in the world.
Five of the temples are currently operational: Manila Temple (dedicated in 1984), Cebu City Temple (2010), Urdaneta Temple (2024), Alabang Temple (January 2026), and Davao Temple (May 3, 2026).
Two more temples are under construction. Cagayan de Oro from August 2024 and Tacloban City from January 2025.
Six main houses are in the planning stage: Naga (to be announced in 2022), Santiago (2022), Tuguegarao City (2023), Iloilo (2023), Laoag (2023), and San Jose del Monte (2025).
Outside of the United States, two other countries have three or more temples dedicated in a calendar year. Three temples in Canada were dedicated in 1999, and eight Houses of the Lord in Mexico were dedicated in 2000.
In the United States, five temples were dedicated or rededicated in Utah in 2024.
