The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced an Aug. 31, 2024, groundbreaking date for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple, one of 13 total houses of the Lord that are dedicated, under construction or in planning for the Southeast Asian island nation.
Elder Carlos G. Revillo Jr., a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Philippines Area, will preside at the groundbreaking event. Elder Revillo is a native of General Santos City, Philippines, which is about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south of Cagayan De Oro on the Philippines’ second-largest island, Mindanao.
An exterior rendering of the Cagayan de Oro temple was released simultaneously with the groundbreaking announcement, which was first published Monday, July 8, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
A temple for Cagayan de Oro — in the Northern Mindanao region — was one of seven locations for new houses of the Lord that President Russell M. Nelson announced on April 1, 2018, the first general conference he presided over after becoming President of the Church.
The Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple is planned as a two-story building of approximately 18,449 square feet, to be built on a 4.9-acre site at Lot 2163-c and Lot 2163-d Rosario Limketkai Avenue, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis, in the Philippines.
Also projected for the property, near the intersection of Rosario Limketkai and Rosario Cres avenues, is an ancillary building that will include an arrival center, patron housing and a distribution center.
Three temples are operating in the Philippines — the first was the Manila Philippines Temple, dedicated in 1984, followed by the Cebu City (2010) and Urdaneta (2024) temples. The latter was dedicated on April 28 by President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency.
Three other houses of the Lord are under construction — the Alabang Philippines, the Bacolod Philippines and the Davao Philippines temples. Six more have been announced — for Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, Santiago, Tacloban City and Tuguegarao City — giving the Philippines 13 total.
More than 865,000 Church members in nearly 1,300 congregations live in the Philippines. The gospel was first preached there in 1961, where Church growth has been among the fastest in the world.
