The construction phase for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple has started, following the Saturday, Aug. 31, groundbreaking for the house of the Lord located along the north central coast of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippine archipelago.
The Cagayan de Oro temple is one of 13 total houses of the Lord of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 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, presided at the Aug. 31 groundbreaking. Elder Revillo is a native of General Santos City, Philippines, which is about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south of Cagayan De Oro on Mindanao.
“Our Father in Heaven, we are assembled here today as Thy children to express our deep love and gratitude to Thee for the glorious blessing of a temple being constructed here in Cagayan de Oro,” Elder Revillo said in a prayer dedicating the temple site and construction process.
Offering his prayer in the local Cebuano language, he added: “We have waited for this special day to come, and we thank Thee for answering our prayers.”
He was joined at the groundbreaking ceremony by other Church leaders as well as community officials and interfaith leaders, including Cagayan de Oro City Vice Mayor Jocelyn Rodriguez; Opol Municipality Mayor Jayfrancis Bago; and the Rev. Fr. Rex L. Rocamora, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue.
Also participating were “Kagay-anon” Latter-day Saints, including pioneer members of the growing Church membership from the local area. Attendance at the ceremony was by invitation only, with the proceedings available for viewing via a livestream on YouTube.
The groundbreaking was first reported on the Church’s Philippines Newsroom and ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Cagayan de Oro 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.
“Our message to the world is simple and sincere: We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy and qualify for eternal life,” President Nelson said.
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. The Church announced the site location on Dec. 18, 2023.
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.
An exterior rendering of the Cagayan de Oro temple was released simultaneously with the July 8, 2024, announcement of the groundbreaking date.
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 last 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 already — the Alabang Philippines, the Bacolod Philippines and the Davao Philippines temples, the last located on the south end of Mindanao. Six more temples have been announced — for Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, Santiago, Tacloban City and Tuguegarao City.
More than 876,000 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.
