Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í Faith in the Philippines is a community of Filipinos, who like their fellow Bahá'ís living in other parts of the world, view the world's major religions as a part of a single, progressive process through which God reveals His will to humanity. They recognize Baha'u'llah
, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, as the most recent in a line of Divine Messengers that includes Abraham
, Moses
, Buddha
, Zoroaster
, Christ
and Muhammad
. It is composed of Filipinos from various ethnic and religious background. The religion first reached the country in 1921 with a Bahá'í
first visiting the Philippines
that year. By 1944 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was established in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. In the early 1960s, during a period of accelerated growth, the community grew from 200 in 1960 to 1000 by 1962 and 2000 by 1963. In 1964 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines was elected and by 1980 there were 64,000 Bahá'ís and 45 local assemblies. The Bahá'ís have been active in multi/inter-faith developments. The 2005 World Christian Encyclopedia
estimates the Bahá'í population of the Philippines at about 247,500.
, is in a letter from 1911 by `Abdu'l-Bahá
, the son of the founder of the religion. Later he wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
in 1916-1917 asking the followers of the religion to travel to other countries; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
. The seventh of the tablets was the first to mention several island nations in the Pacific Ocean
. Written on April 11, 1916, it was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
and the Spanish flu
. The seventh tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West
magazine on December 12, 1919.
Mirza Hossein R. Touty (perhaps a transliteration of "Tiati"), a Persian
Bahá'í and subscriber to Star of the West, travelled to the Philippine Islands in 1921 before the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, during American territorial period
. Touty arrived via Shanghai
, then Vladivostok
and came to Mindanao
in the Philippines, ending up in Surigao, in January 1921 for a time. In 1926 both Siegfried Schopflocher and Martha Root
, both later entitled as Hands of the Cause
, were able to give talks in Manila
. Touty left the Philippines in 1926.
In 1938 Felix Maddela became the first Filipino Bahá'í. His first encounter with the Bahá'í Faith was in 1924 when a purchase he made was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper which contained an article by Martha Root about the religion. As the author's address did not appear in the article, it was another 14 years before he encountered more about the religion. In the early spring of 1937, Loulie Albee Mathews arrived in Manila on board the "Franconia." As the boat was to dock for only a few hours, she managed to place in a college library a few pamphlets for the shelf of comparative religions. A few months later, on a visit to Manila from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Mr. Maddela came across the literature. This started a series of correspondence with the Bahá'í Publishing Committee of the United States. With Madella so fired up, he immediately taught his family and friends. Shortly before World War II, the Bahá'í's of Solano numbered around fifty. When war broke out all communications ceased. Immediately after the war, contact was re-established thru Alvin Blum, who was attached to the medical unit of the United States Army. Hitch-hiking to Solano, which was in ruins, he located the Maddelas living in impoverished conditions. Of the fifty enrolled Bahá'í's, twenty-five had been killed or missing. The others had survived by hiding in rice fields for three years.
On December 2, 1946, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í's of Solano was incorporated. The members and incorporators were Felix Maddela, Angustia Maddela, Zacarias Tottoc, Mariano Tagubat, Nicanora Lorenzo, Dionisia Vadel, Maurelio Bueza, Jacinta Piggangay and Azucena Cruz. In 1947, Mr. Dominador Anunsacion and his brother Angelo traveled to Solano, heard and accepted the Faith. Upon their return to Santiago,Isabela another community was established.
Hazel Mori, an American, became a Bahá'í in the USA in 1941, and later moved to the Philippines as a Baha'i pioneer. For more than ten years she served as treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines when it was formed later. Others, heeding the call of Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, also visited Philippines. These were Nina Nadler, William Allison, Miss Virginia Breaks, and Michael Jamir. Hand of the Cause Agnes Baldwin Alexander
also visited the Philippines six or seven times from 1958 to 1964. In 1956, the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Rosario and Diffun were established. The first Bahá'í Summer School was held in Solano in 1958. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Manila was also established in 1959.
Luisa Mapa Gomez was the first Bahá'í of Manila. Born in Talisay, Negros Occidental, she was the daughter of a prominent doctor, and graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Education. She sponsored countless students to attend elementary, high schools and colleges. After the visit of Mrs. Mori to the Philippines in 1953, and after attending firesides in the home of Mrs. Nina Adler, who was then working in the American Embassy, "Momsu", as she was fondly called, accepted the Faith.
arrived in Manila for the first of his numerous visits. The handful of believers in Solano, Santiago and Manila were empowered to overcome natural shyness and to reach out to masses in these provinces. Bill Allison, Jack Davis, Vivian Bayona, Grace Maddela, Philip Flores, Baltazar Mariano, Len Scott, Vic Samaniego and Freddie Santiago were among those who assisted others in the process of entry to the Faith. Gradually, Dr. Muhajir encouraged everyone to expand beyond Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya into other provinces. By 1962 there were reports of mass conversions with 24 Local Spiritual Assemblies and 1000 converts. By 1963 there were 2000 Bahá'ís and there were several specific tribes known to have converts - Ifugao
, Igorot
, Ilocano
, Ilongot
, Kalinga
, Negritoes, Pangasinan
, and Tagalog
. There were villages where the inhabitants were all Bahá'ís. Dr. Muhájir, accompanied by Ms. Vivian Bayona, introduced the religion to the Bilaan tribe in Mindanao. Datu Eloy Epa, the tribal chief, accepted the Faith. In 1964, National Spiritual Assembly was elected for the first time. The members were Vicente Samaniego, Pablo Mercado, Jack Davis, Neva Dulay, Luisa Mapa Gomez, Dominador Anunsacion, Ruth Walbridge, Theo Boehnert and Orpha Daugherty. That year, Dr. Muhájir visited the island of Mindoro and walked for eight hours across mountainous terrain to reach the Mangyan
tribes. The religion was received with immediate acceptance. One new declarant, Rogelio Onella, began using a room in his house to teach literacy classes to fellow tribesmen. This small class developed further into the 'Rogelio Onella Memorial School' and served as nucleus of four tutorial schools among the tribes. By 1980 there were 45 Local Spiritual Assemblies and 64,000 adherents. During this period the only Hand of the Cause to visit the interior of the country was Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir though Agnes Baldwin Alexander and Collis Featherstone also visited the country. This large scale growth was generally true across Southeast Asia
in 1950s and 1960s.
In late July 1972 three Iranian Bahá'í students of Mindanao State University
were murdered: Parvíz Sádiqí, Farámarz Vujdání and Parvíz Furúghí were killed while traveling in rural Muslim areas of Mindanao. After recovering their mutilated bodies from a shallow grave a convocation was held and funeral procession attended by thousands of people including fellow students, faculty members and university officials.
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The Bahá'í community in the Philippines has been active in the country on several different areas. A curriculum on Values education
for public secondary schools in the Philippines was initially developed by a team of Bahá'í educators and was then completed as a doctoral dissertation. The curriculum was to be offered to the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
of the Philippine government to be used for "Values Education", a subject taught in Philippine public secondary schools. A Bahá'í AM
radio station was also officially launched in the Philippines on 29 November 2002 in Nueva Ecija
province registered as station DZDF
. A Bahá'í National Arts Festival was held between 26 and 29 December 2004 in Baguio City
with Bahá'ís from 20 localities. Internationally, the National Spiritual Assembly of Bahá'ís of the Philippines participated in the Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace hosted by the Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs held in 2005 in New York which was attended by the President of the Committee of Religious NGOs in the UN. The Philippines community hosted a regional conference of Bahá'ís totally over 1,000 - nearly 700 people from the Philippines itself were joined by co-religionists from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands.
estimates the Bahá'í population of the Philippines at about 247,500, or 0.3% of the national population.
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, as the most recent in a line of Divine Messengers that includes Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
, Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
, Buddha
Buddha
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
, Zoroaster
Zoroaster
Zoroaster , also known as Zarathustra , was a prophet and the founder of Zoroastrianism who was either born in North Western or Eastern Iran. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, hymns which are at the liturgical core of Zoroastrianism...
, Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
and Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
. It is composed of Filipinos from various ethnic and religious background. The religion first reached the country in 1921 with a Bahá'í
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
first visiting the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
that year. By 1944 the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in the country was established in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. In the early 1960s, during a period of accelerated growth, the community grew from 200 in 1960 to 1000 by 1962 and 2000 by 1963. In 1964 the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines was elected and by 1980 there were 64,000 Bahá'ís and 45 local assemblies. The Bahá'ís have been active in multi/inter-faith developments. The 2005 World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
estimates the Bahá'í population of the Philippines at about 247,500.
Early history
The first mention of the Philippines in Bahá'í literatureBahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
, is in a letter from 1911 by `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
, the son of the founder of the religion. Later he wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1916-1917 asking the followers of the religion to travel to other countries; these letters were compiled together in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan
Tablets of the Divine Plan
The Tablets of the Divine Plan collectively refers to 14 letters written between September 1916 and March 1917 by `Abdu'l-Bahá to Bahá'ís in the United States and Canada. Included in multiple books, the first five tablets were printed in America in Star of the West - Vol. VII, No. 10, September 8,...
. The seventh of the tablets was the first to mention several island nations in the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Written on April 11, 1916, it was delayed in being presented in the United States until 1919 — after the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
. The seventh tablet was translated and presented by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mírzá Aḥmad Sohráb was a Persian-American author and Bahá'í who co-founded the New History Society and the Caravan of East and West in New York, and was excommunicated from the Bahá'í Faith in 1939 by Shoghi Effendi.-Early life:...
on April 4, 1919, and published in Star of the West
Star of the West (Bahá'í magazine)
The Star of the West was a Bahá'í periodical which began publication on March 21, 1910 and ended publication under this title in March of 1935....
magazine on December 12, 1919.
"A party speaking their languages, severed, holy, sanctified and filled with the love of God, must turn their faces to and travel through the three great island groups of the Pacific Ocean—PolynesiaPolynesiaPolynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, MicronesiaMicronesiaMicronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
and MelanesiaMelanesiaMelanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, and the islands attached to these groups, such as New GuineaNew GuineaNew Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, BorneoBorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
, JavaJavaJava is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, SumatraSumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
, Philippine Islands, Solomon IslandsSolomon IslandsSolomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
, Fiji Islands, New HebridesNew HebridesNew Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
, Loyalty IslandsLoyalty IslandsThe Loyalty Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific. They are part of the French territory of New Caledonia, whose mainland is away. They form the Loyalty Islands Province , one of the three provinces of New Caledonia...
, New CaledoniaNew CaledoniaNew Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
, Bismarck ArchipelagoBismarck ArchipelagoThe Bismarck Archipelago is a group of islands off the northeastern coast of New Guinea in the western Pacific Ocean and is part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea.-History:...
, CeramCERAMCERAM is a materials science and testing organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent specialising in the field of ceramics. The CERAM Group owns testing facilities around the world.-History:The British Refractories Research Association was formed in 1920...
, CelebesSulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands. In Indonesia, only Sumatra, Borneo, and Papua are larger in territory, and only Java and Sumatra have larger Indonesian populations.- Etymology :The Portuguese were the first to...
, Friendly Islands, Samoa Islands, Society IslandsSociety IslandsThe Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...
, Caroline IslandsCaroline IslandsThe Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
, Low Archipelago, Marquesas, Hawaiian IslandsHawaiian IslandsThe Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
, Gilbert IslandsGilbert IslandsThe Gilbert Islands are a chain of sixteen atolls and coral islands in the Pacific Ocean. They are the main part of Republic of Kiribati and include Tarawa, the site of the country's capital and residence of almost half of the population.-Geography:The atolls and islands of the Gilbert Islands...
, Moluccas, Marshall IslandsMarshall IslandsThe Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, TimorTimorTimor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...
and the other islands. With hearts overflowing with the love of God, with tongues commemorating the mention of God, with eyes turned to the Kingdom of God, they must deliver the glad tidings of the manifestation of the Lord of Hosts to all the people."
Mirza Hossein R. Touty (perhaps a transliteration of "Tiati"), a Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
Bahá'í and subscriber to Star of the West, travelled to the Philippine Islands in 1921 before the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, during American territorial period
History of the Philippines (1898-1946)
This article covers the history of the Philippines from 1898 to 1946. It spans the Spanish-American War which resulted in the United States acquiring sovereignty over the Philippines from Spain via the Treaty of Paris which ended that war, the Philippines as a U.S. territory and later as a U.S...
. Touty arrived via Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, then Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
and came to Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
in the Philippines, ending up in Surigao, in January 1921 for a time. In 1926 both Siegfried Schopflocher and Martha Root
Martha Root
Martha Louise Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously...
, both later entitled as Hands of the Cause
Hands of the Cause
The Hands of the Cause of God, Hands of the Cause, or Hands were a select group of Bahá'ís, appointed for life, whose main function was to propagate and protect the Bahá'í Faith...
, were able to give talks in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. Touty left the Philippines in 1926.
In 1938 Felix Maddela became the first Filipino Bahá'í. His first encounter with the Bahá'í Faith was in 1924 when a purchase he made was wrapped in a piece of old newspaper which contained an article by Martha Root about the religion. As the author's address did not appear in the article, it was another 14 years before he encountered more about the religion. In the early spring of 1937, Loulie Albee Mathews arrived in Manila on board the "Franconia." As the boat was to dock for only a few hours, she managed to place in a college library a few pamphlets for the shelf of comparative religions. A few months later, on a visit to Manila from Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Mr. Maddela came across the literature. This started a series of correspondence with the Bahá'í Publishing Committee of the United States. With Madella so fired up, he immediately taught his family and friends. Shortly before World War II, the Bahá'í's of Solano numbered around fifty. When war broke out all communications ceased. Immediately after the war, contact was re-established thru Alvin Blum, who was attached to the medical unit of the United States Army. Hitch-hiking to Solano, which was in ruins, he located the Maddelas living in impoverished conditions. Of the fifty enrolled Bahá'í's, twenty-five had been killed or missing. The others had survived by hiding in rice fields for three years.
On December 2, 1946, the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í's of Solano was incorporated. The members and incorporators were Felix Maddela, Angustia Maddela, Zacarias Tottoc, Mariano Tagubat, Nicanora Lorenzo, Dionisia Vadel, Maurelio Bueza, Jacinta Piggangay and Azucena Cruz. In 1947, Mr. Dominador Anunsacion and his brother Angelo traveled to Solano, heard and accepted the Faith. Upon their return to Santiago,Isabela another community was established.
Hazel Mori, an American, became a Bahá'í in the USA in 1941, and later moved to the Philippines as a Baha'i pioneer. For more than ten years she served as treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines when it was formed later. Others, heeding the call of Shoghi Effendi, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, also visited Philippines. These were Nina Nadler, William Allison, Miss Virginia Breaks, and Michael Jamir. Hand of the Cause Agnes Baldwin Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander
Agnes Baldwin Alexander was an American author and leader of the Bahá'í Faith.-Life:Agnes Baldwin Alexander was born July 21, 1875 in Honolulu when it was the Kingdom of Hawaii. Her father was educator William DeWitt Alexander and mother was Abigail Charlotte Baldwin...
also visited the Philippines six or seven times from 1958 to 1964. In 1956, the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Rosario and Diffun were established. The first Bahá'í Summer School was held in Solano in 1958. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Manila was also established in 1959.
Luisa Mapa Gomez was the first Bahá'í of Manila. Born in Talisay, Negros Occidental, she was the daughter of a prominent doctor, and graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Education. She sponsored countless students to attend elementary, high schools and colleges. After the visit of Mrs. Mori to the Philippines in 1953, and after attending firesides in the home of Mrs. Nina Adler, who was then working in the American Embassy, "Momsu", as she was fondly called, accepted the Faith.
Developing community
In 1960 the Bahá'í community of the Philippines consisted of four local spiritual assemblies and a population of about 200. In 1961, Hand of the Cause, Dr. Rahmatu'lláh MuhájirRahmátu'llah Muhájir
Raḥmatu'lláh Muhájir was a prominent fourth generation Bahá'í, born on 4 April 1923 in the town of 'Abdu'l-'Azím, Iran. In 1954, Dr Muhájir married Írán Furútan, the daughter of `Alí-Akbar Furútan, and together they pioneered to the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia...
arrived in Manila for the first of his numerous visits. The handful of believers in Solano, Santiago and Manila were empowered to overcome natural shyness and to reach out to masses in these provinces. Bill Allison, Jack Davis, Vivian Bayona, Grace Maddela, Philip Flores, Baltazar Mariano, Len Scott, Vic Samaniego and Freddie Santiago were among those who assisted others in the process of entry to the Faith. Gradually, Dr. Muhajir encouraged everyone to expand beyond Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya into other provinces. By 1962 there were reports of mass conversions with 24 Local Spiritual Assemblies and 1000 converts. By 1963 there were 2000 Bahá'ís and there were several specific tribes known to have converts - Ifugao
Ifugao
Ifugao is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Covering a total land area of 262,820 hectares, the province of Ifugao is located in a mountainous region characterized by rugged terrain, river valleys, and massive forests...
, Igorot
Igorot
Cordillerans are the people of the Cordillera region, in the Philippines island of Luzon. The word, Igorot is a misnomer term invented by the Spaniards in mockery against the Nortnern Luzon tribes. The word ‘Igorot’ also as coined and applied by the Spaniards means a savage, head-hunting and...
, Ilocano
Ilocano people
The Ilocano or Ilokano people are the third largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group. Aside from being referred to as Ilocanos, from "i"-from, and "looc"-bay, they also refer to themselves as Samtoy, from the Ilocano phrase "sao mi ditoy", meaning 'our language here.' The word "Ilocano" came from...
, Ilongot
Ilongot
Ilongot can refer to:*Ilongot language*Ilongot people...
, Kalinga
Kalinga
Kalinga is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Tabuk and borders Mountain Province to the south, Abra to the west, Isabela to the east, Cagayan to the northeast, and Apayao to the north...
, Negritoes, Pangasinan
Pangasinan
Pangasinan is a province of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central and peripheral area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf, with the total land area being 5,368.82 square kilometers . According to the latest census,...
, and Tagalog
Tagalog people
The Tagalog people are an ethnic group in the Philippines. The name Tagalog comes from either the native term tagá-ilog, meaning 'people living along the river', or another native term, tagá-alog, meaning 'people living along the ford', a ford being a shallow part of a river or stream where people,...
. There were villages where the inhabitants were all Bahá'ís. Dr. Muhájir, accompanied by Ms. Vivian Bayona, introduced the religion to the Bilaan tribe in Mindanao. Datu Eloy Epa, the tribal chief, accepted the Faith. In 1964, National Spiritual Assembly was elected for the first time. The members were Vicente Samaniego, Pablo Mercado, Jack Davis, Neva Dulay, Luisa Mapa Gomez, Dominador Anunsacion, Ruth Walbridge, Theo Boehnert and Orpha Daugherty. That year, Dr. Muhájir visited the island of Mindoro and walked for eight hours across mountainous terrain to reach the Mangyan
Mangyan
Mangyan is the generic name for the eight indigenous groups found in the Philippine island of Mindoro, each with its own tribal name, language, and customs...
tribes. The religion was received with immediate acceptance. One new declarant, Rogelio Onella, began using a room in his house to teach literacy classes to fellow tribesmen. This small class developed further into the 'Rogelio Onella Memorial School' and served as nucleus of four tutorial schools among the tribes. By 1980 there were 45 Local Spiritual Assemblies and 64,000 adherents. During this period the only Hand of the Cause to visit the interior of the country was Rahmatu'lláh Muhájir though Agnes Baldwin Alexander and Collis Featherstone also visited the country. This large scale growth was generally true across Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
in 1950s and 1960s.
In late July 1972 three Iranian Bahá'í students of Mindanao State University
Mindanao State University
Mindanao State University is a public coeducational institution of higher education located in the Islamic City of Marawi, Philippines...
were murdered: Parvíz Sádiqí, Farámarz Vujdání and Parvíz Furúghí were killed while traveling in rural Muslim areas of Mindanao. After recovering their mutilated bodies from a shallow grave a convocation was held and funeral procession attended by thousands of people including fellow students, faculty members and university officials.
Modern community
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic developmentSocio-economic development (Bahá'í)
Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and...
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. The Bahá'í community in the Philippines has been active in the country on several different areas. A curriculum on Values education
Values education
Values education is a term used to name several things, and there is much academic controversy surrounding it. Some regard it as all aspects of the process by which teachers transmit values to pupils...
for public secondary schools in the Philippines was initially developed by a team of Bahá'í educators and was then completed as a doctoral dissertation. The curriculum was to be offered to the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
Department of Education (Philippines)
The Department of Education , is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the management and governing of the Philippine system of basic education. It is the chief formulator of Philippine educational policy and is responsible for the Philippine primary and secondary...
of the Philippine government to be used for "Values Education", a subject taught in Philippine public secondary schools. A Bahá'í AM
AM broadcasting
AM broadcasting is the process of radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation. AM was the first method of impressing sound on a radio signal and is still widely used today. Commercial and public AM broadcasting is carried out in the medium wave band world wide, and on long wave and short wave...
radio station was also officially launched in the Philippines on 29 November 2002 in Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Palayan City...
province registered as station DZDF
DZDF
DZDF Baha'i Radio is a religious FM station of Dawnbreakers Foundation, located at Conception Ave., Brgy. Hermogenes Concepcion, Cabanatuan.-History:...
. A Bahá'í National Arts Festival was held between 26 and 29 December 2004 in Baguio City
Baguio City
The City of Baguio is a highly urbanized city in northern Luzon in the Philippines. Baguio City was established by Americans in 1900 at the site of an Ibaloi village known as Kafagway...
with Bahá'ís from 20 localities. Internationally, the National Spiritual Assembly of Bahá'ís of the Philippines participated in the Conference on Interfaith Cooperation for Peace hosted by the Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs held in 2005 in New York which was attended by the President of the Committee of Religious NGOs in the UN. The Philippines community hosted a regional conference of Bahá'ís totally over 1,000 - nearly 700 people from the Philippines itself were joined by co-religionists from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Caroline Islands, Mariana Islands, and Marshall Islands.
Demographics
The 2000 census stated that about 2%, or about 1.53 million people, were classified as "Other" in the religious field (non-Christian, non-Muslim, and negligible Buddhist religious communities). The 2005 World Christian EncyclopediaWorld Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
estimates the Bahá'í population of the Philippines at about 247,500, or 0.3% of the national population.
See also
- Bahá'í Faith by countryBahá'í Faith by countryThe Bahá'í Faith is a diverse and widespread religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in the 19th century in Iran. Bahá'í sources usually estimate the worldwide Bahá'í population to be above 5 million. Most encyclopedias and similar sources estimate between 5 and 6 million Bahá'ís in the world in the early...
- Religion in the PhilippinesReligion in the PhilippinesReligion in the Philippines are spiritual beliefs held by Philippine citizens. Religion holds a central place in the life of the majority of Filipinos, including Hindus, Buddhists, animists, Muslims, Aglipayans,Protestant and Catholic...
- History of the PhilippinesHistory of the PhilippinesThe history of the Philippines is believed to have begun with the arrival of the first humans via land bridges at least 30,000 years ago. The first recorded visit from the West is the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan, who sighted Samar on March 16, 1521 and landed on Homonhon Island southeast of Samar...
External links
- Official Website of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Philippines
- The Philippine Baha'i Youth Dance Workshop