The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the groundbreaking date for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple.
Groundbreaking services will be held for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple on August 31, 2024. Elder Carlos G. Revillo Jr., incoming Philippines Area President, will preside at the event.
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| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Church President Russell M. Nelson announced the Cagayan de Oro Temple during the closing session of the general conference in April 2018.
"Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of God's children on both sides of the veil to come to their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life," the prophet said before announcing seven temples, including this new house of the Lord in the Philippines.
The Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple will be built on a 4.9-acre site at Lot 2163-c and Lot 2163-d Rosario Limketkai Avenue, Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental.
Plans for the Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temple call for a two-story structure of approximately 18,449 square feet (1,714 square meters). An ancillary building, including an arrival center, patron housing, and distribution center, will also be constructed.
The temple will be the first in the province of Misamis Oriental and the second in Mindanao, Philippines. The Davao Philippines Temple is currently undergoing construction.
Cagayan de Oro City, the capital of Misamis Oriental, is home to more than 820,000 “Kagay-anons,” according to this year's World Population Review. Dubbed the “City of Golden Friendship,” Cagayan de Oro is widely known in the country for its warm and hospitable people.
Thirteen temples are either announced, under construction, or in operation in the Philippines: Alabang, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City, Davao, Iloilo, Laoag, Manila, Naga, Santiago, Tacloban City, Tuguegarao City, and Urdaneta Temples. Of these, Manila, Cebu, and Urdaneta Temples are in full operation.
The first temple in the Philippines (Manila) was dedicated in 1984 by former Church President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008).
There are more than 865,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 1,300 congregations in the Philippines. The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ began in 1961 in the country where Church growth has been among the fastest in the world.