Iglesia Filipina Independiente Pandacan - Manila

The Iglesia Filipina Independiente was formed in the beginning of the twentieth century as part of the broad nationalist struggle against Spanish colonialism and American imperialism. It traces its origin from the struggle of the Filipino clergy against racial discrimination and friar domination within the Roman Church in the 19th century, which, consequently, transformed into a nationalist crusade for the absolute Filipinization of the Church in the twilight years of the 20th century.Fr. Gregorio Aglipay played an important role in the revolutionary war to overthrow Spanish rule and in the struggle for the Filipinization of the Church. In his capacity as Military Vicar of the Revolutionary Government, he gathered Filipino priests to a special meeting on October 1898 to lay down the  

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organizational foundation of the Filipino Church. The formal institution of the Philippine Church was however prevented by the intrusion of the United States of America in the course of the revolutionary war against Spain.Fr. Aglipay, who fought in the Ilocos region against US aggression, returned to Manila in 1901 following his negotiated surrender and immediately resumed the crusade for the Filipinization of the Church. While keeping an eye on how the US colonial set up might influence reformation within the Roman Church, he explored the potential of cooperating with Protestant Churches which had his efforts irreverently refused.