A Heroic Church

By: President Fidel V. Ramos, April 11, 2009

(published at the Manila Bullettin)

"The stone that builders rejected became the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes..." — (Psalm 118:22)

Tucked inconspicuously between high-rise buildings on Taft Avenue, and overshadowed by the LRT and the PGH-U.P. Compound, is a modest place of worship called the Cosmopolitan Church-United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP). It is not so well-known, neither impressive-looking as the nearby Iglesia Independiente (Aglipayan) Cathedral and the larger Catholic or INC churches in the neighborhood.
The Cosmopolitan Church-UCCP, however, is a heroic institution whose history deserves to be better appreciated, particularly by young Filipinos.
A 2005 National Historical Institute marker briefly records Cosmopolitan's saga of nationalism, faith and patriotism: "Itinatag bilang Cosmopolitan Student Church sa ilalim ng Philippine Methodist Church, Marso 1933; itinalaga sa pook na ito, 1936. Kanlungan at Sentro ng Gawain ng mga kasapi ng simbahang lihim na kabilang sa kilusang gerilya, 1942-1944. Muling ipinatayo matapos masunog noong Labanan sa Maynila, 1945. Isa sa mga simbahang nagtatag ng UCCP, 1948. Inialay ang bagong Santuaryo, 14 Disyembre 1956. Pinagdausan ng 'Wednesday Forum' para sa Talakayang Pangdemokrasya, 1973 at ng 'Executive Session' ng 22 Senador ng Filipinas, 28 Agosto 1987. (Founded as Cosmopolitan Student Church under the Philippine Methodist Church, March 1933; established here, 1936. Refuge of church members who secretly joined the guerrilla movement, 1942-1944. Rebuilt after being burned during the Liberation of Manila, 1945. One of the churches that founded the UCCP, 1948. New Sanctuary dedicated, 14 December 1956. Venue for the 'Wednesday Forum' for democratic dialogue, 1973; and for the 'Executive Session' of 22 Philippine Senators, 28 August 1987)."
Declaration of independence
On 23 March 1933, at the Methodist Episcopal Annual Conference in San Nicolas, Pangasinan, Rev. Cipriano Navarro led 40 delegates to secede from the General Conference of the Methodist Church of America (GCMCA), with their declaration:
“Whereas, GCMCA no longer provides adequate and inspiring leadership, we here and now declare ourselves the General Conference of the Methodist Church in the Philippine Islands (GCMCPI).”
The cause celebré was the decision by the American presiding officer, Methodist Bishop Herbert Welch, to reinstate a Filipino pastor accused by his colleagues of immorality towards a teenage girl, a church member.
Led by Rev. Navarro, Dr. Melquiades Gamboa, a U.P. professor, and Rev. Samuel Stagg, pastor of the Central Church on San Luis (now T.M. Kalaw) Avenue, the walkouts quickly assembled under a tree, voted for the formation of an independent GCMCPI, and elected Navarro acting General Superintendent.
Birth of the Cosmopolitan Student Church
Immediately afterwards, Gamboa rushed to Manila to inform the Central Church congregation of developments. Attempts at reconciliation proved fruitless, and the following Sunday the Central Church itself split. Those who broke away organized a new group called the "Cosmopolitan Student Church (CSC)." Rev. Stagg became Chairman of CSC's Official Board, with Gamboa as Vice-Chairman.
It was a momentous decision. Cut off from missionary funds, without their own building, equipped with nothing but faith in God and a righteous cause, they separated from the country's largest Protestant congregation.
For lack of a regular place of worship, the "breakaways" moved from one place to another -- to the Masonic Temple, the U.P. Little Theater, the Gaiety Theater in Malate, then to private homes until, finally, in 1936, CSC acquired a 1,700 sqm lot on Taft Avenue where the Albert Allen Boys' Dormitory stood. The building was partitioned to provide spaces for church services, dormitory for girls, and kindergarten/primary school. The "Founders' Plaque," placed in 1983, on CSC's Golden Anniversary, lists its founders, which includes names that later became prominent in our national life such as Andres Adolfo, Tiburcio Baja, Juan Collas, Macario Cuerpocruz, Tito Dans, Consuelo Fonacier, Felix Franco, Emilio Javier, Leonardo Padilla, Eusebio Quebral, Narciso Ramos, Leopoldo Ruiz, Francisco Ventura -- many of whom were student leaders at the U.P. Padre Faura campus.
Advent of war
Before the war's outbreak, U.S. Naval Intelligence recruited Rev. Stagg to gather information about Japan's movements in the area. In his absence, his wife Mary Boyd Stagg took the helm of CSC. She was soon ordained as pastor, the first such lady minister in the history of Philippine Protestantism. A woman of deep compassion and courage, she was lovingly called "Mother Stagg."
Japanese authorities allowed American missionaries to pursue their religious activities -- provided they wore an identifying red band. Part of the Church building remained a ladies' dormitory, but also became a refugee center. The Emmanuel Cooperative Hospital in Tondo, founded by American Methodists and CSC members, was administered by Ms. Helen Wilk with Dr. Pedro Arcilla as medical director and assisted by Dr. Hawthorne Darby.
Underground activities of church members
Many Cosmopolitan members helped Mother Stagg in humanitarian work, but some were secretly involved in her underground activities -- among them Dr. Darby, Ms. Wilk, Tito Dans and Serafin Aquino. The latter two took great risks by sheltering Go Puan Seng (Betty Go-Belmonte's father) and other Filipino-Chinese families.
According to Mother Stagg's son, Samboyd: "There were 29 stranded female students from Thailand, Indonesia and China, and remote provinces. The immediate problem was feeding them plus the families of three officers fighting in Bataan, and those of two Filipino-Chinese leaders wanted by the Kempeitai. We also gave sanctuary to escapees from the Death March, following Bataan's fall. Mother solicited funds for medicines for those in the Capas and Cabanatuan prison camps, and their families. Our Emmanuel Hospital was one source of care and treatment."
Arrest, torture and execution
CSC youth leader Jovito Salonga, was arrested in Pasig, tortured and sentenced in 1942 to 15 years of hard labor for his anti-Japanese activities, and then released from Muntinlupa in 1943 on the occasion of Japan's National Day. Salonga was then preparing of the bar exams (which he later topped).
In early 1944, Mother Stagg, with several others from Cosmopolitan, was imprisoned in Fort Santiago by the Kempeitai. In April 1944, Agustin Ortega, a former CSC janitor turned USAFFE soldier and guerrilla, recalls a certain Captain Vicente Gepte (West Point, Class 1941) was brought to the same cell he shared with Tito Dans. On 13 May 1944, Ortega and Dans were taken out of their cell, leaving Gepte behind, and were brought to the Old Bilibid Prison on Azcarraga. Emilio Javier and Andres Adolfo were released that same day. On 24 August 1944, Ortega and Dans were sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, together with other CSC members like Serafin Aquino, Col. Jose Moran, and Severino Araos.
Unknown to CSC members, the three Americans -- Mother Stagg, Hawthorne Darby, and Helen Wilk -- who had cast their lot with Filipinos since the 1933 "walkout" -- had been severely tortured, and then executed on 28 August 1944, along with Gepte. They were buried in the North Cemetery with many other martyrs of the resistance movement.
Liberation of Manila
On 3 February 1945, 1st Cavalry elements with Filipino guerrilla-guides, including Lieutenant Severino Luna (a CSC member), crashed through the gates of the University of Santo Tomas and among those liberated was young Samboyd Stagg.
Of the original CSC building, nothing remained but its bare skeleton. Practically whole neighborhood along Taft Avenue and Oregon Street had been razed to the ground. Soon, however, CSC members built a temporary church, using the old framework. However meager, the improvised structure became a regular worship place every Sunday. The CSC was renamed "Cosmopolitan Church" when the U.P. moved to Diliman.
On 25 May 1948, the UCCP was born. The uniting denominations included the Philippine Methodist Church, the United Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Evangelical Church in the Philippines, the Disciples, and the Congregational Church.
What Cosmopolitan Church stands for
Former Senate President and longtime Chairman of the Cosmopolitan Church Council Jovito Salonga eloquently defined what it stood for on its 67th Anniversary in March 2000: "Cosmopolitan Church is destined to exist beyond our lifetime.... and for as long as it goes through the never-ending process of spiritual rebirth and renewal, Cosmopolitan will go on and on, long after we are gone. In light of our history, how do we define what we stand for, that which marks our identity and essential character?.... Cosmopolitan Church was born out of the fight for truth, justice and moral righteousness.... Throughout its history, whether in war or peace, Cosmopolitan Church has led in the crusade for truth and justice."
During the Marcos era, Cosmopolitan Church remained consistently faithful to its heroic tradition, and became the bold platform of the anti-martial law advocates called the "Wednesday Forum." But, that deserves another story.
On this Easter Sunday, we the "young once" of the wartime Cosmopolitan Church remember with great reverence those who sacrificed for others on the altar of freedom.