Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Open House and Dedication

A public open house for the Davao Philippines Temple has been announced for Thursday, March 26, through Friday, April 10, 2026 (excluding Sundays). A news conference for the media will be held on Monday, March 23, 2026, followed by two days of tours for invited guests. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will preside at the dedication on Sunday, May 3, 2026. It will be broadcast to all units in the temple district.¹

Groundbreaking Ceremony

"It never ceases to amaze me how the hand of the Lord has been over this nation. How He has prepared its people and its land to receive the gospel and the blessings of the temples of the Lord," said Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, president of the Philippines Area, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Davao Philippines Temple on November 14, 2020. He was joined by his wife, Anita, Elder Yoon Hwan Choi and Elder Steven R. Bangerter of the area presidency, and invited local interfaith leaders. The two-story, 18,450-square-foot temple will be constructed on a 2.7-acre site at Ma-a Road and Anahaw Road along with a meetinghouse and housing for patrons and the temple presidency. "My prayer is that we visit the temple as often as we can. Let us experience heaven here on earth through the temple. Heaven becomes closer when we go to the temple," said Elder Wakolo.²

Temple Design

The two-story Davao Philippines Temple will be approximately 18,450 square feet with single attached end tower.

Temple Rendering

On September 8, 2020, an official exterior rendering of the Davao Philippines Temple was released.

Temple Site

On September 8, 2020, the location of the Davao Philippines Temple was announced. The temple will be constructed on the site of an existing meetinghouse at the intersection of Ma-a Road and Anahaw Road in Barangay Ma-a. The meetinghouse will be demolished and replaced with the temple, a meetinghouse, and housing for patrons and the temple presidency.³

Temple Announcement

On October 7, 2018, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans for the construction of a temple in Davao City, Philippines at the 188th Semiannual General Conference. The Davao Philippines Temple brings the total number of Filipino temples to six. The Manila Philippines Temple was dedicated in 1984 and the Cebu City Philippines Temple in 2010. Temples announced for the country include the Urdaneta Philippines Temple, a second Manila temple in Alabang, Cagayan de Oro Philippines Temples, and now the Davao Philippines Temple. There is a strong Church presence in the Philippines where there are over 780,000 members of the Church.⁴

Temple Facts

The Davao Philippines Temple will be the fifth temple built in the Philippines and the first built in Mindanao.

Temple Design

Exterior

The temple is constructed with a cast-in-place concrete frame, with the building’s main exterior portion and spire clad in stone. A fiberglass resin dome, fabricated by ShapeShift Technologies, completes the structural composition.

The temple is surrounded by a painted steel fence.

Interior

The temple’s design motifs were prepared by Th e Richardson Design Partnership. They draw inspiration from traditional Filipino piña embroidery, a textile woven from pineapple fibers and often adorned with patterns resembling local flora and geometric artisan designs. These cultural influences appear throughout the temple in both decorative paint and art glass, where bright hues of pinks, purples and greens reflect the vivid colors of the region’s indigenous tropical flowers.

The flooring finishes include broadloom carpet, tufted cut-pile nylon carpet tiles and both standard and custom broadloom rugs. Hard surfaces feature Burdur Beige marble for the wall base and Roma Pietra porcelain tile for a clean, refined look.

The walls throughout the temple are constructed with steel framing and plasterboard lining, finished with a low-sheen acrylic paint. Th e color palette consists primarily of whites and creams, contributing to a light, calm and refined interior atmosphere.

Art glass features bright hues of pink, purple and green, reflecting the vibrant colors of indigenous tropical flowers and the traditional patterns found in piña fabrics.

The temple’s interior includes brass and crystal lighting fixtures.

Each door leaf is made of African mahogany and brass hardware.

With suspended and framed systems, the ceilings incorporate plastered and mineral fiber tiles. Decorative trims and crown moldings are crafted from African mahogany, while white low-sheen acrylic paint provides a clean and refined finish.

The temple features African mahogany millwork throughout.

The temple’s original artwork includes “The Wisemen Visit Jesus” by Rose Datoc Dall and “Mountain Morning” by Brad Aldridge.

Church History in Davao (2026)

The first Filipino to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Aniceta Fajardo, was baptized in 1946, after being introduced to the Church by Latter-day Saint servicemen stationed in the country during World War II. A few other Filipinos joined the Church in the 1940s and 1950s, but missionary work did not begin in earnest until 1961.

The Church’s growth accelerated quickly, and by the end of the 1960s it had a presence on eight major islands. The first stake (similar to a diocese) in the Philippines was organized in Manila in 1974 by Elder Ezra Taft Benson, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The faithful service of Latter-day Saints led to the construction of the country’s first temple, dedicated in 1984 in Manila. In addition, the Church began translating materials into multiple Philippine languages.

In the 1990s, Church membership in the country grew to over a quarter of a million members, and today there are more than 900,000 Latter-day Saints in the Philippines. Another temple was built in Cebu in June 2010, and the Urdaneta Philippines Temple and Alabang Philippines Temple were dedicated in April 2024 and January 2026, respectively. The Davao Philippines Temple is the fifth to be dedicated in the country. Currently there are nine additional temples announced or under construction, in Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Laoag, Naga, San Jose del Monte, Santiago, Tacloban and Tuguegarao. The Philippines has the fourth-largest population of Latter-day Saints in the world, and members worship in more than 1,300 congregations.

In the 1960s, Daniela dela Victoria received a copy of the Book of Mormon in Davao City after one of her children visited Manila. After reading the book, she found the message impressive and invited other families over to her home to read it. Daniela shared the Book of Mormon with Cipriano Mumar, a minister of the United Pentecostal Church, who gained a testimony of this new holy scripture. For two years, Mumar wrote letters to leaders in Salt Lake City, Hong Kong and Manila, requesting that missionaries come to Davao.

In May 1968, mission president Paul S. Rose responded to Mumar and personally visited Mindanao with missionaries James R. Kearl, Bruce C. Stone and Lorenzo J. Bott. They met with Mumar and then discussed establishing the Church in Davao City with Mayor Luis T. Santos. After receiving permission, the missionaries proceeded.

On June 2, 1968, Elders Stone and Bott met in a rented room on Juan Luna Street in Davao City and started a Sunday School class, with eight attending this first meeting of the Church.

On June 29, 1968, Cipriano Mumar; his wife, Agripina; and Raphael Sayao were baptized at Kabacan Beach in the Bayanihan community. They becam e the first members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Davao City. Within a few months, another 11 people joined and a branch was organized.

As the Church continued to expand in the city, the Davao Philippines Branch divided. At the time, the leaders of the Davao 1st Branch were Arturo S. De Leon, Jesus Laureano and Honorato Gabrone; and the leaders of the Davao 2nd Branch were Danilo S. Plaza, Albuen A. Caliao and Ariel S. Yanong.

In 1976, the Church built a meetinghouse at San Pedro Village, Buhangin District. This was the first chapel built in all of Mindanao. The Davao Philippines Stake was organized five years later, on Nov. 14, 1981. The stake divided in 1985, creating the Buhangin Philippines Stake. The Davao West Philippines Stake was organized on Sept. 14, 2014. Since its humble beginnings in 1968, the Church of Jesus Christ now has three strong stakes in Davao City.

The greatest blessings in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are found within temples as families are united for eternity. With the dedication of the Davao Philippines Temple scheduled for May 3, 2026, the Latter-day Saints in the area are looking forward to the blessings a temple will bring to their families, their ancestors and the community.