Apparently, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos is not the only prominent historical figure who calls Batac City his home. One other such figure is Gregorio Aglipay, a former Catholic priest who, due to his support for the Philippine Revolution, was excommunicated and later on founded the Philippine Independent Church aka the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). The IFI is the third largest Christian denomination in the Philippines, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Iglesia ni Cristo.

The IFI, popularly nicknamed the Aglipayan Church, was founded in 1902 and is Catholic in nature, though aligned with the Anglican Church. It has around two to four million adherents mostly in the Ilocos Region and is considered the most visible artifact of the Filipinos’ struggle against colonial Spain.

Photo by Shubert Ciencia. (CC-BY-2.0)

Aglipay died at the age of 80 on September 1, 1940 and was given an elaborate funeral attended by officials of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. His remains lie in state at a large mausoleum called the Aglipay Shrine in downtown Batac City. This shrine is actually right across the street from the Marcos Mausoleum which I featured before.

Interestingly, there is a second Aglipay Shrine located in Pinili, Ilocos Norte. Of course, I’ll feature that in the future.

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