First Baptist Church of Manila - Eviction From Padre Faura

Eviction From Padre Faura

In 1972, just after the Martial Law was declared by former President Ferdinand Marcos, FBCM was evicted from Padre Faura on orders of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. The vacated building was turned over to Manila Baptist Church, which now owns it. For many years the situation became so bad that from the human perspective, the chance for reconciliation was impossible.

A few months before the eviction, a special event at FBCM took place at Padre Faura. The last to be officiated by FBCM in that chapel, the marriage ceremony of Loida Ormeo, the eldest daughter of Pastor Antonio Ormeo, to Pastor Ebenezer Nacita, was held. The couple, after serving at First Baptist Church in Dumaguete City, decided to help FBCM after the eviction. This situation may have been providential in the reconciliatory attitudes between the two associations in the years that followed.