6p God
Watches Over Manila - Singles (150,000)
Miniature Sheets of 8 (5,000)
Layout Artist: Alfonso V. Divina
Design Coordinator:
Leomer B. Batulayan
First Day Covers: Manila
Stamp Design: "God watches over Manila" 1967 by O.T. Navarra. Courtesy
of Manila Adventist Medical Center. Logo - the choice of the church's
logo reflects the core values that the Seventh-day Adventist Church
are committed to. The foundation is the Bible, the Word of God,
shown open since its message must necessary be read and put into
practice. Centered to that biblical message and logo, is the Cross.
Above the Cross and the open Bible is the burning flame of the Holy
Spirit, the message of Truth.
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church
Adventism came into the Philippine shore in 1905. In August
of that year, while in Singapore, Robert A. Caldwell, a literature
evangelist missionary, received a call from the Adventist world
church headquarters in Maryland to go to the Philippines. He arrived
on the same month in Manila. As his ship entered Manila Bay, he
fixed his eyes for the first time on the great walled city with its
teeming population. Seeing this, he was greatly moved and said, "I
will sprinkle books and then like yeast they will begin to work."
This was the first ink mark of a tremendous story that is still
being written in the lives of men and women in the Philippines. This
was the beginning of Adventism in the islands of the Philippines.
The work started in Manila with the unselfish efforts of the first
foreign missionaries.
In 1906 the McElhanys and the Finsters actively
continued the work in winning people for the Master in the
Philippines. As fruit of their labors, Central Luzon Mission was
organized to facilitate the gospel work among Filipinos in 1908.
Hard work and dedicated ministry was considered worthwhile when on
March 11,1911, the first Adventist Church in the Philippines was
established at Sta. Ana, Manila. It started with a membership
consisting of 12 baptized converts, including six other Filipinos
who were accepted by profession of faith and four missionaries- the
Finsters and Caldwells.Then LV Finster trained the first three
Filipino pastors namely, Bibiano Panis, Leon Roda and Emilio
Manalaysay, who played significant roles in the history of the
growth of Adventism in the islands. They were ordained to the gospel
ministry of the Adventist church in 1919. Panis shared the
leadership of the work and even became the associate editor of Ang
Tanglaw (The Lamp), one of the first evangelistic magazine
subscriptions published in the dialect circulated throughout the
country.
The church expanded with Finster as administrator
of the work in Manila; Hay in Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Fattebert and
Stewart opened the work in Cebu City; and Adams with Jornada
followed up the interests -created by the young literature
evangelist, Ashbaugh, in Jaro, Iloilo, thus encircling the whole of
Panay Island.
Today, there are three unions overseeing the
organized work of Adventists in the Philippines: North Philippine
Union Mission (Panay City), Central Philippine Union Conference
(Cebu City), and South Philippine Union Conference (Cagayan de Oro
City).