THERE is a group of people living in Samal Island in Davao del Norte who consider a site in their village as sacred ground.
The Moncadistas or Moncadians reside for free in the site. It is land they communally own, adjacent to their holy place where the White House of Moncado stands. The house is their house of worship, “the reincarnation of Diyos Amahan [God the Father].”
No one in the village slaughters animals. Eating pigs, cows or goats is a complete taboo to all Moncadistas. They only eat vegetables—fresh salad or cooked; they are vegetarians. The village the Moncadistas consider their Eden is found in Barangay Limao, Purok 1B in Samal District. It is overlooking the Davao Gulf.
“We have long been asking the city government to declare the place where the Moncado White House is as a cultural heritage, a tourist spot, as there are many tourists regularly going up there,” said Limao Barangay Captain
Arsenio Redoble in an interview at the Igacos City Hall in Penaplata last week Tuesday.
He added, “The Moncadistas or the Moncadians revere the late Hilario Camino Moncado as a reincarnation of Diyos Amahan [God the Father].” The Moncado White House was first constructed in the 1980s.
As to why they don’t eat meat, Redoble, a Moncadista since birth, said, “Humans are just like animals. They’re like us,” adding the only difference is that humans are higher beings.
The Moncado White House stands in the 19-hectare place they consider as holy place, which they have been developing for years to have beautiful scenery for prayer, worship and community gathering purposes. Adjacent to it is the 23-hectare land where each Moncadista member was given a minimum homelot of 200 square meters where they could live freely. Others were given 500-sq-m to 600-sq-m lots depending on the number of the households.
The late Kumander Lahi and Ely Pamatong both tried to wrest the land away from the Moncadistas, but they won in the land cases, and they are now on the process of “quieting the title”, Redoble added.
He said here are 30 Moncadista branches in Samal Island and estimated there are about 10,000 Moncadistas throughout the island. He added the vast Moncadista members are in Cebu, where the Moncadista religious movement started.
He said their group actually is the Filipino Crusaders World Army, which came out from the Filipino Federation of America founded by Moncado.
“Our being an army is only in the sense of our being at war against all vices, so that you could not see sari-sari stores in our White House’s occupation area selling any liquor, beer and cigarettes. Disco dancing is also a taboo to us,” Redoble added.
The Samal congregation of Moncadistas are led by their “Pope” Jesus Rueles.
On Wikipedia, Hilario Camino (Moncado) del Prado (1898–1956) was first described as “a Filipino mystic and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Filipino Crusaders World Army, a religious and patriotic group in the Philippines”.
“His father sponsored his schooling and boarding in India for his mystical studies at the age of six. At the age of nine, he graduated with honor from the College of Mystery and Psychics in Calcutta, India. He spoke 11 languages fluently. He could also speak and understand 2 Filipino regional languages, Hiligaynon and Tagalog, and was a delegate to the 1935 Philippine Constitutional Convention election and a candidate in the 1941 Philippine presidential election,”
Moncado was said to have led guerillas during the Japanese occupation.