Sudlon II is a barangay about an hour and half outside of Cebu City. From the Transcentral Highway in Busay, it’s another 30 to 40 minutes by car or motorcycle to the small community tucked within rolling green hills and dusty brown plains. Residents go about their business while goats chomp on grass or saunter across the side of the paved roads. There’s actually a National Park here, protected under the Central Cebu Protected Landscape Act of 2007.
But the real point of interest in Sudlon is a gigantic concrete structure that seems curiously out of place way out here where mobile phone signal is virtually nonexistent. The Moncado Hotel serves as the general headquarters of the Filipino Crusaders World Army (FCWA), a religious organization founded by Hilario Camino Moncado in the 1940s. The three-story building is longer than an Olympic-sized swimming pool (which is 50 feet) and looks more like a dilapidated public elementary or high school rather than an actual hotel. It sits on top of a small hill opposite another hill. In the valley between is an abandoned swimming pool with green-tinged stagnant water.
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PHOTO: PJ Cana
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Members of the FCWA, informally called Moncadistas, have been labeled a cult for decades by those who do not understand who they are and what they are about. On my last trip to Cebu, I decided it was worth a detour to pay the site a visit and see the colony for myself.
Before then I read up as much as I could about the group and how exactly they were formed.
Who was Hilario Moncado
Moncado was born on November 4, 1898 in the town of Pondol, Balamban, Cebu. Records from Mission Bulletin, a pamphlet published monthly by Moncado’s organization (copies of which are in the National Library), say that, at the age of six, he traveled to India to study at the College of Mystery and Psychic (sic) in Calcutta. Evidently, he was able to finish an eight-year course in just three years and graduated at the age of nine, having earned degrees of Doctor of Philosophy of Kabala, Doctor of Philosophy of Numerology, and Doctor of Philosophy of Human Nature.
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Hilario Moncado (middle)
In a story about Moncado published in the journal Philippine Studies (Ateneo De Manila University), Joseph Kavanagh writes that, as a young man, Moncado left with a group of emigrants to Hawaii, where he interacted with Filipino laborers in the cane fields of the state. He is also said to have spent some time working in a salmon-canning factory in Alaska.
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In 1925, Moncado founded the precursor to the FCWA called the Filipino Federation of America (FFA). Kavanagh quotes a story from the Philippines Free Press from May 1933, which said that Moncado was capable of hypnotizing “20,000 of his fellow countrymen into parting with one or two hundred thousand pesos a year…”
Moncado ran for the Philippine Senate in 1932 and established a branch of the FFA in the Philippines as a precursor to his campaign. It was around this time, according to the Philippines Free Press, that the organization started making plans to build its own building “on a 10-hectare piece of land within the limits of his city (Cebu). It will be constructed by the Moncado member-voters at a cost of P25,000.” He failed in his bid to win a seat in the Senate.
It was after World War 2 when Moncado founded the FCWA. Kavanagh writes that Moncado also stated appearing in public wearing army uniform and calling himself a “five-star general,” and eventually, giving himself a promotion to a six-star general. He also ran for President in 1946, pushing for the Philippines to be granted Dominion Status by the U.S. He lost to Manuel Roxas. Afterwards he returned to the U.S. where he became a prominent leader of the Filipino community in the West Coast.
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According to Kavanagh, Moncado tried many times to obtain U. S. citizenship but was unsuccessful. Eventually he and his wife Diana Toy were ordered to leave the country. The couple took up residence in Mexico, where he passed away on April 8, 1956 at the age of 57.
A view of the Moncado Hotel
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At the time of his death, Moncado had already established colonies not just in Cebu, but in places like Dansalan in Lanao Del Sur and Samal Island in Davao. “In these colonies, men and women who regard Moncado as a god subject themselves to a most rigorous ascetism, abstaining from all cooked food and meat and sustaining themselves on peanuts, papaya, bananas, and certain types of vegetables,” Kavanagh writes. “The men cut neither their hair nor their beards and devote themselves with surprising diligence and earnestness to farming. They sell the greater part of what they raise and from the proceeds make substantial contributions to the Moncado organization. What inspires such self-denial is a mystery.”
Visiting the Moncado Colony
I arrived at the FCWA compound onboard a habal-habal (informal motorcycle taxi) just before 11 a.m. Although the roads were relatively decent, there were still rocky unpaved stretches that were punishing to the gluteal muscles, to say the least. A rusty iron gate bore a sign that said it was closed 24 hours a day, while another one said curfew hours were observed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.
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A bearded sentry wearing olive-green fatigues inside the guard house asked me to write my name in the guest logbook while he radioed someone inside. I was asked to pay a visitor’s fee of P25, and, a few minutes later, I was ushered inside the gate by a kindly woman wearing a yellow shirt, who asked me to follow her. I could hear people singing what sounded like worship songs inside the Moncado Hotel as I walked inside.
Statues of three important men in the history of the FCWA: General Federico E. Jayme, Hilario Moncado, and Lorenzo Delos Reyes
PHOTO: PJ Cana
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The lady led me through a makeshift spectator stand facing a small stage and then on to an open area where there are life-size statues of three men. The first was of “Five Star General Federico E. Jayme,” whose plaque reads: Supreme Commander-in-Chief Forces in the World, Philippine American Guerillas 1941-1945. Directed by Magdalena L. Jayme.”
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The statue in the middle is of Moncado himself. “Commander-in-Chief, Filipino Crusaders World Army Inc. Phil-American Guerrillas (sic) 1941-1945. Erected by Federico Jayme Moncado Colony, Sudlon National Park, March 14, 1945.”
The final statue is of “Mr. Lorenzo Delos Reyes, Director of Spiritual Division.” The plaque also contained a list of sponsors who I could only assume paid for the statue.
The lady continued walking towards the hill where concrete steps were built onto the side. A sign on the right identified the area as the FCWA Botanical Garden.
It’s a steep climb and about halfway up the lady stopped and asked me to continue without her. She said there would be someone up at the top who would meet me. Confused I just obeyed and continued climbing the stairs. There was an abandoned building about three-quarters of the way up; only concrete walls and windows overgrown with weeds were left of what had once probably been a house or a place of worship.
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From here I had a bird’s-eye view of the Moncado Hotel. I could see a few people gathered outside the main entrance and could still hear the faint sounds of a worship song. Further out the compound is surrounded by open fields and trees.
The FCWA compound is located on the foot of a hill where stairs have been built
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I continued my climb and realized that there was nobody out here. I felt the first faint signs of panic and dread but told myself not to worry. It’s the middle of the day in a strange place populated by a group of people belonging to a strange organization. What could go wrong?
Finally, in a concrete platform near the top of the hill I saw a woman wearing a white dress fiddling with her mobile phone. I approached her and she introduced herself as my guide during this visit. Debra (not her real name) asked how I came to know about the place. I told her somebody told me about the Moncadistas during my last visit to Cebu a few months ago.
A bird's-eye view of the Moncado Hotel
PHOTO: PJ Cana
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“You call this the Moncado Hotel,” I said. “Is it an actual hotel? Can people stay here?”
“Yes. That’s the purpose of our (Facebook) page. If you want to stay here, you need to message the page so that we can set the time and check (if there are rooms available).” She spoke in near-perfect English. She explained that some of the members, including the current President of the FCWA, Henry Jayme, are staying at Moncado Hotel.
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Debra added that the hotel is open both to members and non-members but that prior approval from the organization’s president is required before anyone can check in.
An abandoned building near the top of the hill
I asked her if it would be possible to meet Mr. Jayme and she said people normally need an appointment to see the FCWA’s leader. Plus, it was a Sunday, and the president was busy with worship; she said he normally plays the organ during the service. By this time, two other people had joined us near the top of the hill: a man and a woman both wearing red shirts.
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A few minutes later, the second woman tells me that Mr. Jayme had agreed to meet me but only after lunch, at around 1 p.m. I checked my watch and it was already a quarter to 12 p.m., so I said I’d be more than happy to wait for him. We began our descent back to the main area of the compound, where I was led back to the gate, to a small hut where I waited for my meeting with the leader of the FCWA.
A bust of Hilario Moncado built onto the side of the hill
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Moncado’s teachings
According to Kavanagh’s obituary, Moncado’s main philosophy for the FCWA is that man is equal to God.
“Without man on earth, there is no God on Earth,” Moncado was said to have uttered. “Man’s moral is God’s human virtue. God is moral. Moral is man, and man is God.”
The Mission Bulletin, in its own statement, does not want to “convert anyone, but to tell the world the GOOD NEWS that Christ has returned,” ostensibly implying that Moncado himself is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.
The problem there is that, sometimes, Moncado’s followers often asked him “about his inability to work miracles. Why did he not show signs as Christ did when He was on earth the first time?”
A makeshift stage near the entrance of the FCWA compound
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Kavanagh again cites Mission Bulletin for the answer: “Christ as he is today will not use the power of miracles for any reason. He has learned that it did not help Him in anyway…Jesus drank wine, but nothing in the record ever mentioned of any occasion that he was drunk.”
Kavanagh also writes about Moncado’s fondness for two things: golf and beer.
“General Moncado also drinks beer like any other man next to you,” a story on Mission Bulletin says. “He never refuses a friendly offer of beer. He likes his beer very much. He drinks with you all the way and he never gets drunk.”
The writer says Moncado was an “Incurable golf addict,” and cites extensive feature stories in the Mission Bulletin, including one where the FCWA leader establishes a connection between golf and religion: “…how shall we who believe in the return of Jesus Christ find true humility? Today…General Moncado urges every follower to play the game of golf. Why? Because in golfing one learns to understand the wisdom of humility. The wisdom of humility simply means to lower one’s own significance…It is also true in golfing. The whole idea of the game is to lower the score…The lower the score, the better. The highest score is the loser. This is the wisdom of humility in golfing.”
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The swimming pool spans nearly the entire length of the Moncado Hotel
A fruitless wait
Sunday service seemed to have ended while I was waiting for my meeting with Mr. Jayme. Slowly, about a dozen worshippers started walking out of the compound, either walking past the little hut where I had been waiting along with my habal-habal driver, or riding their own motorcycle. Many of them eyed me curiously, a stranger in their midst, but did not approach. Most of the men did have long hair and untrimmed beards that reached their chests. I made my way over to a couple who looked younger than all the others as they were getting ready to climb on their motorcycle.
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“Matagal na kayo members dito?” I asked.
The man, who was starting the motorcycle, ignored me completely. The woman looked at me suspiciously while putting her helmet on.
“Oo matagal na,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Gaano na katagal?” I pressed. But I never got the answer as the pair sped away without giving me another glance.
With his long untrimmed beard, the sentry is typical of the male members of the FCWA
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As I sat back down in the little hut, I wondered if their elusiveness was just because they were wary of people they didn’t know or if it was part of the teachings of the FCWA. I added it to my list of questions for Mr. Jayme.
At about a quarter before 1 p.m., a different lady came up and gave me unfortunate news: Mr. Jayme suddenly had some pressing matters to attend to and would not be able to meet me. I pleaded and asked if I could at least just come over and say hello, but this request was rejected.
Before I got on the habal-habal, I went back inside and asked to take a picture of the sentry, who willingly obliged. I asked the lady why the men grew their hair so long; she answered that it was just a tradition of the organization, although it wasn’t a requirement.
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What about the ban on eating meat? The lady said members had been allowed to eat chicken and fish in recent years, especially during the pandemic, but that the FCWA still strongly encourages its members to adhere to a meat-free diet. I had a few more questions, but the lady said she had to go back inside the hotel.
I had been hoping to get some answers about this little corner of Cebu, about the people who choose to follow the doctrines of a man who lived nearly 70 years ago, and what sort of beliefs they carry with them today. But as I looked back at the Moncado Hotel, standing there in the harsh noontime light, I realized I was about to leave with more questions than I did than when I arrived.
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