The Manila Philippines Temple Preserved Through the 1989 Coup — Shelled on Every Side, Unmarked but for One Bullet Hole

During the attempted military coup to overthrow Philippine president Corazon Aquino in December 1989, nearly a week of heavy fighting between rebel and loyal government troops claimed many lives. A principal site of the fighting was Camp Aguinaldo, which adjoins the Manila Philippines Temple.

Rebel soldiers breached the temple gate and occupied the temple grounds, exchanging almost continuous gunfire with government troops. A government helicopter gunship strafed the vicinity; an air force plane dropped bombs that hit the nearby residence house; bomb fragments broke windows in the temple annex. Six mortar or rocket shells exploded inside the temple grounds — from their trajectory, the temple president concluded that some had passed between the spires of the temple itself.

The five Filipino employees on the grounds took cover in the temple and worked to keep the soldiers from entering it, praying for strength and for the temple to be spared. Throughout the Philippines, it was fast Sunday: the members were praying and fasting for the temple, the members, and the missionaries.

Facing a planned 11:00 P.M. assault with armored vehicles, heavy mortars, and 150 soldiers that would have destroyed the annex, the rebels instead melted away during the night. Monday morning's inspection found shrapnel marks and broken windows on the north annex, but none of its locked rooms had been entered; the temple itself was not damaged and had not been entered. When Elder Dallin H. Oaks inspected the temple personally months later, it was completely unmarked except for one bullet hole — apparently a single stray rifle shot — at the top of the highest steeple. The temple opened for normal sessions the next day.

A letter later revealed that the Philippine ambassador to the United States, Emmanuel Pelaez, had worked behind the scenes to urge the military to spare the sacred building — Elder Oaks concluded the Lord had worked behind the scenes through government servants to save His house. As the mission president wrote: “an unseen army of angels assisted faithful temple guards that the temple was not desecrated.” Elder Oaks recorded in his journal: “I consider this a miracle of divine intervention no less impressive than many recorded in holy writ.”

Fuller account of this event (as retold in The Manila Philippines Temple, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints):

Dignardino Espi, lead security officer at the Manila Philippines Temple, was apprehensive as he arrived for work on the evening of December 1, 1989. Earlier that day, armed men in Manila had staged a revolt, throwing the city into chaos. It was the seventh attempt to overthrow the Philippine government in four years. Around one o’clock in the morning, government troops set up a roadblock at an intersection near the temple. A few hours later, a tank plowed through the roadblock, damaging the wall around the temple. Later that afternoon, Dignardino spoke with temple president Floyd Hogan and area president George I. Cannon over the phone. President Cannon advised him and the staff to take shelter inside the temple. A short time later, the phone lines went dead. As violence erupted in the street, Dignardino and the other security officers recruited the temple’s two custodians to help them keep the building and its grounds safe. Seeking shelter from government fire, a group of men soon broke open the temple gates. Dignardino tried to compel them to leave, but they refused.