Formed on Dec. 27, 1925 in Los Angeles, the FFA, popularly known as the Moncadista, was a quasi-religious organization and a mutual aid society that counted among its members Filipi-no plantation workers in Hawaii and the former sacadas (sugar cane plantation laborers) that had made California their home. Its spiritual beliefs were reflective of the strong mystical sym-bolism embraced in Filipino folk beliefs and practices with the founder as the spiritual master, the “brown Christ,” whom his followers believed was the Filipino messiah.
The Moncadistas, like most sects, undergo spiritual initiation against danger and tempta-tion, and, as part of purification, undertake sacrifices such as fasting, abstinence, and commun-ing with nature.
During the Commonwealth period, Moncado and his wards established a colony in Samal, which would become the seat of the Moncadista, a belief system named after its founder Hilario Camino Moncado but embracing the fundamentals of Christianity.
The sect, which was under the Filipino Crusaders World Army (FCWA), was divided into twelve divisions and its central headquarter was once lavish Moncado residence, a wooden mansion sitting on a 19-hectare land at Limao, known as Camp 19, that is locally called the ‘White House’ for obvious reason.
Originally, there were three Moncadista communities in Mindanao, two of which are found in Samal Island. In 1965, the Moncado settlement at Babak, which is adjacent to the town prop-er, used to host approximately two hundred families. It was the headquarters of the Equi-frilibricom World Religion, Inc. Among the early believers the Babak cluster was known the “material division.”
In the later years, the sect’s influence could be observed to have expanding. A testament to the growth of the community was the establishment of the Samal Institute where most of the enrollees were Moncadistas. On the political side, one of the cult’s directors was even appointed mayor of the place.
The Moncado settlement at Limao, which is smaller than Babak, had forty-two families oc-cupying a 46-hectare hillside. It hosted the Moncadian Church of the Philippines, Inc. and was popularly known as the “spiritual division” which is mainly active in religious activities in con-trast to the more liberal “material division.” The women who belonged to the Moncado Alpha and Omega Settlement, the cult’s third settlement on New Israel, Makilala, Cotabato, wore less jewels and lipsticks. (Interestingly, Two of Marawi City’s barangays are satellites named Moncado Colony and Moncado Kadingilan.)
Moncadistas were known to eat mostly raw food. In the Limao settlement, followers were observed to have no stoves for cooking, although some domiciles had some kind of dirty kitch-en for boiling water. Unlike in Babak, members drank coconut wine (tuba) before and during meals or smoke after eating. This influence is attributed to their close contact with the nearby community. Those residing in the Limao cluster, however, had distinct practices.
A masteral thesis written some fifty years ago described the Moncadistas lifestyle, thus:
“[They] do not eat anything that moves. They do not use Purico [a brand of lard], patis [fish sauce], or salt. Coffee, chocolate, or tea is taboed [sic] because they have been heated. Wine, bread, or margarine is taboed [sic] too, because they have been processed through heat. But in-sonsistency [sic] is noted when their Director allows them to take soft drinks. Anyone is put out of the settlement who takes anything taboed [sic] by the Director. They are required to follow their Director.
“All Moncadistas are allowed to have seaweeds, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, rice, corn, rootcrops, taosi [salted beans], vinegar, condiments, and soft drinks. All taboed [are the] four-legged animal meat, wine and smoking. Differences have been noted in certain cases as in canned milk which is taken by both Babac and New Israel Moncadistas. However, the latter do not take fresh milk but those in Babac do. Again, the raw food eaters in Babac take bread, mar-garine, canned and fresh milk, coffee, tea, or chocolate, but the raw food eaters of Limao do not take any of these… [The] strictness or liniency [sic] of the Director and the adherence of the members to set regulations cause these differences.”
The cult’s influence in the adjacent communities, during its height, was minimal. Still, it gained adherents despite their strict advocacy for raw vegetarian practices. The group did not grow in number given the many assertions its members claimed. Early members sported long hairs and long beards, originally thought to represent the “shadow” of the face of God, but have since been set aside. Instead, Moncado’s believers, numbering a few thousands in 2011, embrace a philosophy that is attuned to Christian teachings. Today, the FCWA does not openly convert anyone despite the admission of few applicants; it has concentrated its efforts in having mem-bers with deep faith.
After the war, Moncado joined politics, running for President of the republic in 1946 against eventual winner Manuel Roxas and former Commonwealth President Sergio Osmeña. Garner-ing very low score in the polls, that was his only foray into politics. He died in 1956 at age 58.
