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The two-storey apartment appears as you go past a fork road on Bautista Street in Makati. It’s easy to miss, but for a lone flag waving from the second floor. It’s got six colorful stripes — red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. It’s a flag for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and on the second floor of this apartment is the temporary headquarters of the Metropolitan Community Church in the Philippines, an ecumenical church for non-heterosexuals who have felt excluded from the country’s predominantly Catholic churchgoers. Apart from Makati, it also has chapters in Quezon City, Marikina, Olongapo and Baguio.
Here in Makati, Edgar Constantino is the flock leader. “You’re welcome here as long as you believe in God,” he tells Coconuts Manila. This Sunday, there are 10 people in the room, all fit gay men wearing body-conscious shirts, shorts and flashy sneakers. There is only one lesbian in the crowd, Myla, who also happens to be the landlord. The furniture have been pushed against the wall to make away for a makeshift altar, decorated to reflect a feminine touch.
Constantino, 44, has been the church’s pastor for the past five years. Today, his homily is about the coming Holy Week. “Ano ba ang meron sa Mindoro, sa Puerto Galera,” he asks. “Bakit tayo laging anduon tuwing Holy Week?” There was embarrassed laughter, a light discussion on ‘caves,’ until someone bravely answered, “Pasingtabi lang po, Pastor, pero sex. Maraming sex duon.”
The room goes abuzz, and Constantino acknowledges the honest answer. Then he gets to the point quickly: He reminds everyone that God died to save us; that it’s fine to commit sin, but it isn’t if you keep repeating it.
Homily is a lively discussion with Constantino leaving the altar, coming closer to the crowd and engaging them.
Unlike the Catholic Church, MCC Makati doesn’t have a formal or strict observance of Holy Week. “It’s really up to our members how they want to observe and celebrate it,” says Egay. “If they want to do Visita Iglesia, puwede. If they want to do a pabasa, go. We’re looking at the holiday as a chance to spend time with our families, or with our partners, or just to rest,” says Constantino, who will be spending Holy Week with his partner and either of their families.
Except for Palm and Easter Sunday services, which are the big Holy Week events for MCC, the rest of the week is an opportunity for him to rest and assess his role as the pastor of a gay church. Being a pastor, he says, is all about service. “Hindi ako nakapag-aral ng Theology, I only have my experiences as a Bible study leader but being a pastor, it’s about being a servant, di ba?” he says. “You have to be willing to serve.”
Constantino found himself in the unique position five years ago, when an issue of succession threatened the church to close down. “Our senior pastor was already stepping down, pero walang susunod sa kanya. Sabi niya, let’s close the church kung walang kukuha ng position. I prayed. I said, Lord, saan pa kami pupunta? Hindi na puwedeng babalik pa kami sa churches namin. So bigla akong nag-raise ng hand. Sabi ko, ‘ako na lang.’”
All he has is his experiences as a leader of a bible study group, but Constantino has been successful in leading his MCC Makati flock for five years now
Egay says it doesn’t matter what you know, as long as you’re willing to serve and guide a flock that’s long been looking and searching for spiritual guidance. “Maraming bakla ang nangangailangan ng church na mag-e-embrace sa kanila nang walang discrimination,” he says.
So far, it’s been good. His constant prayer is for the Holy Spirit to guide him in his role. “I prayed na gawing balanced yung community. Kung 10 ang gays ko, 10 din sana ang lesbians. And alam mo, unti-unti na siyang lumalago.” He’s proud that during his tenure, MCC Makati has been able to celebrate anniversaries. “We gathered old and new members, booked a hotel ballroom, and enjoy,” he shares. Through all this, he says a prayer of thanks.
It is one of the things he always reminds his community. You have to keep praying, he says, and then he teaches them how: without a doubt, and with a faithful and grateful heart.
“Isa yan sa mga ina-advocate ko sa kanila,” he later tells us. “Nakita ko na, eh. Napatunayan ko na,” Egay says. Growing up, his father used to molest him, while his brother beat him up. So at 16, he left home in Bulacan to go to Metro Manila. In the city, he took on odd jobs, surviving on his own. There wasn’t anyone to turn to but God, he says. “Ako lang at siya. Isipin mo, hindi ako nakapagtapos, pero narating ko ang supervisory level sa trabaho ko. Nakakatulong na ako sa family ko. Napapag-aral ko na nga ang mga pamangkin ko eh. Ni walang hatred sa puso ko for my father or my brother. Natulungan talaga ako ng Diyos. It’s a very personal relationship I have with him.”
His is a very personal relationship with God. “Natulungan na talaga ako ng Diyos,” Constantino says
Constantino likes to quote John 3:16. “Yun lang naman talaga. For God so loved the world.” He says MCC always meets opposition, especially from hardcore Christians, but at the end of the day, that’s what Christ preached. “Hindi mo na kailangan makipag-debate.” It’s a direct reaction to the discrimination a lot of the their members have experienced in their previous churches. “Like me, I was discriminated upon by my church,” he says.
Previously, he was a born-again Christian, already leading a Bible study group. But he was made to give up his leadership role because of his sexual preference. “They confronted me about it. I told them, ‘yes I am gay.’ And then they said, ‘I-stop muna natin yung pagiging leader mo. Baka daw kasi makahawa ako. Umiyak ako nun. Hindi naman ‘ata sakit ang pagiging bakla na I can pass it on to my group? Kung si Jesus nga, hindi nag-di-discriminate, bakit dito may boundaries?”
So he left. He had heard about MCC before, but not always in a good light. “Sabi ko, hindi ba makasalanan ang mga iyan?” But his spiritual needs won and, in 2005, Egay finally joined the community he now leads.
“We are here for those who have been rejected by the church,” Vince, a MCC Makati member says. Members don’t need to worry about being judged for what they are wearing, for instance, or attending Sunday service with their boyfriends or girlfriends. “Sa dati naming church, kung makatitig ang ibang parishioners…”
A warm and very friendly peace be with you
They don’t need to worry about conversion, too, because MCC won’t ask that from them, nor do they need to fret about missing a service — “Mag-attend ang gusto mag-attend. Kung hindi ka puwede, eh di hindi ka puwede.” This is also why, ultimately, the observance of Holy Week is really up to the members.
Belongingness, acceptance, and even tolerance are what MCC preaches. Which is what people come to them for, and what members can attest to. “Wag na tayong palaliman ng knowledge,” Constantino says, unimpressed with big words and big theories. “Aanhin pa ang intellectual kung wala naman sa practice di ba? Sa practice na lang tayo. I always tell them, i-share natin what we can, even yung mumunting knowledge na meron tayo.”
Sharing of treasure, talent, and time, he continues, is exactly what service is all about. It is what binds the community, and what allows them to have outreach programs — help members who have HIV, for instance — and hold fun activities, like celebrating the church’s anniversary.
On our visit, we witness how tight-knit the community has become — peace is a firm handshake with a first-timer or a warm hug and/or a beso from a regular. During the Lord’s Prayer, everybody gathers around in a circle, hands clasped in a chain. During the sermon, Constantino allows and even encourages attendees to participate. And they do. In that tiny second-floor space, it’s easy to feel what MCC is celebrating: love and acceptance.
Photos: Tammy David
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