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Tracing roots is church's
reply to US-led war
Posted: 2:27 AM (Manila Time) | October
24, 2001
By Jovelyn Reyes
Inquirer News Service
 IF
you don't want war, start digging up your family roots.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has opened its largest
genealogical library all over the world, including a branch in its
church in Baguio City, to help people search for connections between
races.
The United States-based religious group's largest library, called the Genealogical Library, is located in Utah, the center of the Mormon religion.
"This is our way to (at least) prevent the possible making of the world into a war zone," Danilo Quinto, president of the Baguio Church of Latter Day Saints, said.
Ironically, the anti-war sentiment is being offered by this US-based religion, after US President George W. Bush declared his government's war against global terrorism.
Quinto said the genealogy test being conducted by the church in its Family History Center aims to trace the roots of every person to as far back as 1500.
A sample genealogical search by church personnel here traced one family root in Benguet to as far back as 1800 while another one traced her ancestors to as far back as 1300 using the church's genealogical library.
"How can you destroy a nation when you know your ancestors came from (a certain) nation… (or destroy) a person if you know your ancestors are related to that person?" Quinto said.
Through genealogy, he said, some of the country's most prominent personalities had traced their roots to other countries.
"Ancestors of former President Corazon Aquino and national hero Dr. Jose Rizal were both from China," he said.
Quinto said the test could prove that all people actually came from only one family tree.
"There's no reason for war if we know that we all came from one family," he said.
He said they have preserved public records and documented oral history in the country through microfilm.
Quinto said they have collected birth, baptismal, marriage and death records from different Philippine churches since the 1500s and have formed these as part of the data in their genealogical library.
"Offered as a free service to our city, visitors to the center can conduct research on their ancestors by using microfilmed records dating to as far back as the 1500s… At the center, well-trained family history consultants will be available to answer questions and help in guiding those who wish to research on their ancestors," a church information sheet said.
Quinto said copies of all genealogical microfilms in the world are preserved in the Utah Genealogical Library.
"We have a record of every Filipino regardless of age, sex and religion," he said.
In the Cordillera, at least 75 percent of public records, which were gathered only after World War II, are available in the center.
"We found it very difficult to gather all the data because tribe ancestors did not keep written documents," Flor Cabrito of the church's Family History Center said.
But she said they had started putting all oral genealogies on record and had microfilmed at least 30 percent of them.
In the Mt. Province, Cabrito said they have found that people in the early times are only known by their first names.
"We relied on civil records documented by the Spanish colonizers in the 1800s," she said.
The center, Cabrito said, keeps some 400 microfilms that are enough to trace the roots of more than 100,000 people.
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Wednesday October 24, 2001, Philippines
