Layon, Teofilo Arranguez (1915–2007)

By Victoria G. Lauron, and Remwil R. Tornalejo

Victoria G. Lauron

Remwil R. Tornalejo is an associate professor in the Historical-Theological department of the International Institute of Advanced Studies Seminary (AIIAS). Tornalejo has a B.A. in theology from Mountain View College, Valencia, Philippines, and M.P.S., M.Div., and M.Th. degrees from AIIAS. He had served as a pastor, Literature Ministry Seminary dean and instructor at the South Philippine Union Conference. He had served as chair of the theology department of the South Philippine Adventist College. Tornalejo completed his D.Theol. from Theological Union (ATESEA). He is married to Marilou Manatad. They have four children.

First Published: November 28, 2021

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Teofilo Arranguez Layon was a teacher, department director, and Seventh-day Adventist Church administrator for more than forty years.

Early Life

Teofilo Arranguez Layon was born on March 4, 1915, in Daan Bantayan, Cebu, in the Philippines, to Simplicio Martinez Layon and Vicenta Tumakay Arranguez.¹ He was the third child of eight siblings, namely Simprosa, Dominga, (Teofilo), Etellana, Ruben, Benjamin, Josue,² and Esther.³ The couple, Simplicio and Vicenta were major land holders who also owned a fishing industry with 15 families working under their management.⁴

They were devout Roman Catholics. In 1916, two missionary couples, the Fatteberts and Stewarts, arrived in Cebu to do missionary work.⁵ In 1917, Simprosa, their eldest child, was converted to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. As the first convert in their family, she experienced persecution from her father by burning her dress so she could not go to church on Saturday.⁶ However, Simprosa persevered and remained faithful.

Before the end of World War II, the family transferred their residence to Placer, Masbate. It was there that in the new residence that Teofilo’s parents were also converted to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.⁷ In 1926, when he was 11 years old, Teofilo was by baptized by Elder F. Chinney.⁸

Education and Marriage

Teofilo started primary education at the Bachawan Primary School, which he attended for two years. He then studied at the Paypay Primary School for another two years. He finished his elementary education in Daan Bantayan Elementary School, which was operated by the government. After he completed his elementary schooling, his parents sent him to Philippine Union Junior College (PUJC), located in Manticao, Misamis Oriental, a school operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for high school level students.⁹ He then proceeded to Philippine Union College (PUC) in Baesa, Caloocan, Manila, Philippines, for his college education for only two years. From PUC, he continued to study in Southwestern Colleges, Cebu City. He earned a high school diploma from Philippine Union Junior College in 1931.¹⁰

Career and Ministry

During this early period of Adventism in the Philippines, there was a great need for more workers in the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization. Just after finishing high school and barely 16 years old, Teofilo was called to work as a church school teacher in East Visayan Mission (EVM).¹¹

Four years later, he began his denominational service, and he was married to Michaela Sorizo on April 11, 1935. Michaela, a high school graduate, was a business woman who had been born in San Fernando, Cebu, on May 8, 1916. She was baptized on January 25, 1926. They were blessed with five children: Delia, Gloria, Teofilo, Jr. and Warrie.¹²

Layon worked as a church school teacher for seven years in East Visayan Mission from 1931 to 1936. He served in the same capacity in Northern Mindanao Mission from 1936 until the end of 1941. From 1941 until 1946, he worked as district leader in Northern Mindanao Mission. From 1946 to 1947, he served as Sabbath School and Personal Ministries secretary. He was then called to the same position at East Visayan Mission from October 1947 until October 1949. He was ordained to the ministry in July 1949.¹³ He was recalled by Northern Mindanao Mission to serve as Sabbath School and Personal Ministries director from October 1949 until April 1953. After that, he served in the same function at West Visayan Mission until February 1956. In that same mission (WVM) in 1956, he was elected president and served until the end of 1957.¹⁴

From 1958 until December 1959, he served as president of Northern Mindanao Mission. He then served as Chaplain of East Visayan Mission (EVM) from 1960 to 1961. But during the following year in 1962 in that same mission, he was elected president and served until 1963. From 1964 to 1967, he served as president in the Northern Mindanao Mission. From 1968 until the end of 1971, he was president of Southern Mindanao Mission (SMM).¹⁵

Due to impaired health, he applied for retirement and sustentation in 1972, and that was eventually approved on April 1, 1972. Pastor Teofilo A. Layon served in different positions in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao mission fields for 42 years of faithful active service.¹⁶

Later Life

Once his retirement was approved, he immediately went to America in June 1972 and lived with one of his children in Missouri. Then in 1979, he moved to San Bernardino, Los Angeles, California, and assisted in the business establishment of his son, Teofilo, Jr.¹⁷

Though retired from active duty in the Seventh-day Adventist Church organization in the Philippines, he was still actively involved in the church activities of the Loma Linda Filipino Church from 1979 to 1988. Then in 1989, he founded the Waterman Visayan Filipino Church in California.¹⁸ From 1989-2007, he remained an active patriarch and spiritual adviser of that church until his death on December 11, 2007.¹⁹

Contribution

Layon demonstrated dedication and commitment to the gospel ministry, especially during the difficult and challenging times of the pioneering work in the Visayas and Mindanao. His leadership during the formative years of Adventism there had resulted in the steady growth of the church membership in the region. He served the Adventist Church for more than 40 years.

Sources

“Biennial Session Nominating Committee Report.” Far Eastern Division Outlook, April 1956.

Far Eastern Division Sustentation Fund Application, Teofilo Arranguez Layon, Southern Asia-Pacific Division Archives, Silang, Cavite, the Philippines.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Second revised edition. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald, 1996. S.v. “Fattebert, Ulysses Charles.”

Worker’s Record Teofilo Arranguez Layon. South Philippine Union Conference Archives, Cagayan de Oro City, the Philippines.

Notes

Worker’s Record, Teofilo Arranguez Layon, South Philippine Union Conference Archives.↩
Josue Arranguez Layon would later become a church administrator in different mission fields in the Visayas and Mindanao.↩
Emmeline Layon, niece of Teofilo Arranguez Layon, interview by Victoria Lauron, July 2017, Davao City.↩
Ibid.↩
Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 2^nd Rev. Ed (1996), s.v. “Fattebert, Ulysses Charles.”↩
Edwin Villarin, a relative of Josue Arranguez Layon, interview by Victoria Lauron, July 2017, Davao, City.↩
Emmeline Layon, niece of Teofilo Arranguez Layon, interview by Victoria Lauron, July 2017, Davao City.↩
Worker’s Service Record.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩
Far Eastern Division Sustentation Fund Application, Teofilo Arranguez Layon, Southern Asia-Pacific Division Archives. See also “Biennial Session Nominating Committee Report,” Far Eastern Division Outlook, April 1956, 5.↩
Far Eastern Division Sustentation Fund Application, Teofilo Arranguez Layon.↩
Ibid.↩
Emmeline Layon, niece of Teofilo Arranguez Layon, interview by Victoria Lauron, July 2017, Davao City.↩
Ibid.↩
Ibid.↩