SALT LAKE CITY-Wednesday, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the groundbreaking date for its temple at Bacoclod, Philippines.

The groundbreaking ceremony is slated for Saturday December 11.

Presiding at the event will be Elder Taniela B. Wakolo of the Seventy. Attendance at the site will be by invitation only.

The Bacoclod Philippines Temple was announced in October 2019 by Church President Russell M. Nelson.

It is to be a single-story temple consisting of 26,700 square feet on a 12.3-acre site.

It will be located on the Bacoclod Airport Access Road north of Buri Road.

The temple will also consist of an ancillary building (roughly 18,000 square feet), patron housing, an arrival center and a distribution center.

The Philippines consists of 805,209 Latter-day Saints in 115 stakes. There are presently two operative temples in the Philippines, at Manila (1984) and Cebu City (2010).

Other temples in the Philippines that are under construction or announced include Alabang (under construction), Cagayan de Oro (under construction), Tacloban City (announced) and Urdaneta (under construction).