Laymen Ministries mission work in the Philippines began in 1996. In early 1999, Jim
and
Moni Webb 
volunteered as interim project directors to take the project into its next phase. Their “temporary”
stay has lasted 21 years!
For 24 years, Laymen Ministries Philippines has been working with the animistic, indigenous Katutubo
tribe of Occidental Mindoro, Philippines. When we first
began working with this people group, no native had ever been to school; there had never been a doctor
visiting their villages. As other people groups moved into their ancestral land, the Katutubo natives were
pushed further and further into the mountains.
We are very thankful that we now have four elementary schools for the children of this tribe, three of
which are in very remote areas accessible only by boat or foot. We also operate the only exclusive boarding
high school 
for natives, and there is a 4th
grade school at the base of the mountain that is home to this academy campus. The total student body in all
of our schools is now 200+. “Change comes difficult,” as Jim Webb says, but God has blessed our efforts, and
we are honored to have the first two native high school graduates attending major universities here in the
Philippines. Our High-school
(academy) is located on 75 acres on
top of a mountain. This property allows room for our growing student body, plus land for an extensive
agricultural program, mission training, practical skills, as well as providing a secluded and healthier
environment for the students.
After re-fitting used local boats for our use, which we outgrew and repaired until they were no longer
repairable, we recently built a new boat, which is called Laymen
Ministries III
, to serve our schools
in the remote villages.
As part of this project, every year we send young adults
(i.e. student missionaries) to these
remote villages to teach the Katutubo children in our
village schools
. We have had young people come from
America, South Africa, Brazil, Honduras, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia. The Katutubo villagers, which
used to be ruled by animist beliefs and laden with disease and filth, have been transformed through
education and freedom through Christ. While the older
people
are often set in their
ways, the younger generation are finally breaking the
mold of superstition, poor hygiene, and illiteracy.
Laymen Ministries Philippines also operates a full-time prison ministry at the Sablayan Prison
, one of the largest prisons in the
Philippines, with five facilities covering some 62,000 acres. The prison facility and farm are made up of
minimum-, medium-, and maximum-security facilities. Two full-time lay-workers, Louie Benitez and his
co-worker Abel Miralles
, train and
encourage inmates to reach their fellow inmates for Christ. This is an extremely successful program. Over
the years, we have had over 1,000 inmate baptisms
. A number of these inmates, after
being released, come back as
prison ministry volunteers to help encourage their former fellow inmates!
We have built two churches inside the prisons. Louie and Abel pick up volunteers (local church members) and
other prison ministry volunteers in the our Jeepney every Sabbath and take them to the churches. This
ministry has brought hundreds of prisoners to the Lord, and even some prison guards.
