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Gregorio Labayan Aglipay was born on May 8, 1860 in Batac, Ilocos Norte, an orphan who grew up in the tobacco fields in the last volatile decades of the Spanish occupation of the Philippines. He bore deep grievances against the Spanish, stemming from abuses within the agricultural system and the radical ecclesiastical reforms he championed.

Arrested at fourteen for not meeting his tobacco quota, he later moved to Manila to study law at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran and at the University of Santo Tomas. After obtaining his degree, he then entered the seminary in Ilocos Sur in 1883 and was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood seven years later. He began a career as an assistant priest in various parishes around Luzon.

In 1896, the Philippine Revolution broke out and his political and ideological loyalties were clear. Emilio Aguinaldo appointed him military priest in 1898; he was then officially excommunicated by the Vatican and Roman Catholic authorities. He called on Filipino clergy to unite against Spain, and in 1899, the Church indicted him of inciting rebellion. He was appointed bishop of the new Filipino Church, the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, thereby permanently severing ties with the Vatican.

He represented Ilocos Norte in the first independent Philippine Congress, convened in Malolos, Bulacan in 1898, before the United States bought the country from Spain and sent forces to reoccupy and colonize the islands. The Philippine-American War promptly began and Aglipay served as a guerrilla leader in the Ilocos Region. He surrendered in Laoag, Ilocos Norte in 1901, as the United States officially declared the ending of hostilities.

The Philippine Independent Church, later known as the Aglipayan Church, was announced in 1902 and in the next three decades, Aglipay fought for Filipino independence through the political process. He ran for the presidency of the Commonwealth of the Philippines in 1935, but lost to Manuel Quezon. He married in 1939 (the new church allows married clergy), but died the following year on September 1, 1940.