The Pearl of the Orient Covenant Reformed Church (POCRC) is a small confessional Reformed denomination composed of six organized churches and several mission points. POCRC, formerly known as the United Covenant Reformed Church in the Philippines (UCRCP), was started in 2005 by three pastors – Rev. Edwin Puzon, Rev. Nap Narag, and Rev. Rey Domingo. These three pastors were ministers with the Christian Reformed Church in the Philippines (CRCP) but were so grieved by the disregard of the Holy Scripture and the Reformed confessions in the denomination in favor of modern social trends and liberalism.

Since 2001 these three men were in email contact with Mr. Nollie Malabuyo, who was then a seminary student at Westminster Seminary in California. Eventually, after seminary, Mr. Malabuyo and his family came to Manila as a missionary with the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) and started planting a church. He also met several times with these three pastors and others who were interested to learn the Reformed faith. He taught them Reformed doctrines, worship, and practices.

As a result of these meetings, the United Covenant Reformed Churches in the Philippines was born in 2005. With the help of ministers from the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) these three pastors were examined as far as their Reformed orthodoxy is concerned. They were able to sustain their examinations and eventually ordained in the ministry. Mission churches were started in Las Piñas City in Metro Manila, San Carlos City in Pangasinan province, and Calauan in Laguna province. These three newly ordained ministers, together with Rev. Malabuyo, took charge of the mission churches until these became organized congregations.

In 2009, the Davao Covenant Reformed Church in Davao City in the island of Mindanao joined the UCRCP which also marked the organization of the first, and so far, the only Classis in the denomination. In 2010, after being examined and sustaining his ordination examination, Vic Bernales was called and ordained by the pastors and elders of the denomination to minister to the small Davao City congregation.

There were also set backs and growth pains in the denomination. In 2009, Rev. Rey Domingo left and migrated to Canada. This hurt the young denomination with two ordained pastors left to serve the four churches. Early in 2015, the congregation in Las Piñas City in Metro Manila also left the denomination together with Rev. Edwin Puzon. This leaves us with three organized churches with two ordained ministers.

In August 2014, the denomination has decided to register it with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under its new name, the Pearl of the Orient Covenant Reformed Church (POCRC). The congregation in San Carlos City, Pangasinan spearheaded this move.

In spite of the great need for qualified pastors, the Lord has provided faithful elders in the churches who are willing to take up pastoral work and shepherd the congregations. Also, through various providences, the Lord has brought our denomination into contact with another church in Malolos City, Bulacan that is learning Reformed theology. This church is eager to learn and embrace the Reformed faith. Through the various meetings and trainings of our leaders and the Malolos City church leaders, we were able to organize the congregation in Malolos City in the province of Bulacan in 2016. They then called Pastor Edmund Delos Reyes as their minister whom the denomination ordained and installed as the minister of the Malolos City Church in 2017 after he was examined by the Classis.

A few years after, the denomination started to help another church in San Ildefonso, Bulacan that was also going through reformation in its doctrine and practice. Through the leadership of Pastor Cris Santos and under the oversight of the consistory of Malolos City church, the Shepherd’s Heart Covenant Reformed Church (SHCRC) was eventually organized. Pastor Cris Santos was eventually called by the congregation and was installed as the pastor in 2020.

Meanwhile, another congregation in Agusan del Norte in Mindanao island came into contact with the denomination. Under the oversight of the Davao Covenant Reformed Church, another congregation in Agusan del Sur was organized. After the Classis has examined Pastor Rockie Simbajon and declared him eligible for call, he was installed as the pastor of the congregation there together with Mr. Florante Natad as its only elder.