Nilo Tayag


Nilo Tayag is a Filipino bishop of the Philippine Independent Church. He co-founded, along with Jose Maria Sison and others, the Maoist youth group Kabataang Makabayan in the 1960s. He was the group's secretary-general and national chairman until he was arrested on June 12, 1970 in San Pablo, Laguna. Detained along with Benito Tiamzon, Jesus Lava and other left-wing personalities at the Youth Rehabilitation Center in Fort Bonifacio, he was released in 1981 or 1982 after pleading guilty to the charge of subversion.
After being released from prison, Tayag undertook theology studies with the Philippine Independent Church where he was ordained a priest in 1989 and later consecrated bishop in 1993. He was a prominent supporter of Rodrigo Duterte during the latter's campaign for the Presidency and is a member of the "Democratic Front for Filipinism", a group supporting Duterte's "revolution against illegal drugs, the oligarchs and the exploiters of the Filipino masses."