Captivated by Cebu's Colonial Churches (Part 6)

One of the time-honored traditions that Filipinos follow during Lent is the visita iglesia, the Spanish phrase for “church visits”. For Catholics, this is the time for remembering Christ’s sacrifices, a time for repentance, redemption and renewal of commitment to follow the Christian ideals. The visits have also become an occasion for Filipino families to gather and go out together in commemorating the passion of Christ. 

Christ carrying the Cross

  

Done every Holy Thursday, the faithful flock head for seven churches in various locations to say their prayers while following the Stations of the Cross. Breaking tradition, I staged my own visita iglesia for two consecutive days, Good Friday and Black Saturday, to some of the most amazing centuries-old churches in one of the country’s bastions of Christianity: the island province of Cebu.

The church visits to the southern part of the province, which I’ve been doing, not only during the Lenten season, have become a pilgrimage of sorts, enriching me not only spiritually but also enhancing my knowledge of history, culture and the arts. For woven into the facades, walls, towers, ceilings, naves, pilasters, windows and altars of these houses of worship are the historical and socio-cultural heritage of the Filipinos.

St. Therese of Avila Church in Talisay City

This Holy Week, I was able to embark on my visita iglesia to the churches of two cities (Talisay and Naga) and two towns (Naga and San Fernando) along the province’s southeastern heritage trail, in addition to the ones I’ve visited these past few years—the coastal towns of Argao, Dalaguete, Boljoon, Oslob and one of Cebu’s heritage cities, Carcar.  

St. Isidore the Farmer Church in San Fernando

Though I wasn’t able to cover seven churches during my recent sojourn to the province, the visits to the selected houses of prayer have gone a long way in making me feel closer to Christ as I, along with other pilgrims, vicariously accompanied him in his suffering and anguish. Here then is the lowdown on my visita iglesia to some of south Cebu’s wonderful churches:

Talisay City. Founded as a pueblo in 1849, the now bustling city of Talisay was once an estate owned by the Augustinians in the 1640s. Named after the tree species called magtalisay, Talisay has experienced recently an unprecedented boom in real estate development owing to the construction of a six-lane coastal road that fast-tracks the southern towns’ access to the provincial capital, Cebu City. 

I’ve been wanting to explore Talisay mainly because it is home to one of Cebu’s oldest churches—St. Therese of Avila Church. Neatly tucked within a maze of interior roads, I had a hard time finding this church unlike the others which could be easily located as they’re mostly situated along the national highway. With a lot of help from my phone’s tracking app, however, I managed to find it.

St. Therese of Avila Church, one of the few Graeco-Roman churches in the country 

 

Started in 1836, it took twelve years for this house of worship to be completed. Made of coral stones, the church was originally cruciform in shape with one main nave and short semi-round transepts. Two massive-looking belfries capped with red domes flank the church’s recessed façade.

A foyer with a balustraded portico above it leads to the main entrance. The interiors of the stone church especially the presbytery and the transepts are adorned with carvings painted in gold and blue. There are about five gilded altars, including the main altar, each of them featuring an icon. A large round chandelier hangs in the middle.

One of Talisay Church's side altars

One of the few remaining Graeco-Roman religious structures in the country, the 167-year old house of worship lost much of its heritage features after it was heavily damaged by aerial bombings during World War II. With only its façade and lateral walls intact, it underwent major restoration in 1950.

Efforts are currently ongoing to restore a portion of the church that was severely damaged by the strong quake that hit Central Visayas in 2013.

Naga City. Known as Cebu’s oldest town, Naga (not to be confused with the capital city of Camarines Sur) was founded as a pueblo in 1829. Lying within the Cebu metropolitan area, the city’s name is said to have been derived from narra, the country’s national tree which used to be abundant there.

Naga is the Industrial Capital of South Cebu

In recent years, the city has evolved into south Cebu’s industrial hub brought about by the establishment of several manufacturing and industrial plants, including power generation, cement manufacturing, semi- conductor and crystals processing, shoe-making, wood processing, marble production, to name some.

Entering the poblacion, visitors would surely notice an odd-looking Baroque church found along the highway just across the town hall and plaza—St. Francis of Assisi Church. Built in 1839, the house of worship was named in honor of the city’s patron saint whose huge statue adorns the patio adjacent to the church. 

Two small minaret-like domes stand on each side of the façade. Seeing them, I was reminded of the same structures featured in St. Catherine of Alexandria Church in Carcar City. 

When I first saw the church’s imposing structure a few years ago, I was readily drawn to the striking bas reliefs adorning its facade—cherubs playing musical instruments,  miniature columns, rosettes and floral designs arranged symmetrically at the pediment—a unique fusion of Islamic and Mexican artwork.

Meanwhile, the Naga Church’s stand-alone belfry, which I surmised was added more recently, seemed out-of-character to the church’s Baroque character. I learned later that the original bell tower and portions of the church were damaged during World War II and that the new belfry was constructed only in 1979.

The whitewashed church has a simple interior with a dropped ceiling bearing geometric patterns. The retablo is gilded and so are the cornices adorning the Corinthian pillars and side walls, perhaps to emphasize the details. Like the other churches I visited on Good Friday, the images were veiled in purple cloth.

Sadly, there seems to be little effort, if any, to preserve the church whose white paint is peeling off and bas reliefs chipping off. I think the locals should wage more efforts to preserve such an impressive edifice which speaks much of Naga’s history and its emergence as an industrial hub in that part of Cebu.

Minglanilla. It was in 1858 when the Augustinians created a pueblo out of the settlement named Buat, after the Cebuano word, buad (dried fish), which the parish priest renamed to Minglanilla after his hometown in Spain. From a sleepy fishing community of yore, the town has evolved over the years into one of the thriving residential and commercial hubs in south Cebu.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Minglanilla

Located 15 km away from Cebu City, I first laid eyes on Minglanilla a few years ago while riding a bus as it meandered along the scenic coastal road en route to Dumaguete City. One of the first things that caught my fancy was the Gothic-inspired church with its pink façade and towering spires that called to mind the beautiful Baguio Cathedral.

Seen from the highway, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, sitting on top of a hill, looked resplendent that day when I first saw it. I was smitten. I must return and explore this one, I vowed.  For this recent sojourn to Cebu, I made sure that exploring Minglanilla’s church will be part of my itinerary. 

Built by the Augustinians in 1878, the church looked heavily repainted; it could be mistaken for a newly-constructed structure. This, however, hardly diminished its Gothic charm, as manifested in its towering spires and flying buttresses that are complemented by the church’s semi-circular arched doors. 

Approaching the church, I was instantly drawn to the huge image of Christ the King adorning its façade that seemed to beckon visitors to come inside. I’m not sure though if it’s part of the original design or a recent addition. Incidentally, the church was elevated to the status of an archdiocesan shrine in 2007.

For years now, Minglanilla has been attracting a huge number of tourists who flock to the town to witness the celebration of its Sugat-Kabanhawan Festival. Kabanhawan, or “resurrection” in Cebuano commemorates Christ’s rising from the dead following his crucifixion while Sugat, or “meeting” in the vernacular, reenacts the reunion of the Risen Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Icon of Christ the King 

Held every Easter Sunday, the celebration features a string of activities that include the highly-anticipated re-enactment of the “meeting” between Christ and his mother, street dancing, an assortment of games and competitions, cultural shows and the like, all of which manifest the town’s joy and happiness.

Unfortunately, I missed this year’s festival which has been drawing the throngs because of the colorful costumes and elaborate stage production, particularly the little girls dressed as angels “flying” in harnesses—a socio-religious extravaganza that has earned for the town the title, “Sugat Capital of the South”. 

St. Isidore the Farmer Church in San Fernando

San Fernando.  Beach and mountain resorts count among the prime attractions of San Fernando, a town located about forty minutes away by car from Cebu City. City slickers running away from the din of the metropolis often head for Pulchra, Singli, Hidden Paradise, among others.

Aside from these resorts, there’s one attraction there that’s definitely worth any traveler’s while—a lovely Gothic church dedicated to St. Isidore the Farmer. It was easy to spot this church which is nestled on a sprawling piece of land right in the heart of the town. It also faces the municipal hall just like many of the houses of worship found along Cebu’s coastal road.

Built in 1870 but completed 16 years later, the unmistakably Gothic-inspired design of St. Isidore the Farmer Church—pointed  spires, recessed arches with sharp tips and flame-like ornaments—never fails to catch attention from passersby, particularly out-of-towners who happened to see it for the first time.

A huge statue of the patron saint guards the entrance to the church premises. Its belfries, incongruous in size and made of cement, are said to have been added much later.  These were believed to have been diminished by a strong typhoon and were never restored to their original design.

Much of the interior of San Fernando’s church, however, bear a contemporary design, the result of renovations carried out several decades ago, perhaps with the exception of two large windows at the end of the nave which have retained their Gothic aura.

As a final note, let it be said that my sojourns to the houses of worship in south Cebu have contributed much to making the Holy Week a more meaningful and enlightening one for me. All told, I ended up captivated, cleansed and consummated as a pilgrim after I’ve taken the road less travelled to these churches.

For more about my sojourns to south Cebu’s wonderful churches, visit my posts at http://scorpio-sojourn.blogspot.com/2014/06/captivated-by-cebus-colonial-churches.html ;http://scorpio-sojourn.blogspot.com/2014/06/captivated-by-cebus-colonial-churches_23.html; http://scorpio-sojourn.blogspot.com/2014/06/captivated-by-cebus-colonial-churches_28.html; http://scorpio-sojourn.blogspot.com/2014/07/captivated-by-cebus-colonial-churches_1.html; and http://scorpio-sojourn.blogspot.com/2014/07/captivated-by-cebus-colonial-churches_5.html. :-D

Dumbfounded by Dumaguete City (Part 1)

What do former Environment Secretary Angel Alcala, award-winning poet and fiction writer Cesar Aquino, world-class archer Mark Javier, highly acclaimed fashion designer Rajo Laurel and the late filmmaker and national artist Eddie Romero have in common? Well, they’re not only icons in their own fields but also count among the many notable residents of the so-called university town of Negros Oriental—Dumaguete! 

Rizal Baywalk/Boulevard

I never thought that I’d be seeing Dumaguete this summer considering that it ranks quite low in my list of must-see places in the Visayas. A series of unfortunate events, however, kept me from going on a Lenten break to one of the island groups off the coast of Cebu. So when that sojourn went pfft, there I was, scurrying to adjust my itinerary so I could hop into a bus bound for the “City of Gentle People”.

Negros Oriental Provincial Capitol

Cebu South Bus Terminal

Traveling by land via Cebu’s southern coastal road to get to Dumaguete via a short cruise along Tañon Strait fascinated me. I’ve been hearing from fellow adventure junkies that the joyride offers a spectacular vista of the dazzling seascape. Besides, I wanted to familiarize myself with that road as I intend to embark on a visita iglesia to the heritage churches of Argao, Dalaguete, and Boljoon in the future.

 Best backdrop for a selfie

Holy Thursday. At 7:30 in the morning, I was already on my way to the Cebu South Bus Terminal. Throngs are expected to flock there that day. True enough, the queue outside the terminal was almost a kilometer long by the time I got there! This, however, didn’t dampen my spirits. If Jesus marched to his death burdened with a heavy cross, then carrying a backpack, a tripod and a duffel bag was peanuts!

Instinct told me that something fishy was going on when our queue didn’t budge for  almost thirty minutes. I was right! To our chagrin, several Ceres buses plying the Cebu-Dumaguete route were temporarily grounded by LTO officials allegedly due to some problems with the operator’s franchise. Geez, whatta perfect timing, LTO! Didn’t you people notice the infraction days ago? Why only now? I thought.

Patience is the least among my virtues but, surprisingly, I managed to shrug my shoulders, charging the incident to experience. Although the minutes ticked at snail’s pace, I was able to keep my cool despite the heat and noise around me. Just when my patience was wearing thin, two Dumaguete-bound buses finally came one after the other after almost four hours of making us wait! I hopped into the second one.  
 

By noon, the bus’ engine roared to life and headed towards our destination. En route to the south of Cebu, we were slowed down for almost two hours by heavy traffic in Carcar City all the way to Argao. So, what was normally a four hour trip from downtown Cebu to the port of Bato in the town of Santander, which is the take-off point for vessels bound for Negros Oriental, stretched to nearly six hours!

Sunset over Tañon Strait

Negros Island and Tañon Strait

What sustained me during prolonged journey was the promise of seeing the awe-inspiring visual spectacle of Cebu’s seascape. True enough, I laid eyes on the much-talked about picturesque beauty of that part of the province as the bus carried us past green rice fields, lush forests, humble shanties, lovely villas, white-sand beaches, emerald waters, sutukil restos and whale-watching resorts. 

A fast ferry cruising Tañon Strait

Along the way, I also had a few glimpses of some of Cebu’s heritage churches as the bus meandered through the coastal cities of Naga and Carcar as well as the charming towns of Minghanilla, San Fernando, Sibulan, Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob and Santander. A big bonus I didn’t expect was seeing Sumilon Island. Seen from the bus, that scenic tourist attraction seemed to be beckoning me!

Reaching Bato, our bus grounded to a halt for several minutes, allowing passengers to respond to the call of nature and grab something to eat before embarking on a short cruise aboard the roro (roll-on, roll-off) barge bound for the port of Tampi in San Jose, Negros Oriental. While waiting for the others, I grabbed the opportunity to snap at the fabulous sunset that was beginning to fade into the Visayan horizon.
 

Before 7:00 in the evening, the barge carrying our bus left Bato and cruised for about half an hour over the placid waters of Tañon Strait. Night had fallen when we reached Tampi where the bus disembarked and travelled for another half hour to downtown Dumaguete. When I reached Hotel Essencia (http://www.hotel-essencia.com), where I was billeted, every part of me from the shoulders down was aching.

Nice accommodations at Hotel Essencia

Entering my room, I caught my watch as it struck 8:00 in the evening. Exhausted, I dozed off for almost two hours, only to be awakened by hunger pangs. In minutes, I was downstairs, hailing a pedicab. “Take me to the nearest fast food chain here,” I instructed the driver who took me in as his passenger. Revving up his motor, the young fellow nodded and vroomed his way into the well-lit streets of Dumaguete. 
  

So, what’s with Negros Occidental’s bustling capital that left me dumbfounded? Let me start with the name which sounds weird to me. I had qualms about going there before given that. Call me silly but, you see, the name “Dumaguete” originated from dagit, the Visayan word for “snatch”! Geez, it must be crawling with snatchers, thieves or worse, kidnappers! Is this how they define “gentle people” now? I once thought. LOL!

Legend has it that the old settlement in the island was prone to persistent invasions of Moro pirates who either grabbed things or kidnapped people to become slaves. When the Spanish conquistadors came to Negros, they gave different names to the settlement. In the course of time, the word dumaguet evolved, which became the basis for what the bustling capital of Negros Oriental is called now. 

Quezon Park

Dumaguete, to my delight, turned out to be the exact opposite of what its name suggests. It’s far from being a criminal’s crib. The world was my oyster while I explored the charming university town or unitown, as some people call it for short. No encounters whatsoever with criminals of lower caliber compared to Napoles and her ilk. LOL! Geez, the city by the bay is one of the safest places I’ve visited in the Visayas! 

What dumbfounding attractions await first-time visitors in Dumaguete? There are a lot actually. Too bad, I can count by the fingers the ones I’ve explored. Good thing, the ones I saw all appealed to my historical, religious and cultural curiosity, making my first ever visit a memorable one. Hitting the road to the unitown remains one of the most exhilarating detours I’ve ever made in my entire nomadic life!

Mt. Talinis a.k.a Cuernos de Negros

Found on the sprawling plains of Negros Island’s southeastern coast, Dumaguete faces the Bohol Strait on the east and Tañon Strait on the northeast. In the outskirts of the city lies Mt. Talinis, said to be the second highest mountain in Negros (next to Mt. Kanlaon). I consider my first morning in the city somewhat providential because I caught sight of the serrated mountain range from my room’s window.   

Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria

Rising some 1,903 meters, Mt. Talinis, also known as Cuernos de Negros (Horns of Negros) boasts of horn-like peaks that have earned for it its nickname. From what I’ve gathered, Talinis is a sought-after destination among mountain climbers, adventurers and nature trippers. Too bad, I’m no longer that fit to scale heights; otherwise, the Horns of Negros would be part of my must-climb list.  

It only took me roughly thirty six hours to explore Dumaguete’s tourist belt because the sites are adjacent to one another. I think that’s dumbfounding in itself; it left me more hours for sleep which I’m in short supply of lately! I suppose that would give other sleep-deprived tourists enough time to choose between snoozing and scouring the rest of Negros Oriental, and perhaps the nearby island of Siquijor.   

Monument of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartre

Getting around Dumaguete turned out to be a walk in the park for this gadabout. From my hotel, all I did was either hike a few blocks or hop into one of those ubiquitous pedicabs plying the city streets to reach my destinations. Like most small Philippine cities, they’re the common means of public transport in the unitown. Only a few cars roamed around but motorcycles and bicycles swarmed the city.  

Silliman University as seen from Rizal Boulevard

From what I’ve observed, Dumaguete seemed to be living up to its claim as a place of mild-mannered people. I hardly saw the locals clashing in the streets or cussing in public. I’m not sure though if it had something to do with Lent. That Dumagueteños are so civil and congenial could be a spillover effect of living in a unitown. No less than four universities are located in the smallest city in the province!    

Luce Auditorium

To most people, Dumaguete is best known as the home of the first Protestant university in the Philippines and the first American private university in Asia—Silliman University or SU (http://www.su.edu.ph). Established in 1901, it was named after Dr. Horace Silliman, the American philanthropist and retired businessman who contributed funds to the Board of Foreign Missions of the American Presbyterian Church.

Dr. David Hibbard's monument

Imbued with deep sense of altruism for the country, Silliman shelled out an initial amount of US$10,000 for the establishment of the school he had in mind. Quite a fortune during those times. Soon, the Presbyterians sent one of their missionaries, Dr. David Hibbard, to scout for the location of what would become the Silliman Institute, which they later founded in the town of Dumaguete.

Long before I went there, the 113-year old university had intrigued me. Why did the American missionaries decide to put up a prestigious school in some faraway town in the Visayas? Why not in Manila, Cebu, or Zamboanga? Also, I got curious about SU after hearing tales from some friends who’ve burned the midnight oil in its sprawling campus so I wanted to discover for myself what makes it tick. 
 

The Amphitheater

Wasting no time, I roamed around Silliman’s vast campus, stopping over at some of its notable buildings I’ve read such as the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium, which was erected in the mid-1970s.  Dubbed for some time as “the largest fully-functioning theatre outside Metro Manila”, Luce (pronounced as ‘Luz’) Auditorium seeks to promote the performing arts—theatre, music, dance and the like. 


Other popular landmarks I found interesting included Silliman Hall, the oldest building in the campus and the entire city; Katipunan Hall, originally a mission hospital that now serves as an administrative building for various academic departments; the Amphitheater, a sunken, open-air theatre that reminded me of the one I saw in U.P. Diliman; and the Silliman University Church.

 

Undoubtedly, the Silliman escapade was the crowning glory of my sojourn to the City of Gentle People. Not only did I get to roam around the university but I also found the answer to my question: Dr. Hibbard, who founded SU and became its first president, chose to put up the school in Dumaguete because he fell in love with the town’s beauty and its people’s gentility.

NORSU

After scouring the vast Silliman campus, I took time to take a peek at St. Paul University (SPU), a private Catholic school established in 1904 by a group of nuns belonging to the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres (SPC). The two other big academic institutions in the city are Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) and Foundation University. Of the four, I failed to make it to the latter due to time constraints.

St. Paul University

Hibbard Avenue

With a student population of roughly 30,000, Dumaguete is a melting pot of students, teachers, scholars, artists and the literati. Being so, it’s expected it to be abuzz with lots of activity. Because it was the Holy Week, roaming around the unitown proved to be a breeze. Traffic was light and the streets weren’t crowded just as I had imagined—the perfect sanctuary for this wannabe Lenten recluse. LOL!  

Where have all the people gone? Since it was summer and a long weekend at that, most of the members of the academic community were probably at home or out on a vacay elsewhere, leaving the streets of Dumaguete to visiting vagabonds like me. Just imagine how helter-skelter everything could have been in the city by the bay had there been classes while I was exploring it! I supposed it would be chaos! :-D

(to be continued)