The construction of the original kumbento (parochial house) of Anini-y was continued by Fray Jeronimo Vaquerin when he arrived 1878 and finished it a year later. During World War II, it was almost totally destroyed and the current structure was built over the ruins.

Nineteen months after the fire in Oslob Church, the second in its history, I visited the church again during a south Cebu trip and from what I have found, there is still so much to do.

Thanx to Jobers Bersales, some Cebu archival images (scans) from the Ahlborn Collection was made available to me. Part of the collection are black and white images of Oslob Church, the mortuary chapel and the kumbento.

The kumbento of Carcar Church is one of the biggest in the province of Cebu. It was also one of the richest. Unfortunately, the interior today is just a shadow of it’s former self when church items were sold by a parish priest during his incumbency between the 80s and 90s. But one can still see beautiful ceiling and wall paintings as well as sala embellishments inside.

The kumbento of Carcar Church is one of the biggest in Cebu, a testament to its wealth in a prosperous town. The masonry and wood structure was built, probably around 1885, during the term of Fr. Mauel Fernandez Rubio, an Augustinian friar who has done much for the town.

The kumbento was first started by Fr. Julian Bermejo and was finished between 1848 and 1850 by Fr. Juan Aragones who reinforced it with buttresses. In 1977, Fr. Constantino Batoctoy renovated it. It is one of the very few kumbentos in Cebu which still retained its tejas roofing like Boljoon` but some sections are already with corrugated sheets.

Strictly speaking, conventos refer to houses for a religious group like nuns and monks but here in the country, it has evolved to mean a parish house or rectory. A residence of the parish priest, it is originally called a casa parroquial. Generally, it is attached to the simbahan either in line with the façade or at the back, or separated from the church like the one from Sibonga, Cebu.