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 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 camarin or shed of Oslob church located at the back. (circa 2005)
Today, it is a temporary area where weekday masses are said. (circa 2008) On 26 March 08, an 8 hour fire gutted the more than a century old kumbento (parish house) and church of Oslob in Cebu. What was left were the thick stone walls and belfry as well as an icon of the parish patron. This is my tribute to this beautiful and historic church with photos taken in 2005, 2006 and 2008. This is the …

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.