A few kilometers from the poblacion of Nasugbu, Batangas, in the town of Lumangbayan, aptly named as this translates to “old town” which is the original location of Nasugbu, is a Spanish colonial period church ruin that is still being used by devotees today. However, it was in this church that many of the townspeople were imprisoned and burned in 1896.

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.

Dan Rivers of CNN was on his way to Cagayan province chasing a typhoon and along the way, as they passed San Pablo, the Isabela/Tuguegarao (Cagayan) border town, they saw this once magnificent church ruins.

This is a wonderful short feature.

The cemetery and mortuary chapels in Cebu are not as grand as those in Iloilo and are in different degrees of condition with most having been renovated and one in near collapse. In this post, I am presenting the eight cemetery and mortuary chapels that can be found in Cebu: Calamba (Cebu City), Sibonga, Argao, Dalaguete and Oslob.

Last March 28, at 1 AM, a fire broke out in the room of the parish priest in the “kumbento” or parish house of the 178 year old church of Oslob, a southern municipality in Cebu and three hours ride from Cebu City. Of the two firetrucks available in the town, one was broken and the other cannot start that the townsfolk has to push it near the church. However, despite their efforts, the fire raged on. It was only contained when firemen from the neighboring towns of Argao and Santander came in to help. After eight hours, the “kumbento” burned down.

On 26 March 08, an 8 hour fire gutted the more than a century old kumbento (parish house) and church of Oslob in Cebu.