It would have been a sight as one enters the lost church of Oton with its trompe l’oiels massive copula and an impressive gothic style and four sided retablo at the center.

It would have been one of the country’s spectacular churches, if not the most beautiful were it not for a natural cataclysm that razed it to the ground. Oton’s once majestic church, in the form of a Greek cross, was unique as it was the only one with such a plan and architecture blending Byzantine with Gothic and classical elements.

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.