Several of my photos of churches were published in Philippine Airline’s March 2012 issue of its inflight magazine, Mabuhay.

For so many years, I’ve been wanting to visit the Capul fortress-church complex in Capul Island, Northern Samar but it was only last weekend that I finally made it. And I was in awe of the structures.

The 27th of October 2011, was an auspicious moment for the town of Minalin, Pampanga as the parish church and its liturgical collection was declared by the National Museum as a National Cultural Treasure

The baptistry of Anini-y Church is located at the base of the belfry with a vaulted stone ceiling made of corals. It has two large arched windows and the walls are a meter thick. When one enters the main portal, it is at the left through an arched entrance.

The interior of Anini-y Church is austere and lacking the rich details of some old churches like San Agustin.

Vol 1, 2011 issue of Bluprint Magazine, the design sourcebook, features six churches and one archbishop’s residence in their visita iglesia article focusing on the Ilocos Region.

Like most other churches in the country, the facade has a rectangular level topped with a triangular pediment. From a distance, it does look squat, just like most similar structures, but its linearity of design, well arranged details and clean divisions make it pleasant to the eyes.

The province of Antique, a long sliver of land and mountains by the sea stretching from one end to the other, at the western side has, at its tail end, a beautiful Spanish colonial era church, probably the only intact one in Antique. Made from cut coral stones, it has interesting details at its facade, a wide front dominated with large acacia trees while its kumbento is found a few meters at its right.

Part of my visita iglesia series, this free PDF download features the six existing Spanish colonial era churches of Capiz province: Roxas City, Loctugan, Pan-ay, Dumarao, Dumalag and Dao.

Dumarao means to be in mourning.

On 16 November 2009, a fire broke out at the ceiling of the second level of the Our Lady of the Snow Institute at 0130H that gutted the whole building and the adjacent parish church of Dumarao. Today, it is being rebuilt.

Last January 2010, I was invited by the North Philippines Visitors Bureau to join a media tour of travel writers and bloggers to experience North Luzon. Part of the tour included a visit to 9 churches.

The lost church of Oton was the only one of its kind in the Philippines in form and structure. It’s architecture is a combination of different architectural styles: gothic, classical and romanesque, a trait that is very much common in most Spanish colonial period churches in the country.

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.

I’ve always been fascinated with the all-steel structure of the San Sebastian Minor Basilica in Quiapo, Manila and when the opportunity came to document it inside and out, I grabbed it.

A free downloadable and printable PDF guide is now available for those who would want to do the traditional visita iglesia in Cebu! This freebie features 28 still existing Spanish colonial era churches in this historic island province, the cradle of Christianity in the Philippines, either wholly built or with it’s façade intact.