The Heritage of Cebu

This is the last of the three installments about my trip in Oslob.

Above: A view of the cuartel from the bell tower.

It was only a few weeks after the conflagration of the church and rectory that I was able to go back to this town. I was with a group of people who were members of the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church (CACCHC), an author, an architect who specializes in old buildings, and a writer from a local daily. We were there first hand to inspect the statues of saints that were spared from the fire and to assess the condition of the ruins of the church itself.

The rectory was reduced to ashes while only the bell tower and the stone walls and facade of the church remained. According to history, this is already the third time that the church was caught on fire. From the look of it, it seemed like the church only needed a brand new roof and a replacement of the furnishings that got burned in order for it to be used again but the architects said that the condition of the stone walls and columns, whether they won’t collapse under the weight of a new roof after having been exposed to very high degrees of temperature, needs to be assessed. The architects, one of them trained abroad, suggested building a new cement and steel column inside the church that would support the weight of a new roof and ceiling and just integrate its design with the existing stone walls so that it wouldn’t look too obvious.

Below: The gutted church.

Just outside the church complex are the unfinished remains of what a first timer might refer to as an “aqueduct.” Actually this is the cuartel de infanteria or soldiers’ barracks. Built at the turn of the century, its construction was interrupted by the revolution until eventually it was left unfinished. A plan to put a cafe and museum within the vicinity of this structure was been presented.

A walk inside the cuartel is errie but if affords one with a relaxing moment coupled with a picturesque view of the church from one of its arches. The shoreline lies beyond though it has been extended a bit to the east after a part of it was reclaimed for a future development like a public park and promenade perhaps. At the northern end of the reclaimed area is the watchtower, formerly polygonal but now cut into half due perhaps to erosion through time when the area where it stands was still a beach. The watch tower is unique according to Ricky Trota Jose, author of the book Simbahan, because some of the stones used to build it were red coral stones. A closer look indeed reveals some red colored stones.

Below: The cuartel.

Below: The watch tower.