A terrible tragedy happened on March 26, 2008 when the church and the nearby parish house were gutted by a fire. The fire was believed to have originated from the parish house. The parish house itself was reduced to ashes.

Read more from here, http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2008/03/27/

Oslob was established as a visita of Boljoon in 1690 and became an independent parish in 1848 with the Immaculate Conception as its patroness. The present day church of cut coral stone was built by Fr. Julian Bermejo in May 10, 1830 following the plans of Cebu Bishop Santos Gomes Marañon and was finished 18 years later. The convent nearby was also started by Fr. Bermejo and was finished and reinforced with buttresses by Fr. Juan Aragones sometime between 1848 and 1850.

The church was gutted in 1942 by Filipino guerrillas and again in 1955 from a fire of “unknown origin” but was eventually restored. It was burned for the third time in a fire that started from one of the rooms in the parish house in the early hours of March 26, 2008.

The entire church complex is surrounded by a stone fence. At the southeastern portion of the complex are the unfinished remains of a military quarters. Outside the walls are the remains of a watchtower, one of the many that line the southeastern coast of the Cebu.

Beside the church is the parish house or convento that still has its original clay-tiled roof (Note: The parish house was reduced to ashes during the fire of March 26, 2008). Across the church is the former mortuary chapel with a pediment decorated with a relief of a human skeleton. From the church and mortuary chapel, a small road to the north leads to the old cemetery. An old street marker engraved in stone marks this road as “Calle de Camposanto.”

The pediment of the church is marked with the Spanish Royal Coat of Arms, a seal of the king, with an inscription that says “EXMO. E YLLMO. SOY D. FR SANTOS GOMES MARAÑON FORMA EL PLAN DE ESTA IGLESIA SE COMENZO EL 10 DE MAYO AÑO DE 1830″ Loosely translated it means “His Excellency and Most Illustrious Lord Fray Santos Gomes Marañon made the plan of this Church and (was) began on the 10th of May in the year 1830”

Below: An old street marker. The street was named after Fr. Juan de Aragones, the parish priest who was later on appointed as bishop of Nueva Segovia (Vigan).

Below: The Spanish royal coat of arms emblazoned in the facade. The text in the seal says, “His Excellency and Most Illustrious Lord Fray Santos Gomes Marañon made the plan of this Church and (was) began on the 10th of May in the year 1830.“

Below: The massive stone church.

Below: A view of the crossing with the pyramidal dome.

Below: A partial view of the convento (photo taken in October 2007) which was destroyed by a terrible fire in March 26, 2008.

<p.

Below: The former mortuary chapel.

Below: The walls that surround the entire church complex.

Below: The unfinished cuartel de infanteria or military barracks.