Semi-Haikyo: A Spanish Clay Kitchen

Calasiao Pangasinan's Saints Peter and Paul Parish church is one of the National Cultural Treasure declared by the National Commission for Culture and Arts. Like many historical structures of the Philippines, it survived devastation of wars and natural calamities. A baroque church generously ornamented with bricks, a heritage and architectural pride of Pangasinan, it is sure to draw and awe any curious tourist.

But on the right wing of the church, at the back of the convent, is a rarely visited and less popular attraction, a clay kitchen or "pogon" originally used by Dominican friars, I can't decide if it's really abandoned or neglected, but definitely on the verge of urban decay.



Covered with bricks and a dome roof, the clay kitchen is rather inconspicuous with attached cave featuring a nativity scene (it's inside)

decayed ceiling

The presence of a fluorescent light bulb means the area is still in use... But nothing more than a storage of things that had reached their end of life stage.

And perhaps of records not worth archiving?

Gambling is prohibited in Catholic church, but when I saw this, Tong-its and poker are the first things that popped out of my head.



A funny story, in my desire to shoot a different angle of the structure from afar, I walked away from the back side to point and shoot, but the odds were against me when I hear threatening barks, I looked around and saw 3 dogs approaching me. I freaked out and run, thinking Pangasinan is among the provinces with highest cases of rabies. Ngiiii!!! Good thing I had an umbrella with me, I faced my pursuers and made a hiten mitsurugi  amakakeru ryun no hirameki stance (I like using big words when I can't describe something, rest assured that no dogs were harmed). It scared and stopped them from pursuing me so I was able to walk away without scratch. Whew! If anything, I realized doing a haikyo exploration alone can be dangerous. 

Haikyo #2: Casa Real in Lingayen Pangasinan

My trip to Lingayen Panagsinan was an official business, naturally I didn't have the time to explore the place as I would have wanted to but I managed to make a very short side-trip when I saw a haikyo structure in the middle of the busy capital. The Casa Real is a historical building seated to another heritage structure, the Pangasinan Provinicial Jail. Its sorry state is appalling, if you only knew the history of the building.

Pangasinan Provincial Jail

Casa Real facade

Casa Real literally means "royal house", built in 1840s and one of the first public buildings to be constructed with brick. The alcalde-mayor (functions as governor AND magistrate) resided and held office here. Later on, it was called the Gobierno, in 1886 when the position of Gobernador Civil was created to perform the executive function of the Alcalde Mayor and the latter retained his judicial function only.

Looking at the 2nd floor, I can't decide if that's a door or a window

During revolution, the Spanish soldiers and the Voluntarios Locales (native recruits of the Spaniards who fought the Katipuneros) holed out at the Casa Real. On June 29, 1898, the Pangasinan Katipuneros planned to capture Lingayen by taking Casa Real. They secretly meet in the evening in Brgy. Domalandan and crossed the river to the Baraca St. but were detected prematurely and got massacred. This street is now called Heroes St.

On February 16, 1901 Judge William Howard Taft and his three commissioners formally organized Pangasinan as a civil province, Lingayen remained the capital municipal because of the existence of provincial buildings there, Casa Real retained its capitol function.

In 1919, the capitol moved to its current location, near Linagayen beach, and Casa Real was used as a public elementary school for about three to four years before it became a Regional Trial Court.

could this be one of the classrooms?

During World War II, the Japanese used the building as their office. After the war, when the new Capitol building needed extensive repair because of the damage inflicted by the American naval bombardment, the provincial offices had to move back to the Casa Real until the repair work was done.

The remaining planks reminds me of an Inari shrine tori

Surviving several earthquakes and the bombings of WWII, it was declared a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Institute in 2002, with 95% of its original materials intact. But in 2008 super typhoon Cosme ripped off a part of its roof and looters saw the chance to steal  ballustrades, wooden floor planks, doors and windows. The municipal government offices occupying it, like Sangguniang Bayan, and DSWD,  vacated the place and it became an empty shell.

right now these plants are the occupants of Casa Real

The Pangasinan Heritage Society, Inc. (PHSI) was granted permission to clean up the building and protect it from further vandalism while waiting for restoration. But after a year, PHSI ran out of funds to sustain the protection of the building and it was again vandalized by thieves who yanked out the remaining doors, windows and iron grills. 

Several appeals were made to restore the building. In 2010, Governor Amado Espino pledged to restore it. The PHSI and Provincial Engineering took the remaining wooden materials for safekeeping. In January 2012, Congressman Leopoldo Bataoil (Pangasinan, 2nd district) agreed to allocate part of his pork barrel to restore Casa Real and the provincial jail. Then we all know what happened when the PDAF scandal blew up and now I don't know what the fate of this historical structure would be.

From trial court to basketball court?

I hope it won't be a haikyo for too long, It is a witness to many lives of different generations and a survivor of harsher times, it deserves to be restored to its old glory.

Source: 

http://heritageconservation.wordpress.com/2006/12/10/casa-real-lingayen/

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2012/01/15/pangasinan-restore-old-casa-real-carsel-200708

Hungy for Haikyo!

Our annual pilgrimage just took off the other day. We visited churches in Tarlac and Pangasinan. I am meaning to blog about it and I hope to God that I get the focus and discipline to actually do it within the Lenten season, but first, I am excited to share my little side trip while on a pilgrimage. Actually, now that I think about it, I feel a little guilty about skipping a prayer and reflection session because ruins of an old church got me distracted.

It happened on our second stop,  St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Camiling, Tarlac. When I learned from the marker that the present church we were visiting is a replacement to the old one that burned in 1997, I immediately wondered what happened to the old church. This is the current St. Michael the Archangel Parish church.

While our parish priest was telling us to settle down, I felt the need to pee so I went out to look for the toilet. While walking, I realized the old church was literally just a stone's throw away from the present church as I stumbled upon its ruins. Then I got excited and forgot about the state of my urinary bladder. I immediately jumped in the first opening I saw.

The facade of the church is still intact and has its old grandeur, but there's really not much to see inside, still I indulged in capturing my first Haikyo exploration.

view from the Altar spot

view from the choir loft

I imagine this is where the portrait of the four evangelists were

the stained glass

the main door

There's something poignant and appealing about the decay of deserted spaces, it makes me think about the "how was" and "what ifs". The way nature reclaims a concrete structure is a profoundly beautiful reminder that nothing in this world is permanent. You may have once been a massive evidence of this nation's colonial past, but today and the coming days, you will slowly dissipate into oblivion.

once a sacred structure is now tainted with a public service graffiti

I tried to research about the cause of the fire, but I couldn't find anything substantial. I wish I asked around, but I was out of time and confident that I'd find about it online. I learned that parishioners tried to rebuild and restore the old church, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Instead, a construction of a new church took place, financed by former Marcos crony and San Miguel Corporation chairman, Danding Cojuangco. I guess restoring the orginal church back to its old glory using present technology would be too costly.