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. 

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.

Visita Iglesia 2012

Hey y'all, it's Holy Wednesday. Later on, there will be a procession around the town presenting the Passion of Christ. The observation of the Lenten season is big in our town. The next 3 days will be the most quiet ones in the year. One of the activities of our parish is the annual pilgrimage to 7 churches. I pledged to join since last year. This year, our pilgrim destination was the province of Cavite. We visited churches from the Diocese of Imus. My friend Nagi, who happened to be a homegrown of Cavite, joined our pilgrimage. Compared to last year, there were more pilgrims who joined this year. It's great that more people are getting involved in religious activities.

Our Lady of the Pillar, Imus Cavite

Our Lady of the Pillar Interior

Immaculate Concepcion Parish, Dasmarinas Cavite

Immaculate Concepcion Parish interior

Our Lady of La Salette Parish, Biga Cavite

Our Lady of La Salette parish interior

Our Lady of Knight Parish, Silang Cavite

Our Lady of Knight Parish interior

Ina ng Laging Saklolo (Our Lady of Perpetual Help) Parish, Tagaytay

Ina ng Laging Saklolo Parish interior

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Tagaytay

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish interior

We concluded our pilgrimage with a mass in our last church visit in St. Gregory the Great Parish in Indang, Cavite. 

St. Gregory the Great Parish

St. Gregory the Great parish interior

concluding the Stations of the Cross

When I selected the pictures to post, I suddenly realized I don't have much to say. Then I've had second thoughts whether I should blog about this or not. The whole pilgrimage was supposed to be a spiritual journey, but I gotta be honest, looking at what happened during the day, I feel like I failed my mission. I feel guilty, I feel like the whole pilgrimage itself had become more of an architectural and historical appreciation than an act of reflection and penance. I got distracted all the time, I laughed endlessly at the mishaps after mishaps I experienced while on the bus, I got critical of some disorderly proceedings of the pilgrimage and I barely listened to priest's homily.

Suddenly I am reminded just how flawed I am. Despite my honest desire to be a good disciple of Christ, I harbor ill thoughts towards other people. That's not to say I'm a wicked person wishing bad things for other people, no, but here's my dilemma -- when I am surrounded with complex and intellectual deep thinkers, I get intimated, but when I am surrounded with not so deep thinking people, I get extremely irritated. Irritated by stupid little things that radiate them, so I can't help but curse and trash those people, which is a bad waste of energy. I hate it when I hate, not a healthy feeling.


Everyday is a struggle to be a better person. This Lenten season, I reflect on all the awful things that I've done. Of course I know that God forgives, but it's not enough to just ask forgiveness, the act of repentance requires the commitment to correct the mistake, and I know that I say this on my everyday prayer, but I will try to be better. 


I hope y'all have a meaningful Holy Week.

Visita Iglesia 2011

Last Saturday, I did something I haven't done before. I joined the annual Visita Iglesia organized by our local parish. It's a Catholic tradition where in pilgrims visit 7 churches during Lenten season to ask for penance. In each church, we relive 2 stations of the cross. The priest gives homily relating each station to remind us how Christ suffered to save us. How we should follow his way for the salvation of our souls.

Let me tell you something. I have never been so eager to join these type of religious activities. The past decade my life, I got caught up in my own world - studies, friends, anime, Japan, work, ambition, etc., I barely have time for God. When I had the time to spare, I use it to bum out. But don't get me wrong. I was never an atheist nor agnostic. I have always been a believer. I just wasn't a devout Christian. I still am not, I always tell myself that I have to do it on my own pace and there are principles of the church that I contest. But last year's series of unfortunate events prompted me to pause and reflect. When I was young, my mom often told me that tragedies or unfortunate things happen not because God is punishing us, but He is testing us, our faith. Trials. They also serve as reminders because when we are drowning with blessings, we forget to thank Him, we forget to follow His ways, we forget to ask forgiveness. The recent tragedy in Japan, is again, a reminder that something is greater than us, that in this type of situation, we have no choice but to leave everything to Him.

I am thankful that I got to realize that early enough to go back to the right path before I get lost completely. I still have a long way to go, but with God's grace, I know I will make it in time.

So we visited 7 churches in the province of Pampanga. Most of them as old as our church here in Tanay and I couldn't help thinking that there must have been some kind of standard on building churches in 1600s, because they resemble one another. There's always relief sculptures of the 14 stations of the cross on both ends of the nave, there are portraits of the four evangelists (Mark, Matthew, Luke, and Thomas) on the dome ceiling, the choir loft sits just above the main entrance (which I doubt is being used by the choir nowadays). Not every church has pulpit though. As I look at these old buildings, I can't help wishing I paid more attention on Arts History. It's amazing how these buildings survived for centuries. They were built at a time when there was raw technology. A stark reminder that machines can never replace the workmanship of humans.

Sta. Rita de Cascia Parish in Sta. Rita, Pampanga

Interior of Sta. Rita Parish

St. Augustine Parish in Lubao Pampanga

Interior of St. Augustine Parish, it is currently undergoing restoration

Immaculate Concepcion Parish in Guagua, Pampanga

Interior of Immaculate Concepcion Parish

My favorite church would have to be the St. James parish in Betis, Pampanga. It has a simple facade outside but once you go inside, it has the most intricate interior of all the churches I've ever seen. It has a wooden floor too, which makes it really unique. The guard on duty (another special feature hahaha, you don't normally see a guard in a church) warned us at the onset of our arrival that we have to turn off the flash of our cameras when taking picture. The place is packed with mural paintings all over, the people there seems to be serious in maintaining the beauty of their church. Whether some people are hard headed or plain ignorant on how to change the settings of their cameras (most of the pilgrims are old people), the guard got really stressed out in reprimanding people who failed to turn off the flash and it was really amusing to watch him hehehe.

St. James Paris in Betis, Pampanga

the pulpit is the stand where friars used to conduct their sermon

awww the poor Manong Guard, his BP went up for sure

Kidd in front of the altar

I am mostly proud of the San Guillermo Parish in Bacolor, Pampanga. It stood still despite being situated in one of the most devastated area when Mt. Pinatubo erupted. The place got half buried by lahar, They apparently had to tore the orginal ceilings because the ground got elevated so high. I also learned that this is the church where a popular TV series was shoot. I didn't watch it but the main character's name is Santino, I kept hearing the people say his name while we were on this place.

San Guillermo Parish in Bacolor, Pampanga

Interior of San Guillermo Parish

what used to be the windows up above is now down below, just like life...

the interior of the church before the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo

The Adoration Chapel requires you to duck before you can enter because of the elevated ground

St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Apalit, Pampanga

Interior of St. Peter the Apostle Parish

Immaculate Concepcion Parish, San Fernando Pampanga

Interior of Immaculate Concepcion Parish

We ended our pilgrimage with a mass in Immaculate Concepcion Parish in San Fernando. Now here's a tradition that I do not know if it's widely practiced. A friend told me once, that if it's you're first time hearing mass on another church, you could make a wish, guaranteed to come true. There's also that common practice of lighting a candle for your petition. Now I think that prayers will work, even if I do it in my room, but lighting a candle for a good cause won't take anything from me, so I went and got me a set of 4 candles anyway. In this parish, they even make a color coding for wishes. I only knew white candles in Baclaran church *scratch head*.

I played along anyway and chose the colors according to my personal intentions.

This whole pilgrimage is a brand new, learning and healing experience. I just realized that we have a new parish director, I don't know his name but I think I like him. The way he discuss the 14 stations of the cross, relating it to our present lives, and how he led this whole activity, I feel that our parish is in good hands. My only complaint is the bus driver, but I'm not gonna talk about him. I would just like to forgive him and pray that he becomes a better person, leaving him to God hehehe.