Laguna: Visita iglesia in Pila, Pakil, Paete and more Laguna churches

Laguna has a lot of heritage churches and is a good place for visita iglesia. I found myself on the road again last Palm Sunday in Laguna. After speaking at the Rotaract District Conference 2010 in Bay, Laguna, I decided to explore again the Laguna towns along Laguna de Bay since I was there anyway.


My first stop was Pila, which is Laguna's heritage town and a National Historical Landmark. I'll showcase more of Pila's old houses in another post. Pila Church is dedicated to San Antonio de Padua.


Further down the road is Santa Cruz and Pagsanjan, which has a very iconic welcome arch built during the late 19th century. Sadly, the interior of the Pagsanjan Church has been renovated already but the exterior is still relatively intact. Notice also the Spanish colonial casa municipal beside it which is badly painted though.



Lumban is a town known for its embroidery. It's a good place to purchase de calado barong and dresses. You could also check out the Lumban Church which has a very interesting exterior and convento. But the interior has been renovated as well.


After Lumban is the town of Kalayaan. Look for Barangay Longos which used to be the town proper and you'll find the centuries-old Longos Church. It's quite austere compared to its neighbors. But at least the interior is relatively intact.



Paete, known for its woodcarving and paper mache, has one of the better churches of Laguna. The Paete Church has ornate retablos and several centuries-old paintings near the entrance. The church is dedicated to Santiago Mayor.


Close to Paete is the town of Pakil, home of the Turumba. Pakil Church is my personal favorite among Laguna churches, with its grand white and gold retablos and very interesting convent. This church deserves to be declared a National Cultural Treasure!


Anyway, the Turumba commemorates the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary with seven pistang lupi. The first pistang lupi is held on the Friday before Palm Sunday (the first of two feasts of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and the seventh is done on Pentecost Sunday. During these days, the image of the Nuestra Señora de Dolores de Turumba is borne on an anda and brought around the streets of Pakil in a procession amidst dancing. Other processions are also held aside from the seven pistang lupi, the last being on the third Sunday of September, the second feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin May.

The schedule for 2010 is Unang Lupi (Viernes de Dolores, March 26), Ika-2 Lupi (Fiestang Martes, April 6), Ika-3 Lupi (Fiestang Viatico, April 12 to 14), Ika-4 Lupi (Fiestang Viernes, April 23), Ika-5 Lupi (Fiestang Linggo, May 2), Extra Lupi (Fiestang Pakileñas, May 12), Ika-6 Lupi (Fiestang Pag-akyat, May 14), Ika-7 Lupi (Fiestang Pag-Panaog, May 23) and Domingo de Dolores (September 12). Mass is at 6:30 a.m.

We drove as far as Mabitac. But it turns out, only the belfry of the Mabitac Church is intact since the church on top of the hill is totally new.

If you have more time, also visit the Majayjay Church (a National Cultural Treasure), Magdalena Church (the church where blood stains from Emilio Jacinto's battle wounds can still be found), Nagcarlan Church and San Pablo Church.

Laguna & Rizal: Visita iglesia around Laguna de Bay churches

After our shooting the rapids in Pagsanjan with my guest from China, I decided to complete the Laguna de Bay loop with a visita iglesia. I have an older post on Laguna with details of some of the towns we visited and missed. First on the list was the town of Paete which is known for its woodcarving and paper mache industries. The Santiago Apostol Church has intricately carved retablos and centuries-old mural paintings of San Cristobal among other subjects.
From Paete, we went drove to the next town Pakil. The San Pedro de Alcantara has equally interesting retablos, santos and mural paintings.
It was quite a drive from Pakil to the next stop which was in the province of Rizal. Since the sun was going down fast, we were not able to pass by the town of Mabitac which according to travel guides has a church standing atop 126 stone steps. It was a pleasant drive seeing the green rice fields hit by the golden rays of the setting sun on either side of the road.
After the zigzag road up and down the highway boundary between Laguna and Rizal and a few more kilometers drive past the town of Pililla, we finally reach Tanay and easily found the San Ildefonso Church, a national cultural treasure.
It had been quite a while since I've seen this church and I was totally shocked that the main altar had been painted gold and silver just like in Argao. It's the good thing the priest spared the santos from this rampage of gold leaf but it was horrible since Tanay was known for its white retablo with aquamarine and gold details. I was told by Archt. Richard Bautista of the NCCA that they were able to stop the priest from wreaking havoc to the other retablos thanks to the strong opposition from the townsfolk.
According to the DOT, "The first Tanay Catholic Church made of nipa and bamboo was built in 1606. The current building made of locally quarried stone was completed in 1680. In 1783, it was reconstructed together with the convent. The church is an example of early Renaissance architecture. It has a four-storey octagonal tower, a façade of adobe blocks, relieved by columns and semicircular arched windows. Its podium is adorned by a niche with the statue of San Ildefonso de Toledo, the patron saint of the town."
From Tanay, we moved on to our last stop which was the San Geronimo Church in Morong. If we had more time, we would have passed by Baras but since it was getting dark, we rushed instead to Morong. The church has one of the more striking facades and is one of the more photographed churches of the Laguna loop. But sadly, the interior has already been renovated.
The first church was said to be built by Chinese craftsmen in 1615 as evidenced by the Chinese lions at the driveway entrance. It's current facade, a splendid example of Philippine Baroque, was completed between 1850 to 1853 to support the belfry built on top of it.
We completed the Laguna loop by passing through the towns of Cardona, Binangonan, Angono, Taytay, and Cainta (we were supposed to pass through Antipolo but since it was dark, I missed the turn) and finally reached Pasig City. Anyway, it was tiring day so I'm reserving today for rest.
Related entries

Visita iglesia to our heritage churches
Holy Week practices in the Philippines
Visita iglesia and more Holy Week practices in the Philippines
Visita iglesia routes for Holy Thursday

Laguna & Quezon: Heritage and culture around Laguna de Bay

What a stroke of luck! My colleagues at the Center for Kapampangan Studies were going on a cultural immersion of sorts to Laguna and Quezon so I joined the trip. I had been to all the places we were visiting but I've always kept a been-there-but-not-done-that attitude believing that there is always something new to discover anywhere you go.

I was up quite early. The group left Pampanga at 5 a.m. and I met up with them in Manila. After breakfast along the SLEX, we were off to our first stop, the town of Pila, Laguna. The historic center of the town, La Noble Villa de Pila, one of the few towns in the country which was elevated to villa during the Spanish colonial period, was declared a national historical landmark by the NHI in 2000.

The old core is an elegant collection of colorful colonial mansions located around a spacious plaza. The layout out of the town is very typical of our colonial communities. On one side of the plaza, you have the parish church. On the opposite end stands Pila's charming town hall painted in brick red. And on the other two sides, you have the homes of the town's principalia. What I like about Pila are the colors. This was how houses were painted during the Spanish and American colonial periods, bright and lively colors, with a palette somewhat similar to Mexican pastel.

The town has a very active heritage conservation group, the Pila Historical Society Foundation, Inc. which has continuously led efforts to preserve the heritage of this genteel town. They even protect the plaza from billboards and tarpaulin streamers. Check out Pila, Laguna: Keeping a heritage town beautiful.

After Pila, we proceeded further down the highway, past the town of Pagsanjan, to Lumban, a town known for its great embroidery. Just like in Taal, I bought piña cloth. I make it a point everytime I visit these embroidery towns to buy barong cloth.

From there, we were off to Paete and Pakil. But since it was lunch, we stopped over at Exotik Restaurant in Longos, Kalayaan. The concept of this garden restaurant is quite nice and it is thus a good lunch stopover point for those doing the Laguna loop. Although most of the menu is Filipino food, the restaurant got its name from the exotic food they also serve such as snakes, frogs, manta rays, etc.

Paete was just 2 kilometers from the restaurant. This town has a well-preserved church with several centuries-old murals inside. And being a wood carving town, the retablo was nicely done. Don't miss the souvenir shops since the town is known for its wood carving and paper mache.

I was quite delighted looking at the folksy paper mache figures of people in Filipino costumes which was a common theme in public parks during the American colonial period. They reminded me so much of the statues in the rotunda in Carcar. There were also paper mache fruits which looked quite real. Looking closely at each fruit, one would appreciate the effort put into each one.

From Paete, we moved to the next town, Pakil. This town has an equally impressive church which houses the Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de Turumba. We felt bad that just two hours before we arrived, there was a pistang lupi which are festivities of the Turumba festival, which is done seven times from March to May. Sigh! That would have made our visit perfect! The image is brought around on an anda, accompanied by street dancing by devotees from all over.

The interior of the church was just marvelous! It's one of my favorites in the Southern Tagalog if you ask me. And the interior looked as if it were recently restored. We found out that efforts to restore it was a local initiative. I hope other towns around the country follow suit. When priests stop renovating heritage churches according to their whims and caprices, that would be the day! The CBCP should give its Commission on Church Heritage more teeth to control the tasteless damage done by many priests. And no church more than 50 years old should be touched without the go signal of the commission.

On the way back, we passed by the old church of Kalayaan in Longos. The old name of the town was actually Longos but this was changed to Kalayaan when they moved the seat of government to a different barangay. The church was right along the shores of Laguna de Bay and was well-preserved.

Since it was getting late, we decided to go straight to Lucban where we were to spend the night. Accomodations were graciously taken care of by the parish. The choir of Holy Angel University was doing a concert that night so they were staying at the old convent. Our group was housed in a charming resthouse owned by a friend of the parish. For dinner, we had traditional Lucban food which included pancit habhab, tamales, Lucban tikoy and espasol.

After watching the concert and going around the stalls set-up for the Pahiyas festival, we went back to the resthouse since we had to wake up early. The procession of San Isisdro Labrador was at 7 a.m.