The home of the famous ‘Bantayan’ and the longest bridge in the whole Panay Island, the Virginia Bridge, Guimbal is located 28 kilometers from the City of Iloilo. They say that when one is passing in this bridge, the person is going to hold his breath from point to point and then make a wish.

The Bantayan Towers are built by natives as defense and at the same time as guard houses against the invading Moor pirates that often attacks the town. There are three preserved Bantayan towers: (1) Bantayan Beach Resort (2) Cristobal (3) Near the Hospital.

St. Guillermo and St. Joseph welcomes parishioners and visitors in this yellow-colored church found in the municipality of Guimbal. This is the only church made of yellow coral. Built in 1590, the church is made from coral and igang (red-colored) stone found in the beaches of the town. The interior of the church is long and narrow, composed of just two rows of pews.

The paired columns rises on heavily massed pedestals with decorative design borders the main doorway. Another set of columns are found on the second level. A semi-circular arch decorated by rows of rosettes graced the main entrance.

It is said to be an inverted church with its original front now its back and vice versa. The former front was facing the dea and its back facing the plaza. The change was instituted to adjust the plaza.

Their patron saint is St. Nicholas of Tolentino and the feast is celebrated on the 10^th of September each year, apart from the traditional Bantayan Festival that falls before or after the Holy Week.

Twenty two kilometers away from Iloilo City lay the church of Tigbuan. The only church in the Philippines with Churriguesque-plateresque style until it was altered with an additional two unrelated towers. It was built in 1578 when Fr. Pedro Chirino was the parish priest and reconstructed during Fr. Fernando Comporendondo’s time. In the 1750’s this church is said to be the favorite destination of Spanish pilgrimage. It is made of sandstone and is built strongly to withstand the earthquake of the second quarter of 18^th century. The old convent was destroyed in 1984.

The center masterpiece in the frontage was theoretically intended to be forcefully captivating in order to compensate for the lack of zoning. The columns are evocative of the Mexican Estipites tapering toward the capitals, edging the main arch entrance. The pilasters and spandrels are adorned with floral motifs. An angel with bent wings marks the keystone of the main arch.

On the first level is an Augustinian emblem of a heart-arrow and the Episcopal coat of arms occupies the middle of the cornice. A rectangular niche encasing San Nicholas de Tolentino marks the second story and topping it is another niche with the statue of Sto. Niño. It was noted that during the January 1883 Sto. Niño celebrations, the crowd overflowed from the church and loaded the plaza with more than 10,000 people from Negros and Panay.

Unlike its neighboring churches, only a handful of statue of saints can be found inside this church, only a wide array of carefully laden tile mosaics depicting bible stories (mostly parables) and the station of the cross that embellished the wall of this parish. The church’s altar is carefully laden mural in stones that  is said to be one of the most beautiful altar murals in the region. Still baroque in style, this church had undergone renovations of its façade as the two belfries seemed to be out of place among the old stones seen from afar.

After two churches were burnt down and raided by Muslim pirates in 1741 and 1754, a site in Tacas was chosen on top of a hill which has a perfect view of the Miag-ao River. This world-famous Miag-ao church is one of the four baroque churches in the Philippines recorded in 1993 on the World Heritage List sponsored by UNESCO. The three other churches are: (1) Immaculate Concepcion (Intramuros, Manila), (2) Nuestra Senora (Ilocos Sur) and (3) San Agustin (Ilocos Norte).

An egg and a limestone – two things that the natives were obliged to bring in building this church or face whipping. The travel is about 30-35 kilometers from the mountains of Sitio Tubo in San Joaquin and from the Mountains of Igbaras enduring a stone of weight on one shoulder.

The whole church featured a Neo-classist type of design fused with several local tendencies and the builders achieved in making a national architecture. The balance is reinforced by the massive bell towers, suggestive of a medieval castle. Two belfries taper up gradually and end up in uneven height. Fr. Francisco Perez, the old man of Miag-ao added one story to the left tower in 1830 in order that the two could be equal in height, still the left tower is short with one level.

The façade is breathtaking with an intricate sculpture of coconut, banana and papaya trees and stylized guava fruit and below is a niche encasing the patron saint of the town, St. Thomas of Villanova.

The construction of this house of worship started in 1798 under the supervision of another Augustinian Priest, Fr. Francisco Gonzales and it took ten years to finish the whole structure. The church is not built solely for the reason of hearing mass; this fortress also provided the natives a strong defense against the invading Moors. The left belfry has a clear view of the shores of this town. The bell would ring as a warning of the approaching enemy and the townsfolk’s would rush inside the church to protect themselves. It sinks to as deep as six meters below the ground with walls as much as 2 ½ meters thick including the outside columns.

The side walls of the exteriors is said to liken the keys of the piano, except that it doesn’t produce any sound and the color became green because of the moss-growth throughout the years.

It is an architectural wonder how an egg yolk managed to paste the group of lime stones on top of the other (no steel bars) and survived the 1898 revolution, 1910 fire and the 1948 earthquake that toppled the belfry of Jaro Cathedral and destroyed the church of Oton, although a small portion of its left belfry was also damaged.

An excavation was done in 1982 that led to the discovery of the original altar which is used until today. It is partially made of gold and silver. A saint made of lime was also discovered during the excavation and is now encased in a glass panel situated near the Baptistery. Their Baptistery, where the Birhen ng Baranagy statue stood, is found at the right side of the church facing the altar, still used until today to welcome new members of the Catholic Church.

The patron saint is Santo Tomas de Villanova and their annual fiesta falls on the 22nd of September.

Fifty three kilometers from the city of Iloilo, is a town with one of the most beautiful sea coast in the Visayas – San Joaquin, Iloilo. Historically, the town was formerly called Suaraga.

Beside the famous beach resort and magnificent houses seen along the way, there are two ancient architectural masterpieces that graced this place — the century-old cemetery and the house of God.

The victory of Spanish soldiers under the leadership of General Leopoldo O’Donnel against the force of the crowned prince of Morocco, Milley Abbacas in the infamous Rendicion d’ Tetuan or the Battle of Tetuan is immortalized in the façade of the San Joaquin Church, making this house of worship the only church in the whole country with a touch of militarism. The men on foot and horses are shown breaking the defense of moors before buttress tower and date palms.

Fr. Tomas Santaren’s patriotism brought about one of the architectural masterpieces in the island of Panay. It is said that the church is half-way finished when the news of the triumph reached the country. The priest was the master architect and was assisted by a Spanish Engineer, Don Felipe Diez. Skilled masons, famous sculptors, celebrated painters and craftsmen from Spain and Mexico were contracted to build the massive Baroque structure.

However, this picturesque citadel is a product of literally sweat and blood of the natives over a century ago. The Spaniards employed forced labor among the townsfolk. Coral stones were quarried from the mountains of Igbaras. The one responsible for the quota of sillar (a lime stone or rock shaped into a rectangular tube of a given dimension), lime, gravel, sand and lumber is the head of barangay or village. If unmet, natives would face lashing depending on the amount of unfilled quota. Palmeta of hitting the palm of the hand with a wooden paddle was a means of punishment for light offenses. Furthermore, people who can afford, pay for the finished sillar from the stone cutters in order to fill their quota.

Natives excavate the stone or rocks from Magurampao, Malagting, Bugnayan and Igcadlum and let the expert cutters shaped them. The finished products are the carried by bamboo rafts and pulled along the littoral of Punta Talisayan.

Even women and children were not exempted; they were subjected to haul gravel and sand from the adjacent shore. They were paid with steel needles (which were scant then), threads and other useful household articles.

During Muslim invasion, the church was used as fortress. While men fought bravely outside the doors, women hid inside. When the Japanese occupied the Philippines, the church was also used as an evacuation center of the San Juaquiños. However, on the 29th of January, 1943, the guerilla leader of Panay, Col. Macario Peralta ordered to set all houses and the church in town on fire – it explained the soot that can still be seen in the pediment.

The 1948 earthquake caused the tower of the church to topple down.

The national government declared the church a historical landmark in 1974. The National Historical Institute shouldered all the expenses in the restoration and reconstruction of the church in 1982.

The patron saint is St. Joaquim and the annual parish fiesta falls on the 16th of August.

Built in 1892, the cemetery of San Joaquin is made of coral stones. In this final resting place, a baroque style gate with a statue of Jesus that stands on top literally welcomes visitors with open arms. The place is also guarded by two angels in each column standing on each side of Christ. Furthermore, sculpted heads of two cherubs and a skull representing death marks the entrance of the cemetery. A 20-stepped stairway supported by balustrade led into a small chapel (now closed) where once believed funeral masses were performed.