The Boljoon Blogs

LOCAL church leaders formed two committees yesterday to work on the design of the new Oslob parish church and to raise funds for its construction.

As this developed, a judge and a government prosecutor both explained that the law allows the local government to help pay for a new church.

A dawn fire initially blamed on a short-circuit lost the southern town its 160-year-old Immaculate Conception Parish last Wednesday.

In a meeting yesterday morning with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, the clergy formed a fundraising committee and a technical committee.

The first group will explore approaches to pay for the reconstruction, including second collections during masses, said media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay in a mobile phone interview.

Members of the second group will look for engineers and architects and coordinate with them on the design of the parish, among others.

There is no timeframe yet on how soon the construction can start.

When he visited the ruins last Thursday, Cardinal Vidal asked if the thick walls that survived the fire can still be used.

While he asked the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Val Gemelo, to abide by the normal flow of parish activities, the prelate said the church is also open to donations to help rebuild the parish.

Meanwhile, a judge and a public prosecutor said that government funds can be used to restore the Oslob parish.

Heritage

After all, opined Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Geraldine Faith Econg, that building is more than just a place of worship, it has become part of Cebu’s heritage.

“Not only can it help in the restoration, it (the local government, primarily) has a responsibility to preserve it,” she said.

She cited the general welfare clause of Republic Act 7160, the Local Government Code. “The state shall ensure and support preservation and enrichment of culture,” she said, quoting one provision.

Naga City Prosecutor Aida Sanchez also pointed out in a separate interview that what is being helped isn’t the church, but the people who go there.

The Cebu Provincial Government earlier gave P3.2 million for the rehabilitation of the Boljoon Church, after the National Heritage Council declared it a heritage site.

Historical records show that 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 church, in turn, was built on May 4, 1830 under the direction of Fr. Julian Bermejo.

Survival

Bermejo, according to museum curator Roel Rigor in a previous article, commissioned the building of watchtowers along the coast of southern Cebu for a military purpose: to watch out for and warn against incoming Moro raiders.

The church was made of cut stone and corals and also served as a fortress for the townsfolk during raids.

Oslob town, said Dr. Ned Nepangue and Celestino Macachor in their 2007 book “Cebuano Eskrima: Beyond the Myth”, is one of the hotbeds of the Visayan martial art of eskrima.

Fire gutted the church in 1955 but it was eventually restored.

The entire church complex is surrounded by a stone wall. At the southeastern portion of the complex are the unfinished remains of a military barracks. NRC/KNR

By Chris Ligan, Nilda Gallo
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 06:46:00 03/29/2008

FR. VALENTINO Gemelo, parish priest of the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish in Oslob, southern Cebu, promised that the parish church and rectory, which burned down Wednesday, will be rebuilt, but he will not ask for assistance from politicians to do so.

He said laws concerning the separation of church and state prohibits either entity from involving itself in the affairs of the other.

There are, however, avenues of cooperation available.

Gemelo said he welcomed the plan of Rep. Pablo Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district) to file a bill declaring the site of the church a national heritage site, since this would allow certain government entities, such as the National Heritage Commission (NHC), to help in the church’s restoration.

Gemelo said that even without the bill, he would try to ask the NHC’s help anyway, considering that the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception parish church is one of the oldest churches in the province.

He said he was also confident that his parishioners would do their part to help rebuild the church, much as they did when the 161-year-old building was also gutted by fire in 1955.

Garcia said he was willing to set aside part of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to help rebuild the church in Oslob, which is under his congressional district.

He said, however, that public funds may not be used to fund church activities, including building or rebuilding churches.

On the other hand, the PDF may be used to fund the restoration of structures, including churches, that are of value as national heritage sites, as recognized by the NHC.

Garcia said he would submit a bill to have the remains of the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception church included in the list of national heritage sites.

The congressman, however, said the passage of the bill may take time, since there are procedures that need to be followed and especially since several churches are already in the list, such as the Patrocinio de Santa Maria parish church in the neighboring town of Boljoon.

He encouraged the faithful to donate to the rebuilding of the church as well.

“Dunay uban Catholics nga malumo og kasing-kasing. Angayan siguro sila nga motabang (There are some Catholics who are soft-heared. It’s only proper that they help),” he said.

Senaor Pia Cayetano, who visited Cebu last Thursday, said she was also willing to allocate funds from her PDAF for the restoration of the Oslob church. However, her PDAF and those of other senators are being withheld by Malacañang, she said.

She did not say how much she would donate for the church’s rehabilitation.

By Jobers Bersales
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 12:28:00 03/27/2008

The dawn fire that gutted the 160-year-old convent and church in Oslob last Tuesday should serve as an eye-opener to the Catholic hierarchy and the faithful concerning the dangers that lurk behind these old structures that badly need rewiring. This tragic loss of an important heritage of the Augustinian friar-builders, Bishop Santos Gomez Marañon and Fray Julian Bermejo, in southern Cebu will not be the last if nothing is done soon to raise funds to rehabilitate all of these glorious structures built largely by Filipino masons and carpenters during the latter half of the Spanish colonial period in Cebu.

Whatever caused the Oslob fire, which was said to have started in one of the rooms of the rectory, I will venture to suspect that electric wiring may be a factor in the tragedy. The news reached us in the early hours of yesterday as wailing sirens of fire trucks raced across from where we are currently doing the third round of archaeological excavations across the rectory of Boljoon. I cannot help but imagine the tremendous loss that would befall Cebu if Boljoon Church and its rectory, the only National Cultural Treasure in the province to be declared by the National Museum, will go the way of Oslob.

This is not the first fire to visit the church in Oslob. In the late 1950s the entire church was gutted down, leaving only its meter-thick stone walls, when an afternoon fire broke out behind the sacristy due to an electric generator that exploded right after the Mass. Other tragedies followed much later as modernity began to seep into the rectory itself. During my last visit there, sometime in early 2007, I already saw various attempts at renovation that did not adhere to the integrity of the original structure (read: well-intentioned but uninformed tinkering in architecture) doing more damage than if it had been left to age in its glory.

But more than the structure itself is the fact that the rectory is one of only three on record as having been built by the indefatigable Parroco Capitan, Julian Bermejo, who spent time between Boljoon and Oslob as an Augustinian missionary. The old parish records, which would have been a source for Jolly Benitez, the writer assigned to chronicle the history of Oslob in the 55-volume Cebu provincial history project, are all ash now.

Boljoon Church and its convent might, heaven forbid, follow the way of Oslob if nothing is done soon to rewire the entire complex. In the late 1990s, a cost estimate pegged this rewiring at around P2 million. Already the Cebu provincial government and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts are pouring millions into the rehabilitation of the church – a very laudable project. But it is also time for the private sector to do its share and help raise much-needed money to modernize the electrical systems of this national treasure.

There are many other legacies of the past that need to be looked into. Although I am not certain, still I suspect that other churches and convents built by Spanish friars of old all over Cebu are also in need of serious rehabilitation – and soon. Otherwise, Oslob’s loss will not be the last.

By Jovy S. Taghoy
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
With Nancy R. Cudis

A DAWN fire destroyed one of the oldest churches in Cebu in the most destructive blaze to hit the province this Fire Prevention Month. It took firefighters nearly eight hours to put the flames out.

The fire that razed the Immaculate Conception Parish and its convent in the southern town of Oslob also highlighted the need for the government to pay attention to upgrading firefighting equipment.

The church sat about 50 meters away from the Oslob fire station in Barangay Poblacion, but much of the firefighting came from the neighboring towns of Santander, Argao, Dalaguete and Sibonga, because Oslob’s two firetrucks were defective.

Firefighters from Oslob Fire Station led by fire marshal SFO2 Jaime Suycano, together with some residents, had to push one of the trucks to the site.

The first firetruck to arrive, about 30 minutes after the alarm was raised, came from Santander Fire Station.

An initial investigation by Suycano showed the fire began at 1:40 a.m. based on the statement of Feryland Gemelo, 20, nephew of parish priest Fr. Valentino Gemelo and an acolyte of the church, who first saw the flames.

Suycano said an electrical short-circuit may have caused the fire, but that still has to be verified.

Personal loss

Initially, Suycano said the fire started in Fr. Gemelo’s room.

An inventory of the religious icons and items, personal belongings of Fr. Gemelo and his staff and the structure of the church and the convent itself is still being done to find out just how much the fire destroyed.

A crowd gathered around the site, including two women who cried while they gazed at what remained of the church.

Siblings Eusebia Binghit, 62, and Martina Sandoval, 65, told Sun.Star Cebu they were crying because it felt like they had lost their parents.

“Mura mi namatyan og ginikanan. Nalusno ko pagkahibawo (It’s like our parents had died. I was crushed when I found out),” Binghit said.

“Diha mi bunyagi. Diha mi kasla. Mahal gyud kaayo namo ni nga simbahan (We were baptized there, married there. We love this church),” Sandoval lamented.

A nine-year-old girl who was also in the churchyard said, “Luoy kaayo mi kay wa na mi simbahan (You should feel sorry for us, we have no church now).” She said she was looking forward to see “angels” singing at the altar during Flores de Mayo.

8-hour fight

It took firefighters three hours before Suycano declared the flames under control at 4:30 a.m.

But it took until 10 a.m. to extinguish the fire entirely.

When the smoke cleared, the only parts saved were the rock tablets that served as the church wall and the belfry.

The flames destroyed the two-story convent, the altar, all the long chairs, several religious icons, the prayer room, computers, and all the important documents such as marriage contracts, baptismal certificates and archives on the history of the church.

Surprisingly, parishioners found intact the framed wooden image of the Immaculate Conception, which was placed in the altar, secured by a glass case. The glass case bore minor cracks.

Several parishioners including Manuel Iburan, one of those who saw the image after they cleared the altar of its rubble, believed it was a “miracle.”

“Siguro, yes, miracle. Miraculous somehow,” Fr. Gemelo said.

Wiring

The parish priest said that the church was 150 to 160 years old and appeared fourth in the list of Cebu’s heritage churches, together with the churches in Boljoon, Argao and Dalaguete.

Fr. Gemelo was in Cebu City for a medical check-up when the tragedy occurred. Last Tuesday, his day off, he decided to leave Oslob for Cebu City to have his cough checked by a doctor.

He learned about the fire at 5 a.m. from his nephew Feryland.

Feryland, in an interview yesterday, narrated that he woke up to what sounded like electrical sparks or the rustling of a thief.

He saw smoke coming from Fr. Gemelo’s room. The room where Feryland slept, along with Fr. Gemelo’s room and a room reserved for visits of the archbishop, occupied the second level of the convent.

Before running to the nearby police and fire station, Feryland roused four other people in the convent.

Fr. Gemelo said he believes the fire may have started from the “faulty wiring” in the ceiling.

“Akong paminaw kanang karaan na kaayo nga mga wirings. Mga ilaga, iring nga nagtago, nangitkit (That wiring is ancient. Rats and cats have gnawed on it),” he said.

Help

He said that before he left for Cebu City last Tuesday, he made it a point to unplug all the wires from the two airconditioners, a water dispenser and other appliances.

All his appliances also had voltage regulators, he added.

Fr. Valentino appealed to the public to pray for guidance as he and the Parish Pastoral Council plan on where they could possibly hold masses while the church is rebuilt.

Msgr. Carlito Pono of the Archdiocesan commission on cultural heritage said masses will continue.

He told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview that that the Archdiocese of Cebu will be “pooling its resources together” to help the people of Oslob build a makeshift structure, as a temporary area where they can celebrate mass while work on a new parish begins.

Pono said that the members and officials of the parish must initiate these plans with the cooperation of the local government.

He is expecting a meeting with Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal the soonest possible time. The prelate left for Manila early yesterday morning and was scheduled to arrive back in Cebu last night.

Priorities

Meanwhile, media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay questioned the lack of equipment, such as functional firetrucks, to address emergencies like what happened to the parish.

In a dyLA radio interview, he said this incident should serve as a lesson to government officials to address the needs of the people.

“Mao na ilang suroy-suroyon, ang kahimtang sa lungsod, dili kanang idalit nga lechon og pagkaon. Dako ni nga tamparos sa mga opisyales (That’s what they should visit and explore, the situation in the towns, not the lechon and other food offered to them. This is a slap on the officials’ faces),” the monsignor said, alluding to a tourism promotion program of the Provincial Government.

CEBU CITY, Philippines - Three brothers took turns beating their sibling, one of them using a rock to bash his head, during a drinking spree hours after Manny Pacquiao wrested Juan Manuel Marquez’s World Boxing Council (WBC) super featherweight crown last Sunday.

The killing of stone craft worker Adelino Pino, 33, followed hours of peace in Cebu, with the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) reporting zero crime rate in the province while coverage of the Pacquiao-Marquez bout was ongoing in the morning until 4 p.m.

Police said Pino, after watching the Pacquiao-Marquez bout, invited his brothers Christopher, 31, Roberto, 28, and Restituto, 21, for drinks at his house in Sitio Hangar Kagudoy, Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City in the evening.

While discussing Pacquiao’s fight, Christopher began to feel the effect of the liquor and started throwing things inside the house, prompting Adelino to call his attention about it.

When Christopher ignored Adelino, the latter picked up a piece of wood and hit his brother with it, resulting in an altercation with Restituto and Roberto rushing to Christopher’s side.

The three then beat up Adelino until one of them picked up a rock and bashed it on his head. He was rushed to the hospital but he died past 10 p.m.

After the incident, the three fled, but barangay tanods and responding policemen caught up with them and arrested Christopher and Roberto. Restituto remains at large.

Police are still finding out who bashed Adelino’s head with the rock.

Other areas in the province, however, remained peaceful, especially during the coverage of the Pacquiao-Marquez fight in Las Vegas.

Alert

Deputy provincial director for operations, Superintendent Erson Digal, told reporters that before the bout, they sent a radio message to all police chiefs to be on alert during the fight.

The CPPO’s command journal showed that no crimes occurred from 8 a.m. to the late afternoon last Sunday.

A suicide incident at dawn and a shooting incident late at night were not counted because these did not happen as the fight took place.

However, a motorcycle driver was killed while six persons were injured in different road accidents in the province over the weekend.

Felix A. Yncierto Jr., 53, died while an ambulance was taking him to a hospital in Cebu City.

He was traveling along the highway of Barangay Baklayan, Boljoon town at 4:20 p.m. Sunday aboard his Yamaha 110 motorcycle when he collided with another motorcycle carrying three passengers.

The Motorstar 125 was driven by Roldan Corpuz of Barangay Simala, Sibonga while Richard Billones, 22, and Leny Marie Lirasan, 20, rode with him.

All four were taken to the Dalaguete District Hospital but doctors decided to transfer Yncierto to Cebu City for further treatment. He died along the way.

Two buses also collided in Sitio Tawig, Barangay Palanes, Alcantara Saturday afternoon.

Ceres bus 8061 driven by Narciso Acrus Gemarangan, 47, left Cebu City and was headed for Bato, Santander.

Ceres bus 8066, on the other hand, came from Bato, Santander and was on its way to Cebu City. It was driven by Ruben Tanoco Jerofo, 40.

An investigation conducted by Inspector Ranulfo Lastimoso, chief of the Alcantara Police Station, stated that Gemarangan’s bus overtook a parked cargo truck loaded with rice and corn.

The truck had been parked at the side of the road, prompting Gemarangan to switch lanes.

As he encroached on the right lane, Jerofo’s bus collided with his bus, causing major damages to both vehicles.

Only Jerofo suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital in Cebu City.

In Tuburan town, two minors were hit by speeding motorcycles.

Alyn Laguna, 5, was hit by a motorcycle driven by a certain Melchor in Barangay Cogon, Tuburan. Melchor reportedly continued to speed off even if Laguna had slumped to the ground.

Laguna was taken to the Tuburan District Hospital but was later released.

Police learned that the motorcycle was owned by a barangay captain.

Last Friday, Anna Rosa Villamor, 7, was walking along Sitio Languyon, Barangay Manga when a motorcycle driven by Kevin Canaresiyo hit her, wounding her in the head and body.

After a check-up at the Tuburan District Hospital, she was released. - Sun.Star