San Agustin Church undergoing cleanup

The centuries-old San Agustin Church and Convent is undergoing a weeklong cleaning to remove years of grime that have been built up on its facade.

The cleanup team, however, will not be using brushes and soap like they did about six years ago.

Instead, they will be wielding hot water high-pressure washers that blast steam to rid the church’s adobe stones of gunk.

The church, which is found in Intramuros, is considered one of the oldest churches in the Philippines and one of the witnesses to the history of the Filipinos’ Catholic faith, said Fr. Ricky Villar, San Agustin Church museum director.

To conserve the heritage structure, the Church has partnered with Germany-based company Karcher, which cleaned the Rizal Monument in Rizal Park in 2017 and the People Power Monument in 2018.

“The cleaning method they were using here before were metal brushes, which were much more aggressive to the surface. [Some people used] detergent, very strong chemicals, and we try to avoid this because we don’t want all these chemicals. That is why we are using the power of steam,” said Thorsten Marco Mowes of Karcher.—NIKKA G. VALENZUELA