Archdiocese eyes Manila Cathedral reopening for Holy Week ‘Visita’

A FAVORITE venue for high-profile weddings and major religious rites, the Manila Cathedral has been closed for repairs since February 2012. PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA

The Manila Archdiocese hopes to reopen Manila Cathedral in time for Holy Week, when Catholics traditionally flock to different churches on a pilgrimage known as Visita Iglesia.

Msgr. Nestor Cerbo, the cathedral rector, said the archdiocese initially planned to welcome churchgoers back to the basilica on March 25 but had to again delay the reopening after a recent assessment showed there were still parts of the structure needing restoration.

In an interview with reporters Friday, Cerbo said among those sections were the baldachin, the small canopy at the church altar, and the sacristy.

“The project manager asked me if I could give them one more week to assess,” Cerbo said. “They would tell me if we could open during the Holy Week.”

The original date for the reopening was set last year on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

RESTORATION works at the famous Intramuros landmark have so far cost about P120 million, according to its rector. PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA

But with the work still unfinished, the Manila Cathedral Basilica Foundation opted for a “soft launch” instead, inviting donors to check the status of the project and where their money went, the rector explained.

The foundation then aimed for another date, March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. “In the history of the cathedral, its opening falls on the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So we thought of a date to reopen it, which is the nearest feast related to the Blessed Mother,” he added.

But the project manager later notified him that the reopening had to be postponed again. “(When constructing) a new building, you can predict when you can finish, but with restoration, it’s hard to tell,” Cerbo said.

He recalled that after an announcement was already made about the March 25 reopening, his office was swamped with calls from couples wanting to book their wedding at the cathedral. At least one wedding reservation had to be canceled since that target date could not be met.

The cathedral has been closed to the public since Feb. 7, 2012, to make way for repairs and restoration, the first such works to be made on the structure since 1958. The cathedral’s origins date back to the 16th century.

It was Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle who cited the need to ensure the church’s structural integrity, noting cracks on key sections of the basilica.

An assessment then revealed that some of its columns and beams did not meet the standards set by the 2010 National Structural Code of the Philippines.

The cost of the restoration was initially estimated at P40 million. But offhand, Cerbo said, the foundation had already spent about P120 million for the ongoing work.