Quake-hit Bulacan church undergoes renovation

ENDANGERED ASSET Built in 1578, Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Parish Church in Bulakan, Bulacan, is being restored after it was damaged by the 6.1-magnitude earthquake in April. CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE

BULAKAN, Bulacan, Philippines — The 441-year-old Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Parish Church here that was damaged by the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Central Luzon in April would be repaired through a massive restoration drive, according to the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP).

Cracks were found in the church’s sacristy, dome and bell tower, said Joey Meneses Rodrigo, former municipal tourism and information officer of Bulakan town.

Museum experts have completed the assessment and offered recommendations about fixing the church, Raquel Flores, head of NMP’s cultural properties regulation office, said after officials unveiled on Sunday a marker classifying the church as an “important cultural property (ICP).”

Scaffolding has been set up around the church facade although it remains open to the public.

Flores said the church, which was built in 1578, was now classified as an endangered asset and would be prioritized for repairs by the government.

In June 2017, the NMP declared the church, including its convent and public cemetery, an ICP.

Architectural beauty

Rodrigo said the NMP recognized “the antiquity, architectural beauty and historicity of the church, the patio, the old convent (which is now the Assumpta Academy), and the ‘camposanto’ (public cemetery).”

Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion bears the neo-Mudejar architecture, referring to the architectural style associated with the Muslim community of Spanish Iberia in the 16th century, said Jan Jacob Carpio, a researcher of the Institute of Philippine Culture in Ateneo de Manila University.

The church facade also shares the neo-Romanesque features of the Manila Cathedral and Santa Lucia Church in Ilocos Sur province, Carpio said.

Gen. Gregorio del Pilar distributed pamphlets written by his uncle, Marcelo H. del Pilar, at this church during the Philippine Revolution.

The earthquake on June 3, 1863, left cracks on the walls of the church while another temblor on Oct. 1, 1869, had almost toppled the belfry, according to the book “Angels in Stone, Architecture of Augustinian Church in the Philippines,” authored by Fr. Pedro Galende.

General Del Pilar spared Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion in 1899 when Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo ordered him to burn all structures that could be used by American soldiers during the Philippine-American War. —Carmela Reyes-Estrope