TRAVEL: BACOLOR and BETIS CHURCH revisited.

Still as part of our tour from the Viajeng Cusinang Matua last September, we also visited different churches in Pampanga. Bacolor church and Betis Church.

After our tour from Atching Lily’s place (KUSINA NI LILLIAN BORROMEO), we visited the Bacolor church. At first I am not really aware of what is the history of Bacolor church. All I’ve heard is that the church was almost buried half as high as 12meters from the lahar flow back in 1995 from the slopes of Mt. Pinatubo.

BACOLOR CHURCH was named after the town’s Patron Saint, San Guillermo. History said It was originally constructed by the Augustinian Friars in 1576 with Fr. Diego De Ochoa, OSA, as the town’s first parish priest having been installed as such two years after. In 1880, the Church was destroyed by an earthquake only to be rebuilt by Fr. Eugenio Alvarez in 1886.

I am looking at the architectural design of the church and I can help but amazed by the angle and built. I took pictures and identified the different spots where scenes from May Bukas pa was taken.

Happy that my friend Flow showed and telling me exact scenes where the cast did some acts. We even took a photo with “BRO”, an image of Jesus Christ the Risen Lord.

It is good that there is a continuing beautification and maintenance inside the Church and the plaza. I believe that there is a need to have a new museum for all antique images of the saints, vintage photos and the old gold-painted altar table that we saw for the first time as these are not dust free.. Indeed, Bacolor Church is a rich cultural heritage.

BETIS CHURCH

Right after our tour on Bacolor Church we went to Guagua Pampanga to visit Betis Church. On the bus they explained that Betis Church is the Sistine Chapel of the Philippines. I am actually impressed with the paintings from the ceiling! The photos below will bring you to the Baroque inspired church.

They said that Betis used to be a town before it was merged with other sitios now foming Guagua. Betis was named after a huge tree Bassia betis merr. According to early townsfolk, there was a betis tree that stood in the middle of the town long ago — the tree was huge that it could cover seven barrios today.

One of the oldest!

This Baroque-inspired church of Betis was built in 1660, with construction headed by Father Jose de la Cruz.

According to materials at the Betis Church museum (Museo Ning Betis), the preliminary structure was composed of wooden materials. But fire broke inside the church several times and it was rebuilt using concrete materials in 1770.

I am humbled to see during our visit that there are people praying even though it’s an ordinary day. If given the chance I would like to attend mass at Betis church.

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