Visita Iglesia of Churches in Makati

Makati City -Philippines

It was a hot Thursday afternoon when our group decided to make a historical heritage and visita iglesia  ( church visit) in several historical churches that are located in Makati city .  There was a traffic built-up along EDSA ( Cubao ) EDSA ( Ortigas ) and EDSA ( Shaw ) areas and it took almost 2 hours before i reached the Guadalupe church compound .  It can be worst during ordinary days .

Guadalupe church

 Guadalupe Church is also known as  Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church. This is known as one of the oldest churches in Makati area and made of volcanic tuff known as adobe. This church is located near MRT Guadalupe station and atop a small hill.

monastery

The church is a mixture of different architecture styles. An example of this is the façade which shows Neo-Romanesque with Gothic style.The massive buttresses create a vertical movement, stopped only by the roundness of windows, statues, niches and the semi-circular arch of the main entrance. The monastery attached to the old church is made of modern cement .

graffiti marks

There were ugly etch marks ( graffiti marks ) left maybe by the American or some say British soldiers on the adobe walls of the church. They can be visibly seen with the naked eyes .

main altar

Church images of saints ( santos) were covered with violet / purple cloth veiled which symbolizes mourning and death . The duration of such veiling varies from place to place. The custom in many places is to veil from before first vespers or the vigil Mass of the Fifth Sunday of Lent while others limit this veiling from after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

This is one of the favorite pre-wedding nuptial photography sites and wedding place in Makati .  The rates is cheaper compared to some historical churches in Manila or Sactuario de San Antonio. Booking the place can sometimes pose a problem because of its popularity .

Contact Details:
Address: 7440 Bernardino St. Guadalupe Viejo, Makati City
Tel No. 896-8444

San Pedro de Macati Church

The church and house were to be built in the highest hill in the area called Buenavista and were to be placed under the patronage of Saint Peter , the namesake of the donor. The facade is baroque .

historical marker

Construction of the first church commenced in 1620 under the direction of Fray Pedro delos Montes S.J. As the Jesuits began to earn at least 30,000 pesos annually from turning clay into fine earthenware, their vision of building an imposing structure began to be realized. The church known as San Pedro y Paul Viejo was made from hewn stone, pebbles and gravel mixed with mortar. Its facade is dominated with a three tiered papal tiara with the cross keys of Saint Peter.

 interior

The church was destroyed during the Brtish occupation in 1762. The church was reconstructed much later in 1849 using volcanic tuff from nearby Guadalupe in Makati and Meycauayan in Bulacan province. Other materials include used include yakal and molave as wood materials, and capiz shells for windows. This church is just located a few blocks away from the Guadalupe Church and is another favorite for weddings .

The adjacent property fronting the church is a parking space used to be part of church cemetery .

Address : P Burgos, Makati, Metro Manila

children

We were also greeted by the children and residents of the area . The barangay is alive with the reading of pasyon .

I think each barangay would host a pabasa station where a makeshift tent , or stage area . Some families would even spend money to host a pabasa.

Calvary 1

When we moved around the area , it seems that almost every street corner would host a pabasa . That also explain ‘why’ portion of streets leading to Makati is close during Holy Week.

Parish of Our Lady of Abandoned

We also walked  along J. P. Rizal street at the linear park along Pasig River , It used to be a small parish and the devotion started to increase into neighboring barangays and even people from Makati and Manila would also come. We also saw a larger church that is being constructed at Barangay Hulo , Mandaluyong City. This is under the auspices of Mission Society of the Philippines .

Address: 811 Coronado St., Hulo, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila

Contact : 532-7756

 

National Shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe

This modern church is located near the office of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority ( MMDA) at 1923 Orense  , Guadalupe Nuevo ,  Makati .  This is a more modern church with larger sitting capacity . We headed towards the upper floor to get photo of the church facade.  Since it is Lenten season , All the church images were veiled with purple / violet cloth .  This is not my first time to visit this church , I have visited this one several times , since i took several short courses at the Technology Resource Center  (TRC ) office a few blocks away and We would eat at the small eateries ( carinderias) located near the shrine.

church facade

In the Year 2002, it was declared an Archdiocesan Shrine.  In  January 23, 2010, declared a National Shrine.  There are also station of the cross on the upper floor .

shrine marker

portion of the shrine

One can easily overlook this shrine coming from Orense street . The shrine can easily be mistaken for a large parking space or a building if not for its stained glass windows and cross . The long electric lines and electric poles are also hindrance to photography .  The shrine is also popular among its parishioners because of its sitting capacity and wide open space inside the shrine.

Address :1923 Orense street  , Guadalupe Nuevo ,  Makati

Tel No. 882-8095

Santuario de San Antonio

This church is one of the classiest church within Makati area. It is fully air-conditioned with its modern Spanish mission -style architectural features . There are paintings of national artist Fernando Amorsolo . This church is located within Forbes Park community  and Bonifacio Global City ( BGC) area .

marker

The church had a wide garden with life-sized station of the cross depicted

Address: 3117 McKinley Rd, Manila, 1220 Metro Manila

Phone:(02) 843 8830

Greenbelt chapel

We just tried to walked the stretch of EDSA on our way to Ayala near the chapel at the Greenbelt . It was past 6:00pm when we reached the chapel . I have seen a lot of improvements within the chapel and its garden, there are more flowering plants like orchids and ferns on kakawate tree stumps .

different types of blooming  vandas , mokaras and kagawaras

There were at least 3 dozens kakawate tree stumps planted with the vandaceous alliance orchids. Their blooms are long lasting  , Flowers can last for several weeks or even months. I think they started to introduce flowering orchids within the greenbelt area several years ago . This makes the area a little more lively , an ideal spot for taking photos and to commute with nature.

acacia tree with native orchids

We also saw sanggumays ( Dendrobium anosmum, Vanda lamellata , Dendrobium crumenatum ( Dove orchid ) , Aerides quinquivulnera naturalized  on the old acacia trees. I must say that it is a wise move on the part of the Ayala park management .

greenbelt chapel

History

Inspired by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the late Fanny del Rosario-Diploma and her husband, Atty. Nordy P. Diploma, presented plan to build a chapel to Rev. Fr. Edgar Saginsin, who facilitated a meeting and consultation with the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila.

Sto. Niño de Paz Community-Greenbelt Chapel was blessed and inaugurated on July 28, 1983 First chaplains were the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB); succeeded by Msgr. Jose “Chito” Bernardo (1986); Msgr. Jaime Mora (1989) assisted by Fr. Jim Ferry, MM; Rev. Fr. Jose Mario “Jojo” B. Maximiano (mid-1991); Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual (late 1991); Msgr. Mylo Hubert C. Vergara (mid-2000); Fr. Pericles “Prex” Fajardo (2001). Present chaplain, Rev. Fr. Rufino “Jun” Sescon, Jr. assumed office in 2005.

Sto. Niño de Paz Community – Greenbelt Chapel , Ayala Center, Makati City 1228,Metro Manila, Philippines
Telephone No. : 7298173 / 7298174Emails
Information Technology Group: greenbelt.chapel@gmail.com
Chaplain: greenbeltchaplain@gmail.com
Administration: administration@greenbeltchapel.org

Official FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/greenbeltchapel

For more information about their services and projects: http://greenbeltchapel.org/

Saint John Bosco  Church

The parish and church is celebrating their 40th anniversary and the church is full of people ,It is also fully air-conditioned. It was also a big relief among the visitors that there are water stations within the church grounds.

Saint John of Bosco statue

Website: http://sjbmakati.com/

Address: Arnaiz Avenue corner , Amorsolo Street, Makati City 1200 Philippines

+632-894-5932 to 34

info@sjbmakati.com

San Ildefonso Church

This is a post war modern church , The church  was built in 1951 had a nice stained glass windows and large cement image of San Ildefonso .  It is run by The Salesians of Don Bosco  .

church facade

church interior

We finished the tour around past 6:30pm and ate in one of the eatery near the church .  Our group roamed the surrounding streets of Evangelista street and within Pio del Pilar barangay .

 Address : 4963 A. Arnaiz Ave. cor. M. Reyes St., Pio del Pilar, Makati City

Contact : 843-7351 (Parish Off.) 892-3122 to 23

Picnic and Fun at San Rafael , Bulacan

San Rafael , Bulacan province -Philippines

We arrived past 7:30am at the scenic , Bustos Dam – San Rafael side . Our group then asked permission from the military officer manning the sentry gate at the 48th infantry battalion compound .

military sentry

The friendly officers tried to ask us where did we were from , We told them that our group is from Metro Manila and some of us are first time visitors of the place.

group photo

We asked the officers for a quick photo opportunity at the tank and military trucks which are parked within the compound. Some took their chance at a quick photo of the armor tank .

Bustos Dam

 Mr. Chael Santos and his team arrived a few minutes later , while some of us have started our photo shoot near the Bustos Dam – San Rafael side. During the dry season , when water at the dam is at its lowest level , people would usually cross this side of the dam going to the town of Bustos . It is much faster and saves travel expenses.

Please try to visit about our recent visit to Lakad Pamana of Bustos Bulacan part 4

birds

We saw several kind of birds , water hyacinth and interesting landscape scenery .

breakfast meal wrapped in banana leaves

Our group was served a traditional Filipino breakfast meal by Arki’s Tambayan of San Miguel, Bulacan which consists of steam rice , fried bangus ( milk fish ) salted duck egg and fresh tomato, Another meal which consist of steam rice, tinapa na galungong , ginisang mustasa with  choice of either coffee 3in 1 mix or swiss miss chocolate   . While eating our breakfast , We overheard from a house nearby that there was a pabasa / pasyon or readings .  The pabasa usually starts on Holy Monday  and ends on Good Friday.

people at the balcony singing pabasa with electric guitar 

But according to some of the people in San Rafael , it would start during the lenten season and unlike some pabasa in Metro Manila. They would have a slightly different twist .

Lakad Pamana and Walk with Chan will be another round of tour schedule on April 10, 2016 SUNDAY ( whole day ) For those who wish to join us in our tour  there is a FB event page ( slot is very limited ) San Rafael Heritage and Malangaan Cave Eco Tour

Here are some of the places that we visited last March 12:

 San Juan de Dios Church and Parochial Museum

Malangaan Cave Adventure

A Tour of Greenery in Baliuag