Road Trip to Iloilo's Deep South: San Joaquin

San Joaquin's Campo Santo

San Joaquin is the southernmost municipality of Iloilo and here is where we ended our trip. The history of San Joaquin, according to Maragtas legend begins in the latter part of the 12th century.

Before reaching the town proper, we stopped over the historical San Joaquin Cemetery and it’s imposing Campo Santo. Built during the 19th century, Christy showed me a tomb of a revolutionary hero. The construction of San Joaquin Cemetery was commenced by Fray Mariano Vamba, the last Augustinian parish priest of the town in 1892. A statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched stands on top of a baroque style gate, and on each side of Christ, two columns with angelic figures are poised as guards. In addition, sculpted heads of two cherubs and a skull representing death marks the entrance of the cemetery. Twenty stone steps after entering the gate and you will be greeted by the Baroque designed mortuary chapel standing on the center.

San Joaquin's Parish. Image: redlan76.blogspot.com

Christy also showed me around the town plaza. I was planning to take a picture of the yellow-stone Parish Church of San Joaquin, which was also built using igang, but the façade was under restoration, so I decided to I’ll just borrow pictures online. The church was built in 1869 under the supervision of the Augustinian priest Tomas Santaren. The structure was eventually hailed as the only church in the Philippines with large pediment that features a military scene, depicting the Spanish triumph over the Muslims in the Battle of Tetuan, thus earning it a spot in the National Historical Institute’s list of National Cultural Treasures.

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