Aside from bahay kubo, what other terms do you know for the traditional Filipino home and

its
architectural elements? Did you know that the first few steps of a stair landing had a name
(descanso), or that the intricate traceries above the door shared the same term for “embroidery”
(calado)? Check out the terms in our Filipino glossary below, learn about the Pinoy home, and a
bit of its history, as well.

Aside from bahay kubo, what other terms do you know for the traditional Filipino home
and its architectural elements? Did you know that the first few steps of a stair landing
had a name (descanso), or that the intricate traceries above the door shared the same
term for “embroidery” (calado)? Check out the terms in our Filipino glossary below, learn
about the Pinoy home, and a bit of its history, as well.

Azotea. A balcony or terrace on a flat roof.

PHILIPPINE ARCHITECTURE: Forms and

Types
APARTMENT
An apartment is a multi-unit residence generally built in populated urban
areas.The burgeoning economy, brought about by international trade during the
second half of the 19th century, increased Manila’s population. To house this
growing population, existing bahay na bato (stone house) were subdivided to
house many tenants. In commercial districts where the bahay had an entresuelo
(mezzanine), that area was rented out to tenants.

Two types of apartment buildings appeared during the American period: the
rowhouse, called accesoria, and the multistory, multi-unit residence.

The rowhouse continued to be built to accommodate the growing urban

population during the reconstruction following World War II. These houses were
usually two stories, occasionally three stories or two stories with a mezzanine.
Each residential unit had its own entrance and was separated from its neighbors
by a fire wall. Sometimes the individual unit had a carport. The first floor
contained the living room, dining room, toilet, and kitchen. The bedrooms were
located above, accessible through a flight of steps. Some rowhouses were built of
concrete, others of concrete on the first story and wood on the second. The
cheapest werealmost entirely of wood. A number of 1950s rowhouses can still be
found in the Malate-Ermita districts, while rowhouses of the 1960s can be found all
over Metro Manila. A rowhouse of wood is found in Project 3, Quezon City. The
term accesoria continued to be used for these rented places, especially for low
middle-class housing, while the term apartment was applied to the better-
appointed residences.

The townhouse seems to have developed from the idea of rowhouses or

apartment units.

With the rising cost of urban land, the need for a compromise between the
necessity of living several stories above the ground and the desire for a single
detached house with its own grounds led to the development of townhouses
around the 1970s. The townhouse makes it possible to use limited space in urban
areas while departing from the usual boxlike structure associated with rowhouses
and apartments. Some variations are designed around a common open area with
facilities, like a swimming pool and playing courts. Ownership of townhouses
may also mean an interest in the common area.

In general, townhouses do not go beyond three stories and are complete

residential units sharing a common wall with a neighbor on either side. Depending
on the target market, materials used range from modest to luxurious.

The multistory, multi-unit apartment shares a common main entrance. A number

of units may occupy the same floor and share the same corridor that leads to the
main entrance. The units are complete dwellings that include the living room,
dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms, all on the same floor. An
example of this apartment type is the Syquia Apartments on Adriatico Street
(formerly Dakota) built circa 1937. The apartments, composed of four towers,
share a common open space enclosed by a wall and tall gate. Each tower contains
about a dozen living units. This type of apartment is the precursor of the
condominium which, more than describing a particular architectural form, refers to
a new form of ownership.

In the 1970s the condominium (from Latin “cum,” with, and “dominium,”
ownership) first appeared. The growing economy and the increased buying
power of the growing population is cited as one of the major factors influencing
the development and proliferation of condominiums. Republic Act No. 4726 or
the Condominium Act defines a condominium as “an interest in real property
consisting of a separate unit in a residential, individual, or commercial building and
an undivided interest in the common, directly or indirectly, land in which it is
located and in the common areas of the building. A condominium may include, in
addition, a separate interest in other portions of such real property.” Ownership
of the condominium unit therefore means ownership of the residential or office
unit itself and a portion of the common spaces such as a parking space and
perhaps a rooftop laundry area (Feliciano 1991).
Condominiums, popularly called “condo,” are generally multistory with central
service cores for elevators and stairways. Units are designed for compact living
and are small by the standards of those used to living on the ground. The lack of
space is usually compensated by the availability of amenities, such as air-
conditioning, communications equipment, and the accessibility of business and
commercial areas. Condominium units can range from a small one-room affair,
called a studio, to a unit with living room, dining room, bedrooms and their
individual bathrooms, and a well-appointed kitchen.

Not just a variation on the architectural form of residences, condominiums can be

considered as revolutionizing forms of ownership. Condominium units are also
used as business offices, and may be owned by corporations rather than by
individuals or families. A condominium building may also be of “mixed use”; i.e.,
spaces are owned by shop operators, business entities, and residents.

The interior of condominiums and townhouses depend largely on the personal

taste and income of the occupant, whether owner or tenant. More expensive
units are complete with modern amenities. Townhouse developments that target
the middle class are usually simple spaces with basic amenities which, in some
cases, the owner can modify by redesigning interiors to suit personal taste and
budget.

The private sector is the more dominant participant in residential and real estate
development and focuses on high-yield units, like condominiums and townhouses.
The target for these units are the high-income group, like expatriates, foreign
entrepreneurs, and local people in search of high-yielding investments. This
system of private initiative, which flourishes through free trade, has created
lopsided development in favor of urban centers where infrastructure like
transportation and communication are already in place.

Examples of condominiums built within the last decade are the Legaspi Towers
along Roxas Boulevard, Pacific Plaza in Makati, and the Rennaissance Towers in
Pasig. Luxurious townhouses may be found in New Manila and Greenhills.
• A.Gonzales-Biglang-Awa/F. Varona/R. Javellana

References

Feliciano, Edgar M. Condominiums and Townhouses in the Philippines: A

Fact-Book and Directory. Makati: E.M. Feliciano Publishing Company Inc.,
1991.

Villegas, Ramon. “The Not So Good Old Days.” Manila Chronicle

(March 1992).

BAHAY KUBO

The bahay kubo (from Tagalog “bahay,” house, and possibly Spanish “cubo,”
cube) may be regarded as the lowland Christian ethnic house. These houses line
seacoasts and riverbanks, are strung along roads and highways, or clustered
together in fields or groves.
Usually owned by peasant families and other low income groups, the bahay kubo
has been described as an idyll of peace and prosperity in the middle of the fields.
Such is the image created in every Filipino child by the famous song “Bahay
Kubo”:

Bahay kubo kahit munti,

Ang halaman doon ay sari-sari.
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka mayroon pa, labanos, mustasa,
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya,
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.

The nipa hut, however small,

Has various plants…
Turnip and eggplant, winged bean and peanut,
Stringbean, bataw, soya beans,
White gourd melon, patola, pumpkin, and squash,
And there are more, raddish and mustard,
Onion, tomato, garlic, and ginger,
And all around are sesame seed.

The bahay kubo retains the features of the traditional ethnic house, namely, pile
construction and the hip roof, but in addition has push-out or sliding windows for
added ventilation, a necessity in the hot and humid climate that prevails in these
areas most of the year. Some hispanic influences are evident, such as the altar for
the villager’s santos, and the benches, tables and other furnishings required by
hispanized manners. Although commonly claimed to be of hispanic influence, the
silid or kuwarto (room), where the women of the house could change clothes in
private, seems to have been present prior to hispanization, as attested to by early
chroniclers.

Basically the bahay kubo consists of a balkon or beranda (front porch) that
opens to a square or rectangular multipurpose bulwagan, the main room of the
house, on one side of which is the silid, a small room for household storage. The
bulwagan leads to the kusina (kitchen), usually with a separate roof, and finally to
an open-air batalan, a back porch which serves as a cleaning or washing area or
even as a bathroom. The house is entered through the front porch or through the
batalan via a removable bamboo ladder.

The balkon is usually one step or around 15 centimeters lower than the floor of
the main hall. As the receiving room of the house, its windows are much wider
than those of the main room and are often decorated with fanciful latticework.

A regular bedroom is unknown in the rural areas, and in its place, the all-purpose
bulwagan functions as a sleeping area at night. During the day, it serves as dining,
work, and entertainment area. Originally there was just the floor and a low table
called the dulang, for sitting and dining; later a built-in long bench of split bamboo
called the papag or papagan was introduced, along with other furnishings, as a
result of Spanish contact.

A silid is not only a changing area especially for the women but is mainly for the
storage of pillows and rolled mats, chests and woven trunks, called tampipi, for
the household’s personal belongings.

To keep a fire from spreading and to ensure a clean interior free from smoke and
grime, the kusina is either moved to ground level but still connected by a shed or
lean-to type of roof to the main house, or else built as a separate structure like a
mini-version of the main house. The latter may be joined to the main house by a
corridor or a bridgelike passageway, which could serve as a dining room.

More often, however, the kitchen is part of the main house on the same floor level
or a step lower, with a roof of its own. Unlike the bulwagan, it is a more open
area with the slats of the walls and flooring spaced wider, so that during cooking
time smoke easily escapes.

The floors of the batalan are somewhat loosely arranged lengths of whole
bamboos cut from the bases of old stems. An open porch usually connected to
the kitchen, the batalan is often raised for better sanitation as it is almost always
wet here during the day. Occasionally, some batalan are moved to ground level,
their boundaries marked by a fence. Big jars of water are kept in the batalan for
drinking and washing.

The space under the house is used only to store farm and fishing implements,
mortars and pestles, and other heavy or bulky articles. This space is a source of
ventilation for the house, especially if the floor is of slats set slightly apart. It is
usually open on all sides, although a bamboo fence may be constructed around it
to shelter pigs and poultry.

To store unhulled rice or palay, the kamalig, a separate storehouse, is built

following the form of the main house and using similar materials.

House forms and materials vary, depending on the local terrain and climate. Thus
in areas frequently ravaged by typhoons, houses tend to be low and squat,
elevated by about half a meter, like those in Bikol. Where heat and humidity are
more oppressive, houses tend to be taller, with the floor about 3 to 3.5 meters
above the ground, and more spacious.

A variant of the bahay kubo is the temporary shelter built in the kaingin or
swidden farms in the uplands, or in the middle of the rice fields or fish ponds in
the lowlands. It is a resting place or occasional dwelling for the farmer whose
home is far from the place of work. The hut is a one-room structure, raised on
stilts, roofed with thatch, and provided with thatch or bamboo sidings. It could
be nothing more than a roofed platform. Part of it is used for keeping tools and
implements.

Despite local variations, the bahay kubo is basically a house of bamboo and nipa,
as its English translation “nipa hut” points out. These materials account for the
buoyant, seemingly cool and easy feel of the house. However, for all its lightness
and rather humble appearance, its construction demands special skill and
artisanship and, in fact, a building technology of its own. For instance, traditional
folk wisdom dictates that bamboos be cut only in season, i.e., at the start of the
bamboo’s resting period, which covers a mere 20 days each year: from the start of
the misa de aguinaldo or nine-day dawn masses before Christmas to the Feast of
the Epiphany, or from 16 December to 6 January. During this time, bamboos are
already mature and no new leaves or branches are produced; the sap flow is
probably sluggish, and tissues are poor in starch and sugar, and hence can no
longer attract the powder-post beetle called bukbok. In order to eliminate all
insects, the cut bamboo stalks are then soaked in river or lake water or buried in
the sand for some six months before using.

Of the 30 or more different species of bamboo in the Philippines, only three of

four may be used in house construction, the best of which is the spiny kind,
called the kawayang tinik.

Nipa is planted between the months of May and August, during the rainy season
when the soil is wet. When mature, this plant rises to about 3 meters and its long
leaves acquire a rich green color. The best nipa comes from Paombong, Bulacan.
When used for thatching and walling, nipa leaves are doubled up and sewn together
before drying.Other roofing materials include bundled cogon grass, rice stalks,
sugarcane leaves, split bamboo, anahaw and other palms. Sawali or woven bamboo
strips, split bamboo, coconut leaves, abaca leaves, and anahaw are used for wall
sidings. Rattan is used for lashing.

Building a house is no simple matter. First, an auspicious site for a dwelling is

selected, then blessed with prayers to ward off evil spirits. Certain omens are
observed and rites performed before, during, and after construction. The proper
orientation of various house parts such as the door and the ladder, or even the
house itself, is important since these are all essential to the prosperity of the
family and the strength and stability of the house. A house that faces the east is
generally considered lucky. The Ilongo of Panay Island believe in a mythical
dragon, Bakunawa, whose position in the sky determines the winds. One must
know where the Bakunawa faces before beginning construction.

The next step involves the erection of the posts, followed by the installation of
the floor joists. After this, construction shifts to the roof and from there works
downward to the dinding (walls), then the windows and the doors. All these
stages are marked by rituals, such as the placing of coins in the holes of the
principal posts to ensure the financial stability of the family; the smearing of the
blood from a slaughtered chicken or goat on the carpenter’s tools and the posts of
the house to ward off any misfortune that might befall the carpenter, the tools
used, and the house being built; and the house blessing when a new pot containing
water is dropped to wet the whole floor, and thus ensure a happy home.

An outstanding feature of the bahay kubo is the highly flexible planning and
arrangement of house units to allow free, easy interaction and movement to
people within and outside the house. A greater sense of interdependence and a
strong sense of community develops among its occupants as they sleep, eat, and
work together in this one-room setting. Here one mingles freely with nature, and
with family, friends, and neighbors in a spirit of harmony and togetherness.
• C. Hila

References

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine

Artistic Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

Folk Architecture. Texts by Rodrigo Perez III, Rosario Encarnacion, and

Julian Dacanay Jr. Photographs by Joseph R. Fortin and John K. Chua.
Quezon City: GCF Books, 1989.

Klassen, Winand. Architecture in the Philippines: Filipino Building in a

Cross-Cultural Context. Cebu City: University of San Carlos, 1986.

BAHAY NA BATO

The bahay na bato (from Tagalog “bahay,” house, and “na bato,” of stone), also
known as bahay kastila (Spanish house) and bahay na tisa or balay tisa (house of
tile), are residences of the well-to-do, built in many towns during the 19th and
early 20th centuries.

The bahay na bato has certain basic features though it has undergone changes in
the course of its development and varies according to region. It generally has two
stories, sometimes three. The ground floor is of cut stone or brick; the upper, of
wood. Grilles protect the ground floor windows, while second-story windows
are wide, with sliding shutters whose latticework frames either shell or glass
panes. Below the pasamano (window sill), alternative windows reach to the
floor. Called ventanillas (small windows), these are protected with either iron
grilles or wooden barandillas (balusters) and have sliding wooden shutters.
Above the whole house is a high hip roof, i.e., sloping on four sides.

Most surviving examples of the bahay na bato date back only to the 19th and
early 20th centuries, although the form developed during the 17th century as a
fusion of three traditions: the indigenous, the Spanish, and the Chinese.

Houses in the islands during the precolonial period followed a pattern common
throughout Southeast Asia. They were of frame construction with floors raised
high above the ground. Such houses stood on stilts, like spiders on many legs.
Thus they protected the occupants from the humid ground, seasonal floods,
insects, wild animals, as well as human enemies. The resulting space below the
floor served as a work space and animal pen. Thatched roofs, hipped or gabled,
were steeply pitched to let rain water flow down quickly.

Commoners lived in small houses with floors and walls of split bamboo. The
nobility enjoyed houses that were considerably larger and had hardwood floors
and walls. Largest and tallest of all was the chief’s house. The rooms were many,
according to the 17th-century missionary Francisco Alzina SJ, and the floors of
several levels. There were 9 or even 11 posts, on each side, and three ridgepoles.
Carvings ornamented the houses. Soliman, lord of Manila, dwelt in a house of
substantial proportions which stored many precious goods.

After the Spaniards conquered Manila in 1571, they established a settlement and
initially constructed their buildings in the local manner. But after an accidental
fire consumed the city, many structures were rebuilt in stone quarried from the
cliffs of Makati, namely, volcanic tuff which came to be locally known as adobe.
By this time, the Chinese were flocking to the islands in increasing numbers to
settle. A newly arrived Jesuit, Antonio Sedeño, taught both native and Chinese
workers the Spanish way of making tiles and building houses.

The all-stone houses that appeared were described by eyewitness accounts, as

tile-roofed structures that were tall and spacious, with many windows, balconies,
and iron grilles. They were said to resemble their contemporaries in Spain and
Mexico. Still, not all housebuilders abandoned wooden construction. A detailed
list from 1617 of all houses in Intramuros indicates that slightly more than half
were of wood.

A strong earthquake shook Manila in 1645, and as a result, many stone buildings
collapsed.

While the massive stone houses were fireproof, they were too rigid during
earthquakes; on the other hand, the local frame houses swayed with the shocks.
Because of this a synthesis emerged. The entire house was supported by haligi
(wooden pillars) following the native style. Henceforth, the upper story would
be of wood, the lower story of stone. The roof would be either of curved tile or
of thick thatch. Tiles had the advantage over thatch of being fireproof, but since
they were laid in three or more layers, they could easily fall through during
tremors.

A will drawn in 1699 describes an Intramuros house belonging to a widow, Doña

Isabel Navarro de Piñero. It had many wooden pillars measuring 1.67 meters
across. Adobe was used largely for the ground floor walls that were 1.12 meters
thick. The wooden upper story had balcones voladizos (balconies) projecting
over the street. These could be closed with latticework shutters with panes made
out of capiz shell. Such shutters did not yet slide as would become the norm in
later houses; instead they could be swung out. The idea of having latticework
panels for windows came from the Chinese artisans, for such were used in China
to hold either translucent rice paper or oyster shells. Glass became cheap all over
the world only during the 19th century. Below the shell windows were
ventanillas reaching down to the floor. The over-hanging balconies shielded the
interior from the sun, while allowing air to flow in.

Since the 1699 will does not mention a ceiling, the rafters and beams were surely
exposed, as was the case in Intramuros houses of the following century that the
Frenchman de Guignes described.

The floor plan of the Piñero house typified a pattern that would last till the
1890s. The ground story had storage rooms and a porter’s room. A stairway in
two flights led to the rooms above. The first was a large corredor principal
(corridor) at the top of the stairs. This opened into a hall called cañon, probably
because of its length, which extended to the street side. Most likely, the canon
was a receiving room. Beside the cañon were two camaras or cuartos
(bedrooms). The cocina (kitchen) stood behind the house as a separate structure
but connected to it by a walkway. Beside it was an outhouse of wood. The L-
shaped floor plan of the house provided a rear courtyard with a well to the side.

There were clear continuities with the earlier native tradition of confining the
family’s living activities to the upper story.

This wood-and-stone style of construction spread through the islands. The

development of the wood-and-stone style during the 18th century deserves
exploration. Unfortunately, there are few survivors from that century. The
picture clears up from the 1780s onward. Many buildings of this period are
found all over the country; moreover, numerous descriptions and house plans are
available.

From the 1780s to the 1880s, houses followed a style that can be called
“geometric.” In this style, the flying wooden gallery, now called either the galeria
volada or the corredor, extended along the exterior walls. It had two sets of
sliding shutters: the outer one of concha (shell) and the inner of wooden persiana
or jalousies or louvers. An intervening wall of plastered brick separated the
volada from the adjacent rooms. Wooden doors opened out into the volada. The
wooden gallery brought in light and air, and screened out excess sunlight, for
during this period, roof eaves were just a narrow strip. In the middle of the day,
shell shutters were pushed to the sides and the half-open jalousies drawn instead.
When it rained, the reverse occurred. The drawn shell shutters brought in light.
Still, not all houses of the period had a galeria volada that could be closed on both
sides. In others, the rooms extended all the way to the exterior.

Surface decorations were minimal: shells in squares and diamonds on the window
panels, and friezes with simple, neoclassical motifs. Hence the term “geometric.”

By the 19th century the huge pillars that characterized the house documented in
1699 had shrunk to 50 centimeters or less. They either stood exposed or were
enclosed within stone or brick walls almost a meter thick. Stone or brick were
bonded with mortar and received a coating made of lime mixed with either egg
whites or the sap of local plants.

In geometric-style houses, wooden ceilings and partitions enclosed the rooms.

Ceilings were high, as much as 4 meters or so, to enable the hot air to float up. To
facilitate circulation of air, calado (wooden fretwork panels) began to appear in
the wall space between door and ceiling. The idea may have come from the
Chinese who decorated their walls with traceried panels. More research on the
matter is needed.

The zaguan (ground floor) housed carriages, old furniture, and saints’ floats.
Sometimes it had an entresuelo (mezzanine) for offices and servants’ quarters.
This was elevated 1 meter from the often humid ground. Windows were
protected from intruders by bulging iron grilles called barrigones or “big bellies.”
The cuadra or caballeriza (stables) was located outside the house proper on the
other side of an open courtyard.

A two-flight stairway led from the zaguan to the upper story. The receiving hall
was now called the caida. In some of the big houses, this could serve as both
receiving and dining room. However, other houses distinguished between the
antesala (anteroom) and the sala or living room. Near the sala was the comedor
(dining room). In some houses the kitchen also doubled as both cooking area and
dining room on ordinary days. Kitchens with exterior walls of either cut stone or
brick lessened the threat of fire, and thus became common. Connecting the
kitchen to the toilets and the bathrooms was a raised stone porch with ceramic
banisters. This porch, the azotea, had many purposes. As it stood either beside
a balon (well) or over an aljibe (cistern), it attracted food preparation and laundry
activities. It was also a convenient nook for cultivating many potted plants,
useful for cooking and healing. The multipurpose character of the common rooms
and the notion of a kitchen-porch was another carry-over from the humble
bamboo hut to the magnificent wood-and-stone house.

Generally, the house was occupied by a large extended family consisting of a

couple, their children, and their grandchildren. Yet the bedrooms were few, often
just two or three, for the children often slept together on large mats rolled out on
the caida or the sala. At certain times of the year, particularly during the town
fiesta and Holy Week, the house became a community center because the owners
were obliged to feed all who came to revere the holy image that they kept—
regardless of the devotee’s social background.

Extant examples of the geometric version are the houses of the Ilagan (Taal),
Constantino (Balagtas), Quema (Vigan), Syquia (Vigan), Lizares (Talisay), and
Gorordo (Cebu).

In 1863 and 1880 earthquakes rocked Manila, destroying many houses. New
ordinances decreed that house posts were to be thinner but connected to each other
by many braces for more flexibility. Thin brick panels were inserted between the
braces. In the new Manila houses, both brick panels and posts had almost the same
thickness, 21 centimeters. Where brick was not readily available, the houseposts
stood beside the walls so as not to crack them.

Another ordinance discouraged the use of curved tiles and instead encouraged the
use of either imported corrugated-iron sheets or flat tiles. The former became
popular because it seemed sturdier and easier to install. Unfortunately, without
a high ceiling beneath it, it radiated the sun’s heat into the rooms. However, since
iron roofs were relatively lighter, they could extend well beyond the exterior walls
to create wide eaves which had soffit vents to provide outlets for hot air gathering
under the roof. Windows were further protected by tapancos or media aguas
(metal awnings) made of artfully shaped tin sheets. Desagues (tin tubes) or
downspouts conducted rainwater from the roof to the ground below.
Since these innovations protected the house walls from rain and sun, the volada,
as a closed corridor, became obsolete.

Post-1880 houses had more expansive space than their forbears because of these
innovations. Moreover, they made more use of wood for the upper-story walls.
Sidings were sometimes of wooden panels adorned with oval, platterlike forms
called bandejado. Glass, sometimes frosted, sometimes in multicolored harlequin,
became increasingly common; thus rooms became brighter. The calados widened
and extended from post to post, and their fretwork took the form of butterflies,
flowers, or lyres. Floral motifs proliferated all over the exterior as well: in the
soffit vents, the corbels, and the iron grilles. Hence this style of the bahay-na-
bato, which lasted from the 1880s to the 1930s, can be called the “floral.”

Other innovations differentiated the floral from the geometric. The roofs became
more varied in form. For instance, Swiss-style jerkin head roofs became popular.
By the roof rose a mirador (tower) for surveying the distance and for keeping more
plants. As walls in the ground floor became thinner and therefore less humid,
bedrooms for family members were built in the entresuelo.

The floral version is typified by the houses of the Pamintuan (Angeles), Tecson
(San Miguel de Mayumo), Bautista (Malolos), Tanjosoy-Bautista (Malolos), and
by the interiors of the houses of the Pastor (Batangas City) and Avenido
(Alaminos, Laguna). Villavicencio’s gift of a Taal house to his bride Gliceria
Marella, in the 1870s, is floral in conception.

Furniture and furnishings were many and diverse. Philippine furniture and
painting did attain a zenith in these houses. Finely carved consoles, chairs, and
tables of hardwood abound in the antesala, the sala, and the comedor. On the
walls were locally executed easel paintings and murals together with imported
lamps and mirrors. Ornate four-poster beds dominated the bedrooms with side
closets, chests-of-drawers, and chests. Sir John Bowring, British diplomat,
commented in 1859, that these houses were “not, as often in England,
overcrowded with superfluities.” Photographs and surviving interiors from the
1880s to the 1900s suggest a healthy sense of moderation.

There are a number of regional variations of the bahay na bato. In the Ilocos
region, especially Vigan, walls on both stories are of plastered brick which encase
a wooden frame. Exteriors have undecorated pilasters and simple, continuous
cornices. “Vigan House,” the popular term for denoting a house with a lower
story of stone and an upper story of wood is therefore misleading. The plaster is
sometimes tinted light indigo, for Ilocos used to export the dye. Houses like
those of the Mercado in Bustos, Bulacan also use stone for both stories. But the
corner posts are carved into bunches of slender pillars, while bas-reliefs of
stylized flowers and crosses decorate the exterior wall space between window sill
and floor. Some Silay, Negros Occidental, houses, like that of the Gamboa, have
cusped arches at the ground floor porches. Other notable Silay houses are those
owned by the Locsin, Lizares, Gaston, and Claparols. One of the best examples
of the bahay in Cebu is the Casa Gorordo.
The bahay na bato as a house form began to decline in the 1930s. But its
influence persists to this day. Many a house in both town and village has a
ground floor with hollow block walls and an overhanging upper floor of wood.
Farmers in Ilocos often prefer capiz panes to glass. Although ventanillas are no
longer provided, the space beneath the windows in many houses from the 1950s
to the present continues to be differentiated from the adjacent wall surface by a
frame. If the house is of concrete, plaster bas-reliefs or bricks adorn this space.

The wood-and-stone house of the 1800 to 1930s marks a high point in the
development of a truly urban Filipino style. It took note of both earthquakes and
climatic conditions and was thus eminently secure and comfortable. While it
acquired ornate ornamentation during its final phase, at its best it exercised
restraint. The beauty of many a house from that period resides in its proportions
and its balancing of empty with filled space.

Unfortunately, appreciation for the achievement of this style has been hampered
by the insistence on calling it “Spanish” or “Antillan.” As has been pointed out, it
is a unique fusion of three building styles and is found only in the Philippines.
Alzina in the 1660s called it “mestiza,” for it blended wood and stone. Engineers
sent over by Madrid during the 19th century referred to it as “el sistema
adoptado en el pais” (the local style), which they preferred to the all-stone
“European style” because of its clear advantages.

There is also no evidence that house styles in the Philippines are mere copies of
the Antillan, a form identified with the Antilles island group in the Caribbean.
The authentic Antillan or Caribbean houses used stone for exterior walls in both
stories and had projecting open balconies which had neither sliding shell shutters
nor shuttered ventanillas. At the turn of the 19th century, some houses, like that
of the Claparols in Talisay, did sport long continuous balconies as in Cuba. But
they were the exception rather than the rule. Moreover, they had very un-Cuban
upper stories of wood.

In the provinces, continuities with the bahay kubo (nipa hut) are obvious.
Kitchen and even dining room floors sometimes had no floorboards. Instead, they
consisted of wooden slats set slightly apart; thus refuse was easily swept into the
ground below. Although ceilings may be coffered, they are made of sawali. The
way of life within the gentry’s mansion is often just a more upscale version of life
in the traditional hut.

Another reason why such houses are labelled “Spanish” is the mistaken notion
that their residents were Spaniards. In fact, peninsular Spaniards were always
numerically small in relation to the population. The occupants of such houses
were locals: mestizos and indios, all of whom would eventually call themselves
“Filipino” to differentiate themselves from the peninsular Spaniards who
monopolized high positions in the state and the church. Indeed by 1840 the
authorities noted with alarm that a significant proportion of home owners in
Intramuros were indigenas (natives) and mestizos.
The residents were either professionals or members of the land-owning elite who
resembled 19th-century elites elsewhere, even in noncolonized states. Democratic
ideals had yet to be absorbed, although many residents did play important roles in
the emergence of nationalism. Still standing are the houses where lived Fr. Jose
Burgos (Vigan); Emilio Aguinaldo (Kawit); the Luna brothers (Binondo); Gregoria
de Jesus, Bonifacio’s widow, and Julio Nakpil (Quiapo); and Gliceria Marella
(Taal), who gave the doomed First Republic its one and only warship.

Choosing an alternative name for these houses has not been easy. “Bahay na
bato” suggests an all-stone house, which it is not. “Bahay na bato at kahoy” or
the “wood-and-stone house” might be more accurate. • F. Zialcita

References

Cordero-Fernando, Gilda, ed. “The House With No Nails.” In Turn of the Century.
Manila: GCF Books, 1978.

Fletcher, Bannister. History of Architecture. Revised by James C. Palmes, 18th ed.

London: The Athlone Press, 1975.

Merino, Luis. Arquitectura y urbanismo en el siglo XIX, estudios sobre el

municipio de Manila. Vol. II. Manila: Centro Cultural de España and the
Intramuros Administration, 1987.

Mojares, Resil B. Casa Gorodo in Cebu. Urban Residence in a Philippine

Province, 1860-1920. Cebu: Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., 1983.

Zialcita, Fernando N. and Martin I. Tinio Jr. Philippine Ancestral Houses 1810-
1930. Quezon City: GCF Books, 1980.

BARONG-BARONG

The barong-barong, also known as balong-balong, banlag, hayub-hayub, lagkan,

pala-pala, and payag, are squatter shanties or shanties, i.e., dwellings of the
landless poor built on whatever land they can occupy. Squatters are generally
migrants from the countryside who come to the urban areas in search of jobs and a
better life. Unable to acquire or rent property, they build makeshift dwellings on
public land or idle private property.

Barong-barong sites include the bayshore, riverbanks, esteros, strips along railroad
tracks, garbage dumps, abandoned buildings, the space along high masonry walls,
and any vacant lot. Barong-barong have been built under bridges and in the
hollow of the Roxas Boulevard sea wall. Their sites are generally near the places
of livelihood. They are sometimes located on spacious lots which are used for
planting vegetables or raising animals, or for any small business such as sari-sari
(variety) stores and repair shops.

The number of dwellings in such settlement ranges from less than 10 to several
hundreds. In larger settlements, houses are built close together along narrow
alleys or around a common space. In villages built on mud-flats or swamps,
houses are connected by plank bridges.

The barong-barong may be divided into two types: contiguous houses and
detached houses; or single-room houses, one-story multiple-room houses, and
two- and three-story houses.

These structures are the primitive or folk architecture of the present time, since
they are dwellings of minimal space, made of found, scavenged, or recycled
materials, and crudely assembled by the house owners with the help of neighbors.
Their areas range from 6 to 30 square meters or more. A small one would have a
single all-purpose room; a large one could have a living space, a dining nook, a
kitchen, bedrooms, a porch, and an alcove for storage. Rare is one that has its
own bathroom and toilet. Barong-barong vary in size, plan, exterior appearance,
and construction; no one description can fit them all.

The posts, beams, joists, and rafters could be of wood or bamboo, depending on
what is readily available. The roof, usually of one slope, is of scrap corrugated
galvanized-iron sheets, flattened biscuit tins, metal sheets from billboards, scrap
plywood, plastic sheets secured with fishnets, cardboard covered with plastic
sheets, canvas, old mats, linoleum, or nipa. The ceiling, which serves as
insulation, could be of plywood, styrofoam, sawali, and plastic sheets.

Since roofs are often made of materials that cannot be nailed on, they are held
down by improvised weights—rocks, concrete hollow blocks, discarded battery
casings, rubber tires, bicycle wheels, upholstery springs, wooden blocks, and
plastic jugs.

The floor may be the ground itself or an existing pavement. It could also be raised
above the ground by 50 to 200 centimeters or more. When the floor is the ground
itself, it is covered with plastic sheets. In some shanties fragments of concrete
blocks or cement tiles are used to form a pavement. Elevated floors are of
wooden boards, scrap plywood, lawanit, or bamboo slats. Wooden floors are
sometimes covered with linoleum.

The sidings are a patchwork of galvanized-iron sheets, lawanit, bamboo, nipa,

sawali, cardboard, discarded billboards, dismantled crates, capiz shutters, and
plastic sacks. For additional protection the sidings are lined inside with plywood,
cardboard, plastic sheets, or thick paper. The materials used for sidings are also
used for door and window shutters.

Outside the shanty may have auxiliary structures or spaces—a batalan or

unroofed porch with a floor slightly lower than that of the house, or a work area
on ground level covered by an extension of the roof. Some shanties have a small
entrance porch adorned with iron grilles or balustrades.

The minimal floor area of the barong-barong is matched by its low ceiling.
Depending on where the shanty is located, it can have only one window or
windows on two, three, or four sides. Should there be more than one room,
partitions would be of light materials—cloth, cardboard or a wooden lattice.
Sometimes a free-standing cabinet or aparador serves as a partition. In two-story
shanties the stairs are as steep as ladders in order to save space.

The furniture and appliances in a shanty are the index of the family’s standard of
living. Some households have only the barest necessities—a stove using
firewood, water jugs, cartons for storing clothes, mats for sleeping, and rarely a
table for eating. Some houses have more comforts—chairs, tables, cabinets, beds
with mattresses, an electric fan, a sewing machine, a refrigerator, and a television
set. Outside the house could be a small or large array of potted plants.

However poor a house may be, it does not lack an altar or shrine. In a corner, on
a long shelf, or on top of a cabinet stand images of the Holy Child, the Sacred
Heart, the Blessed Mother, San Roque, San Martin de Porres, and other popular
saints. On the wall above is usually a dried palm frond from the last Palm Sunday
procession, which is believed to protect the house from fire and lightning.
• R.D. Perez III

BUNGALOW

Bungalow (from Anglo-Indian “bungalow”; of Bengala) originally referred to a

one-story house built in India, characterized by a tile or thatch roof and a wide
front porch. The term also referred to a vacation house in the country. In
America the bungalow is usually a flat-roofed, one-story house, like those
common in California.

In the Philippines the bungalow refers to a one-story house with large windows,
and sometimes a lanai or a terrace. The lanai, borrowed from Hawaii, is a roofed
terrace walled on one, two, or three sides. Bungalows were introduced in the
Philippines during the American period. Those built in the 1920s and 1930s had
a spacious porch on the front and sides. Although the porch was an important
element of the bungalow, this was sometimes reduced to a small vestibule in front
of the main entrance.

The bungalow could be compact in plan or sprawling, slightly elevated above the
ground or practically on ground level. The bungalow, in reduced and simplified
form, has become a model for low-cost housing. During the 1950s government-
financed housing projects had a standard design for dwellings. A unit had one
small living room, one or two bedrooms, and a bathroom. It had a separate
entrance but had no fences, only hedges. Its roof was either of asbestos or
galvanized iron. Of the variations in structure, the most common were the single
unit and the duplex.

Project communities have developed according to income bracket. The low-cost

houses, specifically those in the Quirino district, i.e., Projects 2 and 3, were
characterized by windows with wooden jalousies. In Project 4 (the area bounded
by Aurora Boulevard, P. Tuazon, and J.P. Rizal), Project 6 (Pag-asa district), and
Projects 7 and 8 (Muñoz-Congressional district), single-unit bungalows had bigger
lots, more rooms, and sometimes swing-out glass windows. The earlier houses in
Projects 2 and 3 lack what later Philippine bungalows adapted as protection
against the tropical sun and rains, i.e., elements from the bahay na bato (stone
house) such as the pitched roof and the media agua (metal awnings).

Bungalows of the middle class stand on 200 to 400 square meter lots. A typical
house has a car port, a spacious living and dining area, a kitchen, two to three
bedrooms, a small garden in front of the house, and a service area at the back.
Houses in Philamlife, Quezon City, are constructed in blocks around a common
space which has a park, a playing court, a church, and a clubhouse. Bungalows
are also found in Singalong and Santa Mesa, and became especially popular during
the reconstruction of the 1950s.

In the 1960s more upper-class bungalows were built in Makati villages, like
Forbes Park and Magallanes, as well as in New Manila. The sprawling houses in
these subdivisions occupied 1,000 to 2,000 square meter lots which contained
gardens, swimming pools, garages, and maids’ quarters.

However large or intricate, the Philippine bungalow has always had problems
with ventilation. Its usually low ceilings, enclosed rooms, and inadequate
windows that reduced the circulation of air tended to make the house warm.
Floods can also be a threat to bungalows built right on the ground in low-lying
areas. • A. Villar and R. Javellana

CASA REAL

The casa real (Spanish, royal house), also called as the cabildo (Spanish, town
hall), casa de ayuntamiento (Spanish, town council house), casa municipal
(Spanish, municipal house), and gobierno (Spanish, government) was the center
for civic rule during the Spanish colonial period. It was usually built near or
opposite the church, overlooking the plaza. The ruling body of a town, called
cabildo or ayuntamiento, met in the casa real; hence the casa real was, by
extension, called cabildo or casa de ayuntamiento.

Its construction was part of Spain’s strategy not only to Christianize the
Philippines but also to hispanize it. The erection of civic structures, such as the
casa real, tribunal, schools for boys and girls, bridges, and watchtowers,
complemented the building of ecclesiastical structures and served as an index of a
town’s westernization and financial solvency.

In theory, each town had a tribunal, separate primary schools for boys and girls,
and a casa real. But well into the 19th century, these structures were absent in
many towns because of the town’s inability to pay for their construction. In
theory, civil government paid for all civil construction; but in fact, many of these
structures were built by the townsfolk themselves, without help from central
government and often under the direction of the parish priest, the alcalde mayor
(governor), or other local officials.

The casa real also served as lodging for dignitaries who came to visit a locality. In
cases where the casa real was never built, visitors took to staying in the convento
or the parish priest’s residence.
In most cases, the casa real did not represent a special type of architecture. It was
akin to the convento, which in turn was an oversized bahay na bato (stone
house). Normally, these were two-story structures with a lower floor of stone
and an upper floor of wood. For example, the two-story casa real built in
Cabatuan, Iloilo, in the late 19th century had a lower story of stone and an upper
story of wood. Large overhanging eaves, windows with capiz shutters, and
ventanillas (small windows) mark the casa as belonging to the bahay na bato
genre. The cabildo of Pasig, Rizal, had two stories and an arcade in front of the
first story. One-story structures were also built, found in San Fernando, La
Union, which has four bays on each side of the central section of the facade. The
cabildo at Boac, Marinduque, is not along the church plaza but at the foot of the
hill where the church-fortress stands.

In some cases, the casa real assumed monumental proportions fit for the seat of
government. Examples are those of Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, completed in 1900 but
probably started during the previous century, and the cabildo of Mahatao,
Batanes, which is a two-story stone structure pierced by narrow grilled windows
in the manner of the Ivatan house.

There was often no physical difference among the tribunal, cabildo, casa real, and
even the school houses; moreover, over time the same building might be used as a
court of law, school, and lodging. Thus the names of these civic buildings are
commonly interchanged in popular parlance, with the term casa real as the most
common. • R. Javellana

References

Castañeda, Dominador. Art in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the

Philippines, 1964.

El Archipielago. Washington DC: Government Printing Press, 1900.

Huerta, Felix de. Estado geografico, topografico, estadistico, historico-religioso

de la santa y apostolica provincia de San Gregorio Magno. Manila: Imprenta de
los Amigos del Pais, 1855.

COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

Buildings for commercial purposes may be divided into those designated for the
buying and selling of goods, such as markets, and those which house business
offices, banks, and factories. Only the second group of commercial buildings is
here discussed, with the previous group being found under the entry “ Palengke.”

The very first large commercial building in the country was probably the
Alcaiceria de San Fernando, inaugurated in 1758 in the populous Chinese village
of Binondo, just across the river from Intramuros. The two-story octagonal edifice
housed not only several shops for the Chinese merchants but also government
offices for the control of trade. Destroyed by fire in 1810, it was not rebuilt,
perhaps because by then many other stores and shops had already opened
(Jose 1991b).
After the opening of the Philippines to international trade, British, German,
French, and other foreigners set up businesses on Escolta and adjacent streets,
so that by the second half of the 19th century this was the most important
commercial district in the country. Most of these houses engaged in the import
and export of goods. Early trading houses were the bahay na bato (stone house)
adapted for commercial purposes. The ground floor was occupied by offices,
while the upper floor served as the residence of the owner of the firm.

One of the more active architects in the design of commercial buildings was the
Spaniard Juan Hervas, who was the municipal architect of Manila from 1885 to
1893. To meet the commercial needs of the city, Hervas designed the offices of
Rafael Perez on Anloague Street (now Juan Luna) in Binondo, the Ynchausti
Brothers office along the waterfront, and the Purchasing Agency office. He is
credited with designing the Manila Railroad Station at Tutuban, the terminal of the
railway that ran up to Dagupan. He also designed commercial buildings, namely,
Estrella del Norte on Escolta, the Heacock Store Building, the Paris-Manila building,
the building occupied by the American Bazaar, the Hotel Oriente building on Plaza
Binondo, and the La Insular Tobacco Factory with its intricate Moorish motifs—
a good example of a building that combined commerce and art (Norton 1911).
Related to the rise of commerce was the establishment of banks. From 1823 to
1829, the Aduana or customs house was built in Intramuros along the banks of
the Pasig. The first bank, the Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II, was housed in
it until the bank moved in 1862 to its own quarters elsewhere in Intramuros. The
second bank, the Monte de Piedad, originally at the Colegio de Santa Isabel in
Intramuros, moved to a new building in Plaza Goiti (presently A. Lacson) in
Santa Cruz. The bank, designed by Hervas, had a facade similar to that of Greek
temples, following the current neoclassic style.

The establishment of American rule and the improvement in the economy fostered
the construction of office buildings. In the late 1920s Andres Luna de San Pedro,
chief architect of Manila from 1920 to 1924 and son of the painter Juan Luna,
designed the Perez-Samanillo Building on the Escolta. The building was one of
the first to use art-deco ornaments. Luna later designed the Crystal Arcade, also
in the art deco idiom, which was considered the most modern building in Manila
before World War II. It combined shops with office space. Notable buildings of
prewar Manila were: the Paterno Building and the Cu Unjieng Building designed
by Fernando Ocampo Sr.; the Geronimo de los Reyes Building and Capitan Pepe
Building by Juan Nakpil; and the Ramon Roces Publications Building by
Pablo Antonio. Most preferred was the art deco idiom, which was a decorative
style and not a new program on the use of space. Most office buildings contained
similar elements: a lobby on the first floor, and elevators and stairs that led to the
upper floors. On each floor, corridors led to rooms for offices. The first floor also
had office spaces although these floors could be occupied by stores.

The architecture of the 1950s was influenced by the International Style, which
used bold rectangular forms, plain wall surfaces, clean lines and large windows,
and favored assymetry. Sunbreakers were used in many buildings as a protection
against intense tropical sunlight. Notable commercial buildings of this period are:
Philamlife Building designed by Carlos Arguelles, the Capitan Luis Gonzaga
Building by Antonio, and the Insular Life Building designed by Cesar Concio.

Buildings became increasingly taller in the decades that followed. Until the 1950s
the height of buildings was limited to 30 meters. In 1960 a Manila ordinance
raised the limit to 45 meters. Since 1990 buildings have risen to 140 meters, or
over 40 stories. The Rufino Tower, a commercial building in Makati, is 150
meters high. Commercial buildings have taken cognizance of the need to be
environmentally sound. The San Miguel Corporation in Pasig is designed to be
energy efficient. • R. Javellana

References

Jose, Regalado Trota. Simbahan: Church Art in Colonial Philippines, 1565-

1898. Makati: Ayala Museum, 1991.

Norton, Marilla Maria. Studies in Philippine architecture. Manila: 1911.

Perez III, Rodrigo D. “Arkitektura: An Essay on Philippine Architecture.” In

Tuklas Sining: Essays on Philippine Arts. Edited by Nicanor G. Tiongson.
Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1991.

ESKWELAHAN

The eskwelahan (from Spanish “escuela,” school, and Tagalog “han,” a suffix
denoting place), also known as eskwela, paaralan (from Tagalog pa, a prefix
denoting to, “aral,” study, and “an,” a suffix denoting place), and iskul (from
English “school”), is a building constructed for the purpose of teaching young
members of a community knowledge, skills, and values that will make them useful
to the community.

School buildings are generally absent from ethnic communities because knowledge,
skills, and values are generally transmitted informally through daily-life situations.
Some communities may have communal places for social, religious, and
community gatherings, such as the Maranao torogan and the Ifugao abong which
could be dormitories for boys and girls. These structures could also serve the
function of a school.

Two types of school buildings emerged during Spanish rule: the colegio or
universidad (colleges or universities) found in cities and the escuela pia or escuela
primaria (primary schools) found in different pueblos.

Within the walls of Intramuros were the Dominican Universidad de Santo Tomas
(UST) and Colegio de San Juan de Letran, the Jesuit Colegio de Manila and
Colegio de San Jose, the Colegio de Santa Rita, and the Colegio de Santa
Potenciana. Girls were taught separately from boys: boys under the tutelage of
priests and brothers; girls under nuns.

Outside the Spanish City, the Jesuits established the Colegio de San Ildefonso in
Santa Cruz (Manila), the Colegio de Loreto in Cavite Puerto, the Colegio de Iloilo
in Arevalo, the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Cebu, and the Colegio de Zamboanga
beside Fort Pilar. During the 19th century the Dominicans established colleges in
Luzon, such as those in Dagupan and Tuguegarao.

Colegio or college in its medieval sense refers primarily to a boarding place.

Students living in such a college go to the university for their courses, although
lectures might be delivered by professors and priests living in the college to
augment the learning acquired in the university. Thus the boarders of the Colegio
de San Jose went to the Colegio, and later the Universidad de Manila for their
courses. In the absence of a university nearby, the colleges developed into
boarding schools. Until the 19th century very few Filipinos studied in the
universities. More often than not they were seminarians obtaining a bachelor or
licentiate degree as a prerequisite for ordination. The student body was
composed mostly of Spaniards, their children, soldiers, and religious completing
their courses. Higher degrees were given for law, letters, and theology. During
the 19th century, as more Filipinos acquired wealth, their children studied for
advanced degrees. UST offered degrees in medicine and pharmacy. In 1859 the
Jesuits were to take charge of a school that would become the Ateneo de Manila.
Starting as a primary school, it later evolved into a college with bachelor’s degrees
in arts and letters, surveying, and engineering.

Not all college buildings were of durable material. In 1734 the Jesuit college in
Zamboanga had a nipa roof and was probably of bamboo. Provincial colleges also
did not have many priests assigned to them for two or three would compose the
faculty. A 1727 map of Manila indicates the early 18th-century school buildings
built of stone and masonry. Permanent buildings were generally constructed
following the atrial plan. Typical of the school buildings built during this period
was the Colegio de Manila. Here a church or chapel formed one side of the
atrium. In the atrium was a garden with a well. The building around the atrium
housed school facilities on the lower floors and residences on the upper floor.
The college was unusually tall with three stories, while the other colleges had two
stories. In this college were found a library, a printing press, classrooms, a
pharmacy, an herbarium, a refectory or dining hall, kitchen, storeroom, and
stables. The precise location of these rooms within the building is unknown.

The colleges were repaired and expanded during their long history. By the late
19th century, UST had laboratories for physics, a museum, and an extensive
library in a long two-story building. This fronted the Colegio de Santa Potenciana
and was separated from the neogothic church of Santo Domingo by a street and the
Plaza de Santo Tomas.

A feature of 19th-century Manila schools was the salon de actos, an auditorium,

where plays, lectures, and other school functions were held. The salon was the
best appointed room in the whole structure. The UST salon had a coffered
ceiling, while the Ateneo had an elegant pair of stairs that led to the hall.

Although the establishment of primary schools was an integral part of colonizing

strategies, the construction of numerous schoolhouses did not gain headway until
the 19th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries, classes were conducted in
the convento or in the house of the maestro or male teacher, whose stipend was
paid by community funds. Primary schools were geared toward catechetical
instruction above all. Reading and writing were taught to help children learn
prayers and the teachings of the Catholic faith. The reading primer was popularly
called caton.

By the 19th century, primary schools had been organized under the heading of
primera and segunda enzeñanza, roughly equivalent to our elementary and high
schools. Girls were taught separately from boys under a maestra or female
teacher, while the boys had their own maestro; likewise, separate schoolhouses
were built for girls and for boys. Where feasible, schoolhouses were built of
durable material, such as stone, brick, and hardwood. These schoolhouses were
generally built at the urging of the townspeople with the support of the parish
priest, who sometimes took charge of construction. Schoolhouses were usually
long and narrow one-story structures, built close to the ground, with no posts
raising the floor above bare earth. The portal of the school was generally found at
the center of the longer side of the building, decorated with engaged columns or
pilasters and crowned by a pediment. The walls left and right of the portal were
pierced by rectangular windows. Schoolhouses generally employed neoclassical
motifs, such as Doric and Tuscan columns and Roman arches. These
schoolhouses were often built fronting the plaza or near the church and
consequently had no grounds. They were also poorly lighted, having small
windows.

A number of hispanic-type schools still stand today. That found in Dapitan,

Zamboanga del Norte, has one story, with an entrance whose pediment is
decorated with the name of Jesus. The school at Magsingal, Ilocos Sur, built in
1827, is a one-story structure, with a triangular pediment on the facade, plain
pillars flanking the arched doorway, and rose windows piercing the clerestory.
The escuela pia in Taal, Batangas, has semicircular steps leading to the entrance.
A plain triangular pediment crowns the center of the facade which is flanked by
unadorned pilasters.

By the close of the Spanish era the government had built a number of school
buildings in the more important towns of the islands. In 1900 it was estimated
that there were about 1,000 schools in the Philippines, 39 located in Manila, but
there were only 4,000 to 5,000 students attending school daily. These buildings
were not all of stone, some being oversized nipa sheds. The Americans, when
setting up the public school system, used these buildings as well as ermitas (small
chapels) as schools until such time as more satisfactory structures were built.
They also rented private homes and set up temporary structures, paid for by
municipal funds, and used these as schools.

The Philippine Commission passed Act No. 1801, appropriating one million
dollars for school buildings. This appropriation was augmented by Act No. 2029
of the Philippine Assembly of 1908 which appropriated half a million dollars or
one million pesos, to be made available over four years, to aid municipalities in
the construction of reinforced-concrete schoolhouses. These were popularly
known as the Gabaldon schoolhouses after Isauro Gabaldon, the assemblyman
who authored the bill. Central or Insular government was responsible for giving
two pesos for every peso raised by the municipal government. The initiative for
building schools rested firmly on the municipal government.

A level, well-drained, square site was considered ideal. The school was to be built
away from the street, its distance depending on the size of the building; the bigger
the school, the farther away it was to be. Grounds were needed for playfields,
gardens, walks, and lawns.

There were 15 typical plans designed by the American architect William Parsons.
By 1911 Plans No. 4, 5, 9, and 11 were abandoned since the other plans served
their purposes well. Plans No. 1 and 2 had one and two rooms respectively and
were suited for barrios. Plan No. 3 was for a central barrio in a town where the
average school attendance was not large. Plan No. 6, designed for a central barrio
whose students did not exceed 200, had the advantage of having an assembly hall
and could be built in parts as municipal finances allowed. Plan No. 7, similar to
Plan No. 6, had a storeroom and office. Plan No. 10 was suitable for intermediate
schools and was built in large growing towns. Plan No. 12 was Plan No. 10 with
additions and was large enough for the needs of a large provincial capital. When
completed, it formed a quadrangle and had 20 classrooms. Plans No. 8 and 12
were for trade schools. Provincial high schools were designed case to case.
Schools varied in cost from 2,100 to 2,700 pesos for Plan No. 1 types to 17,000
to 22,000 pesos for Plan No. 10 schools.

The Gabaldon schoolhouses had concrete foundations and walls and galvanized-
iron roofs. They were invariably one-story structures raised above the ground by
a meter or so to keep the wooden floor safely above the humid ground. The
ceilings were about 4 meters high to allow hot air to rise. The ceiling kept heat
generated by the roof from seeping downwards. A steep roof with wide
overhangs, similar to the bahay na bato (stone house) roof, kept rain away.
The windows were tall but narrow and swung outwards like the windows of the
bahay kubo (nipa hut). These were made of wood and capiz. To give the school a
monumental air, the facade had a portico approached by stairs that traversed the
length of the building. The more common structure had a room jutting out from
each end of the facade, creating a recessed effect.

High school buildings, which likewise followed a longitudinal plan, could have
porticos in the renaissance style, i.e., with arches resting on columns or on piers.
In spite of the devastations caused by World War II, many schools from the first
half of the 20th century survive.

Buildings erected for tertiary level education during the American period include
the main building and dormitory of the Philippine Normal School, and the initial
buildings of the University of the Philippines on the Padre Faura Campus. The
latter, as typified by University Hall, were in the neoclassic style, surrounded by
porticoes with Ionic columns.

Construction of school buildings and the reconstruction of those damaged by war

continued during the Philippine Republic. The new buildings followed the early
plans—long, rectangular, one-story structures but were different, since to save on
construction cost they now hugged the ground. The classrooms had two doors to
allow immediate evacuation of students in the event of fire or earthquake.
Concrete, wood, and galvanized iron were the materials used. The Marcos-type
school building incorporated many features of previous designs but had the
advantage of being prefabricated, allowing the construction of many buildings in a
short time. The schoolhouse had an iron frame bolted together. The roof of
asbestos kept heat under control, as a typical building came without a ceiling.

The walls were of concrete, and the door frame of iron. The transom was open to
allow free passage of air. Windows had wooden jalousies.

Some elementary schools, especially in urban centers, are more elaborate than the
quick-build type. The typical building has two to three floors. The stairway,
located at one end of the building, is its distinctive feature. On the high blank wall
that hides the stairs from the street, the name and emblem of the school are
displayed. On the second story is a corridor designed as a long balcony. An air of
lightness and transparency is created by the simple wrought-iron balustrade of the
balcony and by the wooden or glass jalousies. Examples of this building type are
the Leodegario Victorino Elementary School in Marikina and the Aurora School in
Cubao. • R. Javellana

Reference

Report of the Philippine Commission to the President. Washington DC:

Government Printing Office, Vol. XIV (1901), 92-93.

ETHNIC HOUSE

Ethnic houses refer to domestic architecture among the ethnolinguistic groups of

the Philippines, and includes the lowland houses called bahay kubo (nipa hut) as
well as the dwellings found among the cultural communities in the Philippines and
known by various names. They can be as elaborate as the Maranao torogan (long
house) or as simple as the dait-dait, the windscreen of the Aeta. These houses are
created in the typical Southeast Asian fashion with no architects, guided only by
traditional wisdom and a humanistic vision of the house as a setting for
relationships with other human beings and with nature. The ethnic house shares
common features with the rest of Southeast Asian vernacular architecture,
namely, piles or posts to elevate the floor of the house, and the gable or hip roof.

Whether built on a hill, mountain or plain, riverbank, or sea shallows, these

structures are fashioned out of the bounties of the earth—wood, vegetation,
sometimes mud. Bamboo is the favorite material, as in most of Southeast Asia. It
is used for posts, flooring, siding, roofing, and many other parts. Materials may
include coconut wood and leaves; bakawan or mangrove; hardwoods such as narra,
pine, and molave; stones; cogon grass, nipa, and banana bark for roof coverings
and wall sidings, and rattan and other vines for fastening.

Most ethnic houses conform to a general pattern: they have steep, thatched roofs
to keep out the rain; they are elevated on posts or stilts, the answer to floods and
the dampness of the ground; they have slatted flooring, which allows the cool air
from below to enter the house; in the lowlands they use bamboo, nipa, and cogon
to help keep out the heat, and in the uplands, tightly fitting solid planks to help
keep out the cold. In the absence of walls or partitions within the house, the use
of different levels, even mats or a fireplace in a corner, can differentiate one
section from another. This generally results in a multipurpose one-room
structure, which is light and airy, comfortable and functional, yet durable and
structurally stable.

Furthermore, the decoration of the house is often a good fusion of aesthetics and
social, political, and religious realities. Pig skulls or carabao horns may adorn a
house mainly for social prestige. Among the Maranao, the colorful panolong
(decorative beam-ends) of houses indicate one’s social position.

Culture dictates a set of beliefs and assumptions, decidedly animistic, that govern
the choice of site; time and season for building; rituals to be observed before and
during the construction of the house, including the reading of signs or omens that
may affect the progress of the work; orientation of the house as well as the
distribution of interior parts, and such other beliefs and practices that assure good
health and a prosperous, happy family life, as well as protection from evil spirits,
for both occupants and builders.

Rituals and celebrations are a way of life for the ethnic peoples, and for these
occasions the house doubles as a social and cultural center. Ritual platforms are
built near the house or attached to it; otherwise, different parts of the house, such
as the porch, or the whole house itself can be transformed into the setting for
these rituals or ceremonies by simply moving or altering some parts to provide
more space and create a more appropriate setting.

With such frequency of rituals and life-cycle celebrations, a strong sense of

community and tribal identity inevitably emerges. People work together, build
houses together, do things together in a spirit of harmony and togetherness.

In such a culture that permits and encourages maximum interaction of people,

communication is largely indirect, intimate, accomplished through suggestions,
hints, gestures and symbols, where each message may be decoded with ease and
fluency by the members of that culture.

Territorial spaces are not marked by fences or walls, but merely suggested by
certain symbols which, however, are accorded a certain degree of respect by the
other residents in the area and by passers-by. The following are avoided: littering
within another’s space; allowing cows or carabaos to stray into a neighbor’s area,
and passing too near a neighbor’s window where someone may be sleeping.

While privacy is generally observed within the understood limits of each area
within and without the house, the plot of land or the designated zone at sea or
along the shoreline where the houses are built remains communal property. Thus
the responsibility of maintaining the surroundings, e.g., the hill where the cluster
of houses stands, rests on all the residents in the area. Common areas give the
children a wider and bigger area for play and adults more opportunities for
socializing, with the increased number of possible conversation sites.

It is probably safe to assume that the earliest architectural improvisations bear the
same pattern as present-day ethnic houses and that the basic features of lowland
dwellings, the bahay kubo of the Christian ethnic populace, had already been
established even before Spanish contact.

Ethnic dwellings developed with changing life styles and modes of sustenance: the
lean-to evolving from the highly nomadic life of hunters and food gatherers such
as the Aeta; the bamboo or wooden, one-room houses emanating from the more
settled life of dry- and wet-rice cultivators such as the homes of the Cordillera
groups; and the elevated house built on water emerging from various seafaring
groups in the south such as the Sama and Tausug of Sulu. In places where
violent intercommunity strifes occurred, tree houses were built by such groups as
the Ilongot and the Gaddang of northern Luzon, and the Mandaya and the
Bukidnon peoples of eastern Mindanao. In Batanes, sturdy, stone dwellings with
thick grass roofs have withstood frequent typhoons. Equally interesting are the
following house types that evolved in response to various conditions: the
longhouse for community dwelling among the Mangyan of Mindoro; the twin
houses of the Itawes of Cagayan Valley; and the multilevel house of the Tagbanua
of Palawan and the Manobo.

Indigenous concepts of building would persist well into the succeeding periods.
In the bahay na bato (stone house) of the Spanish colonial period, the tsalet
(chalet) of the American colonial period, and even the barong-barong (shanty) of
the contemporary period, the prototypal ethnic house is recognized despite
changes in material, scale, plan, and elevation.

The ethnic house is a structure that copes with the specific conditions of
Philippine geography, climate and environment. It is also the embodiment of
ethnic values relating to family, clan, community, and class. As a structure that
expresses the unity of the people, nature and society, the ethnic house embodies
some of the best characteristics of architecture that can be called Filipino.
• C. Hila

References

Bello, Moises. “Some Notes on House Styles in a Kankanai Village.”

Asian Studies, Vol. III, No. 1, (1965), 41-45.

Casal, Gabriel S. T’boli Art in its Socio-Cultural Context. Makati, Metro Manila:
Ayala Museum, 1978.

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine Artistic
Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

De Leon Jr., Felipe M. “The Architecture of the Philippines: A Survey.” In

Philippine Art and Literature, The Filipino Nation. Vol. III, Manila: Grolier
International Philippines, 1982.
Hornedo, Florentino H. “The Traditional Ivatan House.” St. Louis University
Research Journal Vol. IV, Nos. 3-4 (September-December 1983): 285-312.

Jainal, Tuwan Iklali, Gerard Rixhon and David Ruppert. “Housebuilding among
the Tausug.” Sulu Studies I. Jolo: Notre Dame of Jolo College, 1972.

Klassen, Winand. Architecture in the Philippines: Filipino Building in a Cross-

Cultural Context. Cebu City: University of San Carlos, 1986.

Perez III, Rodrigo D. “Arkitektura: An Essay on Philippine Architecture.” In

Tuklas Sining: Essays on Philippine Arts. Edited by Nicanor G. Tiongson.
Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1991.

Scott, William Henry. On the Cordillera: A Look at Peoples and Cultures of the
Mountain Province. Manila: MCS Enterprises, 1966.

Vanoverbergh, Morice. “Isneg Buildings.” In Philippine Journal of Science, Vol.

LXXXII, No. 1, Manila (1953).

HOUSEBOAT

Houseboats are boats that also serve as residences. These are found among the
seafaring Badjao or Sama Laut. Taylor, who visited the southern Philippines in
the 1850s, reported that the Badjao had three types of boats: the fast sailing
vinta, the fishing lipa, and the sapit. The latter two may be considered
houseboats. The lipa, a longer and slower boat than the vinta, had no outriggers
and was used as a residence. The houseboat, which never left the anchorage, was
12 to 15 meters long and 1.80 meters wide, and had a dwelling mounted on it
which made it top-heavy and cumbersome for maneuvering on the open sea.

The Badjao of Tungkalang have three types of boats: the lepa, with no outriggers;
the djenging; and the dapang. Over the lepa and djenging, houses are built. The
lepa house consists of a long pole with a nipa roof slung over it. The djenging has
four wooden walls, windows, and doors, and a galvanized-iron roof. The dapang
is used for fishing and long trips.

The djenging is simply furnished: a sail, a lamp for fishing, a water jar, a stove,
several pots, plates, poles, a baul (chest), perhaps, a suitcase, pillows and mats,
and above the roof, fishing gear held by two poles with forked ends.

Related to the houseboat is the casco, a flat-bottomed boat used for transporting
goods at a short distance. Popular in the 19th century and the early years of the
20th, the casco in Manila and its environs also had provisions for living. Toward
the rear of the casco, an area covered with sawali matting was used for sleeping
and eating. • R. Javellana

References

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine

Artistic Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.
Folk Architecture. Texts by Rodrigo Perez III, Rosario Encarnacion, and
Julian Dacanay Jr. Photographs by Joseph R. Fortin and John K. Chua.
Quezon City: GCF Books, 1989.

KAMALIG

The kamalig, also known as kamarin (from Spanish “camarin”), bangan, and
baysa, is a granary, i.e., a storehouse for grain. The storage of rice and corn,
gathered during the harvest which takes place once to three times a year, is an
important preoccupation of farming communities.

In northern Philippines, the granary is the most economically important structure.

Its meticulous construction produces distinctive and striking structures like those
in the Cordilleras. The Bontoc house called fayu, has a granary called falig at its
center, which is raised above the living quarters on the ground floor. The Isneg
granary, called alan, built on stilts with rat guards that can take the form of disks,
knobs, and cylinders, resembles a large basket as its walls of sawali or woven
bamboo strips flare outwards.

In lowland communities, the silong or space under the bahay kubo (nipa hut) can
be a place for storing grain. However, the more common practice is to store grain
in a separate building called kamalig or camarin. The name of the granary, kamalig,
is carried over to the Spanish period and striking similarities between the methods
of storage may be noted.

Two common methods of storing rice appeared during the Spanish period. The
more common consisted of keeping sacks of rice in the zaguan or lower floor of
the bahay na bato (stone house). The zaguan was not only a place for carriages
but for equipment and supplies needed by the household. Big landlords, who
took a share from their tenants’ harvest, kept rice in large stone buildings called
kamalig or camarin. The term almacen was also used, but this term could also
refer to places of buying and selling. The kamalig consisted of a thick wall of
stone and mortar in which small openings were made; hence the interior was
almost always dark. A single entrance with a sturdy door was usually cut into
the center of the long side of the kamalig. The building could have a roof of nipa,
tile, or galvanized iron. Tile was the common roofing material because it kept the
interior cool. The interior was a large space in keeping with its function of
storage. Many kamalig still stand. One found in Biñan, Laguna, has now been
converted to other uses. A ruined kamalig standing near the Marikina Church has
fluted pilasters in the upper story.

As modern methods of drying and storing rice developed, so did the structures for
storage. The national government, through the Department of Agriculture’s
National Food Authority (NFA), has built warehouses for storing bought grain.
These large, long buildings are usually built with steel frames and galvanized-iron
sheets. The entrance is located at the center of the long side. Provisions have
been made so that delivery trucks can come in and out of the building with ease.
Rice traders build smaller versions of the NFA-type warehouse. Structures using
galvanized-iron sheets for walls and roofing over a metal or wooden frame are
common. • R. Javellana

Reference

Folk Architecture. Texts by Rodrigo Perez III, Rosario Encarnacion, and

Julian Dacanay Jr. Photographs by Joseph R. Fortin and John K. Chua.
Quezon City: GCF Books, 1989.

KAPITOLYO

In the Philippines the kapitolyo (from Latin “capitolium,” capitol) or capitol, has
always referred to the building of the provincial government, located in the capital
town or city. The kapitolyo houses the three branches of the provincial
government: the executive, the Office of the Governor; the legislative, the offices
and meeting room of the Provincial Board; and the judicial, the court. The term
has never been applied to the national legislature in Manila, which has been called
the National Assembly or later, Congress.

The term capitol originally referred to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline
Hill in Rome, and was later applied to city halls in the empire. In the United
States the Capitol is the building in Washington DC that houses the Congress.

Kapitolyo were introduced during the American period. During the Spanish
regime, although a town was designated capital of the province, there was no
specific type of building for the provincial government.

Following norms set down by William Parsons, consulting architect of the

Philippine government from 1905 to 1914, the kapitolyo was located in a park,
away from the center of the town, in a place that was dignified and restful. Thus
kapitolyo are found in spacious grounds or at the end of a broad boulevard, or
where possible, on a bayshore.

The entire building or its main portion was rectangular in plan, two to three
stories in height, and set on a podium consisting of several steps. A two-story
portico at the center of the facade sheltered the entrance which had one or several
doors. In some instances, one-story buildings flanked the main body of the
building. The spacious rooms had high ceilings and large windows, and were
arranged along broad corridors.

Most kapitolyo were in the neoclassic or Greek-revival style, characterized by

the use of columns, entablatures and pediments. Their architecture was
influenced by the Ecole de Beaux Arts of Paris, which championed neoclassicism,
and had influenced architectural schools in the United States where the early 20th-
century Filipino architects were trained.

Among the notable kapitolyo in the neoclassic style are those of Batangas and
Cebu; the Laguna capitol, built in 1912; the Sorsogon Capitol, built in 1916; the
Pangasinan Capitol, built in 1918; the Negros Occidental Capitol in Bacolod,
designed by Juan Arellano and completed in 1933; and the Leyte Capitol,
designed by Antonio Toledo. Some kapitolyo, such as those of Bulacan in
Malolos and Tayabas (now Quezon) in Lucena, departed from the neoclassic
style and tended towards the modern. • R. D. Perez III

Reference

Quarterly Bulletin of the Bureau of Public Works. April 1912; April, October
1913; January, April, July 1914; July, October, 1916; January 1917.

KUTA

The kuta, also known as muog, and tanggulan (from Tagalog “tanggol,” defend,
and “an,” a suffix denoting place), and later as fuerza, fortaleza, trinchera, and
baluarte (all Spanish terms), are fortifications, i.e., structures built to protect the
lives and property of a community against enemies. Fortifications are often built
in strategic locations where protection is provided by such natural barriers as
waters, swamps, cliffs, hills, mountains, and narrow passes.

Indigenous fortifications used stakes driven into the ground, earthwork, and
stones piled on top of each other to improve the natural defenses of a site.
Cordillera communities locate their villages in areas which can be easily defended.
Entrances to villages may be protected by low stone walls.

The Ivatan fortified elevated places accessible only through narrow paths. Rocks
were stockpiled in the idjang, the places of refuge in case of enemy attack.

Islamic communities called fortifications kuta, “whether constructed of stone or

earth” (Majul 1973). In its widest sense, kuta refers to any fortified position, so
that even well-protected residential compounds may be regarded as examples of
kuta.

Antonio Morga (1609) reported that indigenous fortifications consisted of “walls

of palm trees and stout arigue (wooden posts) filled with earth.” Lantaka, the
native culverins, were mounted at strategic points on these walls. Houses were
usually located inside the fort to insure the safety of their inhabitants.

Although forts were built in non-Muslim communities, notably in Pampanga and

the riverine settlements along the Pasig, the best kuta were found in Muslim
communities. So effective were they that they repelled advancing Spanish and
American troops. The best known Muslim kuta during the Spanish period were:
Raja Soliman’s kuta in Manila, perhaps one of the earliest Muslim kuta, which
had a palisade of palm-tree logs surmounting a narrow mound and from which
medium-sized artillery were mounted; Sultan Kudarat’s kuta in Ilihan heights
close to his capital in Lamitan, which had trenches designed by the Dutch; the
Maguindanao and Buayan string of kuta, which featured long-range cannon of
Portuguese and Dutch manufacture, built on hills, swamps, and plains along the
Pulangi River; the Maranao kuta in Lanao, which vexed the Spaniards greatly; the
Sama kuta in Sipak, Balangigi, Sungap, and Bukotingul—the most formidable
being the Sipak kuta which had 5.4- to 6-meter high walls of thick tree trunks
filled with coral, rock, soil, and earth.
The Sulu kuta of Raja Bongsu, located on a hill close to Jolo on one of the slopes
of Bud Tumantangis, had a system of interlocking trenches and walls of stout tree
trunks, and had an ordinance of native lantaka and Spanish cannon. The fort,
considered impregnable, resisted several assaults by Spaniards. It fell only when
an outbreak of cholera, dysentery, and smallpox forced the occupants to
surrender.

During the American period, the kuta, such as the Sahipa kuta on the western
slope of Bud Sinuman in Sulu, continued to be made. However, such archaic
fortifications proved inutile under attack by heavy American artillery which
knocked them down.

Spain introduced the European system of fortification using stone and mortar.
The best fuerza or fortaleza (fort) was made of thick walls of masonry; forts of
lower grade were the estacada (palisade) of stout tree trunks stuck to the ground
to form a wall, and the terreplan (earthwork).

The first fortification built by the Spaniards was a tower on the southern side of
Intramuros, facing the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Guia, after which the tower
was named. It was designed by the Jesuit Antonio Sedeño and built circa 1587
during the governorship of Santiago de Vera. Criticized in 1595 as medieval, the
tower was incorporated into the defensive system Governor General Perez de
Dasmariñas built around Manila.

Intramuros was considered the premier fortification built by the crown. It

underwent a number of renovations to improve its defensive capability,
especially after the British successfully occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764.
Other major defenses include Fuerza de San Felipe in Cavite, Fuerza de Nuestra
Señora del Rosario (1617) in Iloilo, Fuerza de San Pedro (circa 1600) in Cebu, and
Fuerza de Nuestra Señora del Pilar (built 1635, demolished 1663, rebuilt 1719) in
Zamboanga.

These forts were constructed following the most advanced system of fortification.
The forts were laid out as polygons—Intramuros, a pentagon of unequal sides;
San Pedro in Cebu, a triangle; and Nuestra Señora del Pilar, a quadrilateral.
Massive cortina (connecting walls) about 3 to 10 meters thick, connected
protruding baluarte (bulwarks) built at every corner of the polygon. Soldiers
stationed on these bulwarks had a good view of the connecting walls and could
easily ward off attackers seeking to ram the gate, or breach or scale the walls. The
walls could be vaulted structures providing space within for shelter and storage.
Around the 18th century, parapetos (parapets), an innovation in military
architecture, were added to the walls and bulwarks. The walls could have
casamatas (platforms) on which were mounted the artillery that guarded the foso
(moat), and garitas, (shelters of wood or masonry) to protect guardians of the
wall from heavy rain. The moat, a deep and wide ditch surrounding the fort, was
usually filled with water. The moat was fortified with masonry: the inner wall,
nearer the fortification, was called escarpa; the outer wall was called
contraescarpa, and its depths, fondo. A low wall, the falsabraga, in ancient
times called barbacana, was built in between the moat and the walls to serve as
protection for the higher and principal wall. Sometimes a contrafoso (second
moat) was dug to improve defenses. Another feature of fortifications of this era
was the revellin or rebellin, polygonal in plan, like the bulwark, and built in front
of the puerta (entrance) to the fortification, to delay direct attack. Open on the
side facing the principal wall, the revellin was linked with the gate by a covered
road. If the fort had a moat, part of this road had a drawbridge. Provisions for
water, living quarters, ammunition, and military offices were found in the fort.
A chapel occupied a secure area within the fort.

To protect the Christianized communities from marauding pirates, slave raiders

from the south, and foreign invaders, and to protect the path of the galleon, the
economic lifeblood of the colony, a complex system of fortifications was erected
beginning as early as the 1630s in towns along the galleon route and the route of
pirates. The town church itself, if made of stone or brick, was the most
important defensive structure. Besides the church, the tall bell tower served as a
look-out and the tolling of its bells signalled the approach of enemies. To
augment the church’s defensive capabilities, walls were built on one side or
surrounding it. The corners of these walls sometimes had bulwarks on which
artillery was mounted. Outstanding examples of walled churches are found in
Baclayon, Bohol; Boac, Marinduque, and Cuyo, Palawan.

The baluarte and castillo were two other defensive structures built at strategic
places according to plan. Located on a hilltop, the baluarte was a fortified
structure with slit trenches, blockhouses of stone, and a palisade of wooden logs
or palm trunks with an embankment. In it was the residence of the castellan, the
officer in charge of the fort, and sometimes, a parade ground. “It took more than
three months to construct one when the materials were all prepared” (Mallari
1990:131). The castillo was less costly to build. If not built of stone, it was a
structure with four sturdy posts, an elevated platform and a roof resembling an
oversized dovecote. The baluarte and castillo were not impregnable. In fact,
without ammunition these were reduced to vulnerable structures of stone or
wood. Other defensive systems were devised including the planting of pandan
thickets and scattering of star thistles along the enemy’s path.

Signal systems were deviced to warn the populace of an impending attack.

Sentinels posted on baluartes and castillos struck a hollowed tree trunk or wooden
gong like the balalong, batong, and tatolong, or blew a horn, which could be a big
shell, called bodyong in the Visayas, or a handcrafted carabao horn, the Tagalog
tambuli. The ringing of church bells was the most common signal. Flags, baskets
hoisted on poles, bonfires, candles, torches, the firing of three cannon shots, and
even fireworks were used to signal impending attack.

Aside from forts listed earlier, Delgado writing in 1754, listed the following forts
in the following places:

Luzon—Fort of Playa Honda, Pangasinan; Fort of Mamamalas in Lubao,

Pampanga; Fort San Francisco in Nueva Segovia (Lallo); Fort San Jose Cavicunga,
Fort San Jose Capitan, Fort Santiago, and Forts of Tuao and Cabagan in Cagayan
Valley; Fort of Taytay, Palawan; Forts of Cuyo, La Lutaya, Linapacan, and
Culion in the Calamianes Island group.

Visayas—Fort of Capiz, Panay Island, which was a palisade; Fort of Romblon

island; Forts of Carigara and Palo, Leyte; Forts of Badayon and Dauis, Bohol;
Forts of Palapag, Lauang, Catbalogan, and Guiuan, Samar.

Mindanao—Forts Santiago and San Francisco in Dapitan, Zamboanga del Norte;

Fort of Iligan, Lanao del Norte; Fort San Jose in Cagayan de Oro, Misamis
Oriental; Fort of Linao, Agusan; Forts of Tandag and Cateel, Davao Oriental.

Fr. San Antonio adds the following to Delgado’s list: Fort Santiago Itugud and
Fort Cabaga in Cagayan Valley. Besides these, Fort Nuestra Señora de Triunfo
was built in Ozamis during the 18th century.

Most of the fortifications that dotted the Philippines were built at the initiative of
the townsfolk under their parish priest. The Franciscans in Albay, the Recollects
in Mindanao, Palawan, and Mindoro, and the Jesuits in Bohol and Mindanao built
many fortifications with government approval.

As ammunition and artillery were modernized, the thick connecting walls that
characterized fuerzas built during the 17th and 18th centuries were replaced by
thinner walls with more provisions for rifles. A government-built, 19th-century
fort is at Pikit, Cotabato, in the direction of the headwaters of the Pulangi River.
It was built on a hill to forestall any Maguindanao attack on the Christian
settlements downstream.

With the coming of the Americans and more sophisticated weapons, like the
Winchester repeating rifles, the Spanish fort became obsolete. Although during
the Philippine-American War and World War II soldiers did take refuge behind
these old walls, dug trenches, and set up palisades and sandbag walls, the fort of
masonry was no longer built. Forts like McKinley, later Bonifacio, were tracts of
land surrounded by wire fences; so was Camp Keithley in Lanao and Camp
O’Donell (later Clark Field) in Pampanga. • C. Hila and R. Javellana

References

Delgado, Jose. Historia general sacro-profana, politica y natural de las islas de

poniente llamadas Filipinas. Manila: Imprenta de el Eco de Filipinas de
Don Juan Atayde, 1892.

Majul, Cesar Adib. Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: Asian Center
University of the Philippines Press, 1973.

________. “Mosques in the Philippines.” In Filipino Heritage, Vol. III. Manila:

Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc., 1977.

Mallari, Francisco A. Ibalon Under Storm and Siege: Essays on Bicol History,
1565-1860. Cagayan de Oro: Xavier University, 1990.
KWEBA

The kweba (from Spanish “cueva”), also known as yungib and lungga, or cave, is
possibly the earliest human habitation. The cave and the rock shelter served as
the natural habitat for people whose subsistence patterns revolved around
gathering and hunting. Caves were chosen for habitation because they were well
ventilated. If located on high ground, they were also advantageous for defense,
giving the inhabitants a view of the surroundings.

In the Philippines the oldest known and probably the largest of caves selected for
habitation are the Tabon Caves located southwest of Palawan, where prehistoric
Filipino families lived intermittently some 30,000 years ago. The choice of these
caves was a product less of accident than of planning and wise observation. They
are ideally located on high ground about 30 meters above sea level.

The main cave is sheltered in a high cliff, that forms part of Lipuun Point. The
cave may have been wet in the past, as indicated by abundant guano deposits and
the cave floors molded by dripping water. Stalactites still appear at the back of
the cave, their ends sloping toward the mouth. With a small cliff directly in front
of it, the mouth of the cave, which faces the South China Sea is large, i.e., about 8
meters high and 16 meters wide, with the main chamber entrance about 41 meters
long. Thus the cave admits enough sunlight to keep warm and dry throughout the
day. In contrast, other caves are fit only as burial places, being dark and damp,
the mouth concealed by the lush vegetation surrounding Lipuun Point. Out of
more than 200 caverns that honeycomb the area, only 29 showed signs of human
habitation (Fox 1970).

Now a National Reservation administered by the National Museum, the Tabon

site has undergone significant archaeological excavations. These have unearthed
burial jars, porcelain, stoneware vessels, and flake tools, as well as bones of birds,
bats, and other mammals.

Human fossil remains were discovered at the section of the cave intruded by the
tabon bird or the “Philippine Mound Builder,” after which the cave was named.
The other caves have all been named in Tagalog, Palawan, or Tagbanua according
to their characteristic features or the area’s general ethnology or archaeology.

Either a natural hollow in a cliff or an excavation through solid rock, the rock
shelter is found in other places around the Philippines. One of the more
interesting ones, the Angono rock shelter in Rizal province was found to contain
petroglyphs or schematic line representations of human figures carved on its
walls.

Alfred Marche (1970) noted that Marinduque in the late 19th century had many
caves, like that of the island of Los Tres Reyes (The Three Kings). The caves
found southwest of Boac had calcined walls and guano deposits, and were
discovered to contain human bones and other relics. A larger cavern in the
proximate area was partly hidden by vegetation and was entered through a small
opening, which led into several narrow galleries lined with bats. On the east coast
of the island was a cave about 70 meters above sea level and a grotto with volcanic
debris, skulls, as well as funeral urns and ornaments. Nearby, a boulder blocked
the entrance to another cavern. Among the caves found in Santa Cruz, Nabo, in
the northern coast were one that opened into a vale, and another, named Bathala,
which had two burial chambers. East southeast of Santa Cruz were silicon caves
which were difficult to enter, and burial grounds that had been disturbed by
landslides. Deep and empty caverns surrounded the mountain. The funeral cave
at Pamin-Taan was intact and well preserved. The Macayon Cave had huge
chambers below which were great depths and above which were stalactites. The
caves May-Igi and Padua were located in the vicinity of Boac, and so was a
copper mine once rumored to contain gold. Still within the same vicinity, a 70-
meter high coral rock had five to six caves. Inside the lowest of these caves was
discovered a skull covered with stalagmite and a small broken gargoyle. At the
peak of this coral rock, an elevated vault crossed the entire top, from which
corridors can be seen. Coffin debris and tibor (stoneware jar) were discovered
inside one of these corridors. The little port of San Andres had near-empty caves.
One of these stood at the top of a 300-meter calcareous mountain and must have
contained a considerable amount of carbonic acid. The entrance to this cave was
through a well. In the Gasan area, a small mountain bordered the coast line.
Discoveries inside included burial traces and clay vases which contained a human
skull, a little tibor, pearls, and urns. Inside the caves of Antipolo were found little
wooden statues. The caves of Manoche and Salombog had skulls, pieces of tibor,
and a big broken plate. A kilometer from Pamin-Taan, near Boulen, was a cave
containing pot debris and two sculptured coffins. Eggs of tabon were unearthed
inside the caves of Moupon island. • M.P. Consing

References

Fox, Robert B. The Tabon Caves. Manila: National Museum, 1970.

Marche, Alfred. Luçon et Palaouan: six annees de voyage aux Philippines.

Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1887.

MASJID

According to the Quran, the masjid (Arabic for “a place for prostration,” which
refers to the usual activity inside a mosque, symbolizing complete surrender to
Allah) are “houses which Allah had permitted to be erected that his name be
remembered in them,” and are therefore primarily centers of divine worship.

With the arrival of Islam in Sulu sometime during the 14th century and in
Mindanao in the 15th century, the country was introduced to a type of organized
religion which demanded a more permanent and separate place for worship. Thus
the tradition of mosque building began.

Originally, the mosque was just a courtyard encircled by a wall modelled after
Muhammad’s house in Medina, Saudi Arabia. Eventually, a minaret was added
for the azan (adhan), the call to prayer; then the mihrab (prayer niche),
considered nowadays the most important part of the mosque as it indicates the
direction of Mecca, towards which all Muslims pray; the mimbar (pulpit), for
delivering the khutbah or sermons; the dome, which represents the “dome of
heaven” of the original open uncovered courtyard; arches supported on pillars and
cloisters, which are both important elements of Islamic architectural design.

While the general features of Philippine mosques approximate the traditional

mosque, some of its elements are peculiar to the country. The sahn (wide
enclosed courtyard), for example, is generally absent; instead, benches are
provided outside the mosque where people may sit and talk while waiting for the
next prayer. Also, the mimbar or elevated pulpit is not as high as those of Africa
and Western Asia. An elevated platform, a chair, or any similar structure could
take the place of the mimbar in some mosques.

Furthermore, the call to prayer was usually done, until recently, not on tall
minarets but inside the mosques as in Indonesia. Suspended drums, called
variously the tabo, jabu-jabu, or dabu-dabu, are beaten to call the people to the
mosque. Great care, however, is taken so that the sound of the drums in one
mosque is not heard in nearby mosques; the same care is observed with respect to
congregational prayers. While minarets may be present in Philippine mosques,
they are usually not functional. The bilal (the one who calls the prayers) may
simply stand in the mihrab, found in the quibla (wall) that faces Mecca, and call
the azan there, with the help of a microphone and loudspeakers mounted on the
domes or minarets, and traditionally with the beating of drums.

Another interesting feature too of Philippine mosques is the almost ubiquitous

presence of the crescent and star ornament on top of many graceful domes all over
the land. The use of okir carving and the burak— a mythical winged creature—
half-human, half-horse—and other motifs in highly colorful designs are also local
adaptations.

Two types of mosques may be recognized in the Philippines, namely, the masjid
and the ranggar (Maranao) or langgal (Tausug and Yakan). The masjid is the
“larger and more permanent structure, built on stone foundations, often near a
stream or a body of water” (Gowing 1979). It is only in the masjid where the
Friday noon assembly prayers (with sermon) and Id observances may be held.
The ranggar or langgal is some sort of chapel, a “small semipermanent structure
built for the convenience of the faithful” who are not within easy walking distance
to the masjid for the afternoon prayers during the Ramadan season (Gowing
1979). Among the Yakan of Basilan Island, the langgal may sometimes serve as a
mosque, i.e., in the absence of a masjid, so that even the Friday noon assembly
prayers may be held here. It is described as a rectangular building elevated on
piles, like the typical Yakan dwelling, although the side walls of the Yakan house
of prayer do not reach up to the roof. Entrance is through the porch, which is
normally covered, the roof of which is somewhat lower than that of the main
room, which is also a step higher than the porch. At the center of the opposite
end wall is a sunting (niche) that faces the west. During services this part of the
langgal is covered with cloth, but usually it is devoid of any decoration, like the
rest of the langgal.

In a sense, the langgal of the Yakan is the equivalent of the Indonesian (Javanese)
langgar and the Malaysian surau. Like the Yakan langgal, the Javanese langgar
has a voorgalerij (porch), with a separate roof, and a large room with a
pangimbaran (niche), and the whole house-like structure stands on piles in the
same way as the langgal.

The masjid was originally a three-tiered bamboo or wooden structure similar to a

Chinese or Japanese pagoda or a Balinese temple, a pattern also common in
Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. A second style developed later, which is the
more familiar onion-shaped dome on squinches set over a carpeted square or
rectangular hall that can accommodate at least 40 (or 44 as in the case of Sulu)
people at any given time. Perhaps this style emerged as a result of seeing Middle
Eastern mosques in the course of the Mecca pilgrimages. However, while the
pagoda type of masjid is the older of the two, the langgal is even older and
antedates the former by several centuries.

The oldest surviving example of the old multitiered pagodalike style is the Tubig-
Indangan Mosque in Simunul Island, Tawi-Tawi, said to have been built in the
14th century by the celebrated Muslim figure, Makhdum Karim. According to
Majul, this must have been rebuilt several times in the past; in particular, its
roofing of palm leaves must have been changed many times and its floor space
must have been expanded at various times. But its four huge pillars of ipil wood
are said to be the original. Two photographs, one taken in 1923 (Orosa) and
another in 1975 (Majul), show the extent of the changes that have taken place in
the structure. In the Orosa photograph it appears as a slightly raised, cubelike
adobe structure with a pyramidal roof of nipa, while in the Majul photo, the nipa
roof has given way to a two-tiered pyramidal roof of galvanized-iron sheets over
which is a small minaretlike tower crowned by a bullet-shaped dome. Another
dome has also been added over the mihrab. The interior views show a few
windows and separate entrances for the men (on the sides) and the women (in
front). As is typical in any mosque, the females do not go beyond the wooden
screen while the males stay in the main prayer hall.

In the area of Lake Lanao, opinions differ as to which is the oldest mosque. As
claimed by the Taraka people, it is the Babo-Ramain Mosque, while other sources
mention the mosque built in Bundi Alao in the inged (township) of Ditsaan,
presently a part of the Ditsaan-Ramain municipality. A number of mosques
carrying this old, wooden, tiered-roof style may still be found in diminishing
numbers in the Ramain area.

The mosque with dome and minaret is more popular nowadays. Hundreds of this
type are found in many Muslim communities around the Philippines. One of
these is the Quiapo Mosque, a part of the Islamic Center in Globo de Oro and
Elizardo Streets. This was designed by Jorge Ramos, and has stained-glass panels
by Antonio Dumlao. It was built to symbolize the nation’s Islamic heritage. The
mosque is located near the Catholic Quiapo Church to highlight Muslim and
Christian ties in Philippine society. Aside from the Quiapo Mosque, other
outstanding mosques of this style are the King Faisal Mosque at the campus of
the Mindanao State University and the Blue Mosque in Maharlika Village in
Taguig. Both of these retain traditional elements but incorporate modern features
in design and planning, such as modern ablution facilities and, in the case of the
Maharlika Mosque, a separate structure for the ritual washing of the dead prior to
burial. The mosque complex may also accommodate a school, a library, a
conference hall, and other function rooms around an open courtyard behind the
main prayer hall or the mosque proper. Arabic geometric designs as well as large
Quranic inscriptions have also become more common and have replaced in many
places the traditional okir designs.

The masjid has undergone numerous changes but the main features have remained,
their symbolic value strengthened and renewed in every new mosque. This place
of worship has continued up to our time not only as a religious but also as a
political, social, and cultural center for Muslims. • C. Hila

References

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine Artistic
Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

Gowing, Peter C. Muslim Filipinos: Heritage and Horizon. Quezon City:

New Day Publishers, 1979.

Klassen, Winand. Architecture in the Philippines: Filipino Building in a

Cross-Cultural Context. Cebu City: University of San Carlos, 1986.

Majul, Cesar Adib. Muslims in the Philippines. Quezon City: Asian Center
University of the Philippines Press, 1973.

Saber, Mamitua and Abdullah T. Madale. The Maranao. Manila: Solidaridad

Publishing house, 1975.

Orosa, Sixto. The Sulu Archipelago and its People. New York: World Book
Company, 1923.

MUNISIPYO

The munisipyo (from Spanish “municipio”) refers to the town hall, a government
building constructed during the American period to house government offices on
the municipal level; hence the name of the structure. The munisipyo housed
offices for the three branches of government, such as the office of the mayor, the
chamber for the town council, offices to transact business like the city registrar’s
and the engineer’s offices, and the municipal court and jail.

At the beginning of American rule, the insular government merely coopted the
existing casa real (town hall) and tribunal and made these into the town hall of a
municipality. In 1901 an act of the Philippine Commission established the
Bureau of Architecture and Construction of Public Buildings. This bureau,
abolished on 1 November 1905 and reorganized as the Division of Building
Construction and Repair, was reestablished as the Division of Architecture by the
Jones Law (Castañeda 1964:55-56). This government office was tasked with
designing and supervising the construction of public buildings, which followed the
neoclassic style favored by its US-trained Filipino architects. It built many
munisipyo during the 1930s and the 1940s.

Porticoes and vestibules were almost always inseparable parts of town halls built
during these decades. Town halls were constructed of concrete or of wood and
concrete and had galvanized-iron roofs. They had invariably two stories.
Castañeda remarks that “incorporation of porticoes in the structures was
necessarily not the outcome of a dictum of the architects or designers, but usually
that of the town dignitaries. Alcaldes and the concejales usually had the avowed
opinion that a town hall would appear more dignified with them than without”
(Castañeda 1964:63). However, the influence of government architects cannot be
gainsaid; by this time they had built neoclassical buildings in Manila, namely the
Legislative Building, the Post Office, and the University of the Philippines
buildings which employed porticoes and colonnades.

Many early town halls resembled the bahay na bato because they were formerly
either a tribunal or a casa real. The Macabebe, Pampanga, town hall, which may
have been a casa real, hews closely to the bahay na bato as it is a simple frame
building with wide eaves and an upper story volada. The portico, rising to the
second floor, gives it the air of an American town hall. Wooden Ionic columns
support the roof of the portico which has no pediment. Another town hall with
the silhouette of a bahay na bato is the concrete two-story Tiwi, Albay,
munisipyo. The building has no portico; instead, a grand entrance approached by
concrete steps in decreasing widths is the facade’s most prominent feature. The
Malolos, Bulacan, town hall, a plain concrete structure built in 1940, has a portico
of square pillars supporting a flat roof. The town hall of Taal, Batangas, is a
pleasing variation of the typical munisipyo design. A terrace on the second floor
is supported by arches with quadrilateral pillars. The portico is in the central
portion of the second floor. Four pilasters support the gabled roof. Balusters
decorate the second story. The Tabaco, Albay, town hall has four Doric columns
rising to two stories to make up the shallow portico. Through these columns can
be seen the balconies on the second story. The rectangular building has a low-
pitched roof, in contrast to the Tiwi munisipyo which has a high-pitched roof
similar to that of the bahay the bato. While most munisipyo were built in the
neoclassical idiom, some exceptions are noted, like the Sariaya, Quezon, townhall
which is art deco. A tall tower, decorated at its four corners by busts of women,
is flanked by two wings to form a C-shaped plan. The entrance to the building is
found in the tower, approached by wide steps. Above the lintel of the main
entrance is a concrete plaque depicting coconuts and other agricultural products of
Sariaya. • R. Javellana

Reference

Castañeda, Dominador. Art in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the

Philippines, 1964.

ONE-AND-A-HALF STORY HOUSE

The one-and-a-half story house, also called one-and-a-half, is actually a two-story
dwelling in which the upper story covers only half of the lower. In other words,
it has one story on one side but two on the other. The upper story, being about
half of the area of the ground floor, is the half story referred to in the term.

On the ground floor are the living room, dining room, kitchen, and possibly a
study or guest room. On the upper floor are the bedrooms, arranged along a
corridor or along a balcony overlooking the living room and dining room. The one-
and-a-half is suitable for small families which need only a few bedrooms.

The one-floor and two-floor sections may have separate roofs, or may be covered
by one roof. The upper floor may have a gable roof, one slope of which extends
further down to cover the lower floor. The roof could also be one continuous
slope with the higher section covering the second story, and the lower covering
the first. With one roof, as described, over the house, the lower section gains the
advantage of a high ceiling with a gentle or deep slope, depending on the pitch of
the roof. This roof makes possible a second floor balcony that provides access to
the bedrooms and overlooks the living room. The lower story could have
masonry walls—brick, adobe, or concrete blocks—while the upper would have
wooden sidings.

The one-and-a-half emerged after World War II and became popular during the
period of reconstruction, since it could offer both the openness of a bungalow and
the security of a two-story house.

A one-and-a-half also becomes a split-level house when half of the ground floor is
elevated so that it is halfway between the ground floor and second floor, thereby
resulting in a three-level house. • A. Gonzales-Biglang-awa and R.D. Perez III

References

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine Artistic
Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

Harris, Cyril M. Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 1975.

PALENGKE

The palengke (from Spanish “palenque,” palisade), also known as tindahan (from
Spanish “tienda,” merchandise for sale, and Tagalog “han,” a suffix denoting
place), and tiyangge, is a place or a building for buying and selling goods.

A specific building for the buying and selling of goods is absent in the
ethnolinguistic communities of the Philippines. Instead, the trading of goods
occurs at certain times, and any flat or unbuilt area is set aside for such transactions.
Sites chosen for trade are usually accessible to many communities. Hence places
like riversides, seashores, and deltas become market areas. The number of
tradeware and beads found in archaeological sites amply demonstrates that
Philippine communities had long been trading with one another and with their
Asian neighbors.

The tradition of setting aside a time rather than a building for the sake of trade
persists even today among lowland Filipinos. During certain times of the week,
merchants go to a particular town to sell their wares and by nightfall have packed
their goods to sell to the next town. The day for the itinerant market is set by
tradition. This market also follows the calendar of fiestas in a given area.
Temporary stalls may be set up days before the festivities, and are taken down
after and moved to another place where a fiesta is about to be celebrated. This
itinerant market is called tabu (Cebuano, meeting) in Cebuano, and also mercado
(Spanish, market) in other places.

A tabu is usually a conglomeration of stalls made of bamboo and canvas that are
easy to dismantle. When the stalls are not knocked down but remain in a place
for a considerable length of time, they are collectively called talipapa in Tagalog.
Usually, a fish stall, the talipapa set up by private initiative may begin as a
temporary setup, gaining permanence and recognition in the course of time. Stalls
may be of wood and galvanized sheets, also of salvaged building materials and
materials solicited from companies selling goods. Stalls usually have simple flat
roofs. In neighborhoods, a retail store, called sari-sari (literally, mixed), is set up
by small entrepreneurs. The sari-sari carries foodstuff, cosmetics, hardware, and
other goods that might be needed in an area. As a convenience store, it brings
goods within easy reach, and the practice of selling goods at retail and sometimes
on loan makes it an important economic institution.

Foreign loan words indicate the cultural influences that have created the Filipino
concept of market.

With the establishment of the galleon trade, the Spanish presence in the Philippines
was assured. To meet the demand for trade goods and also goods for local
consumption, i.e., food, cloth, and building materials, as well as to meet the
need for services, the Spaniards allowed the Chinese, already present and trading
in the Philippines, to continue with their business in a specific area assigned to
them. That area, segregated from the Spaniards, was called parian. Cebu, Manila,
and other large towns, like Vigan, Ilocos Sur, and Malolos, Bulacan, had a parian.
That of Cebu was located to one side of the cathedral block and around the church
specifically built for the Chinese. By 1595 the large number of Chinese prompted
Bishop Pedro Agurto to request that the Jesuits begin a mission for them. The
general area of Cebu’s parian has not changed much over the centuries, in contrast
to Manila’s which moved at least six times. The earliest location of the parian in
Manila was within the walls of the city, but not trusting the Chinese, the
Spaniards evicted them and told them to settle in the general area presently
occupied by the Metropolitan Theater and the Manila Post Office Building. The
parian was within the range of the cannon mounted on the walls of Intramuros.

The Chinese merchants and the Spanish rulers had an uneasy relationship. The
Spaniards needed the Chinese for their needs, and so tolerated their presence. By
1727 the parian was a village of well-built houses on whose ground floor business
was conducted. It was also a thriving parish under the patronage of the Three
Kings. In 1758 the Alcaiceria de San Fernando was constructed in the populous
Chinese village of Binondo. Only the Pasig separated the Alcaiceria from the
northern flank of Intramuros. This two-story octagonal building contained several
shops for merchants. Destroyed by fire in 1810, it was not rebuilt, probably
because by this time many other stores and shops were already operating.

The typical market, even the itinerant one, sold not only food, but also clothing,
utensils, equipment, and many others. The transition between the early markets
and the modern day supermarket or grocery were the stores opened in Binondo.
In these buildings, which had two stories and a mezzanine or three stories, the top
floor was the residence of the owner and his family, while the ground floor was
occupied by the store. Stores sold just about anything, except the perishable
foodstuff for which one had to go to the palengke. Stores in the Escolta and also
in Cebu’s parian had awnings over the entrance to shield passers-by or
prospective customers from the heat.

Apparently, foodstuff was sold in open areas, in the tabu or in the talipapa,
during the Spanish era. Only toward its end were permanent markets built. One
such market was the Arranque designed by Juan Hervas, a government architect.

When the Americans started to rule the Philippines, they found two systems of
trading. In stores were canned goods, preserved foods, clothing, and other dry
goods; while in the palengke, popularly called the wet market, were rice, fresh
meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Sizing up the inadequacy of these structures,
especially with respect to sanitation, the Americans built public markets all over
the Philippines. Markets in Manila built during the American period include that
of Paco circa 1910. Perhaps the most attractive and best known of the
American-built markets was that of Baguio. The site of the market was already in
the Burnham-Parsons plan.

The Baguio market as built consisted of one-story structures built along a wide
passage. Each structure had many stalls in it, some at the outer flanks of the
building, and the others, facing a central interior corridor. Perpendicular to this
corridor were narrow passageways.

One of the contemporary developments is the supermarket. Borrowed from the

United States, the supermarket puts together the wet market and the grocery.
Perishable goods are sold in specially designated areas where the goods are
preserved in refrigerators. The goods may come prepackaged or sold by weight.

A recent addition to the urban skyline is the mall, also called galleria. The mall,
an American building concept, is a covered or open concourse flanked by shops.
The concourse may be one or two stories with continuous balconies serving as
access to the shops on the higher floors. Malls contain a variety of shops,
including a grocery, and are modern versions of the shopping or marketing district.
• R. Javellana

Reference
Quarterly Bulletin of the Bureau of Public Works. April 1912; April, October
1913; January, April, July 1914; July, October, 1916; January 1917.

PAROLA

The parola (from Spanish “farola” taken from Latin “faro,” lighthouse) is a
lighthouse, i.e., a structure built on a promontory, island, or rock to guide ships
passing through a narrow channel or an area filled with rocks or sandbars.
Strategically located, it indicates where a ship might safely pass.

The parola first appeared during the mid-19th century and became necessary with
increased international trade and the development of steamships. In previous
centuries the bell tower of the church served as a beacon, as lights were hung from it
to guide ships. The practice continued to the 20th century, as indicated by the
report of the Philippine Commission of 1903 which states that the light at San
Nicolas, Cebu, harbor was “exhibited from small platform on south face of church
tower” (Report 1903:193). A light could also be hoisted on a pole or hung from a
tall tree.

A parola consisted of a high tower on whose upper story was a light or beacon,
either electrical or chemical. Usually the tower tapered at the top and could be a
polygon in plan or a cylinder. The topmost story was walled in by glass plates and
had a catwalk built around its perimeter to allow cleaning and maintenance of the
light. Below the light were the living quarters of the lighthouse keeper. Parola built
during the Spanish era were usually of bricks or cut stone, although iron towers were
also used.

Many extant parola, such as those in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, guarding Cape Bojeador;
Palauig Island, Cagayan, guarding Cape Engaño; Corregidor, guarding the entrance to
Manila Bay; Capul Island, Northern Samar, guarding the San Bernardino Strait; and
Jintotolo Island south of Masbate were built in the last decades of the 19th century.
A number were not completed or were modernized by the Americans as early as
1903. The Americans changed the lights to more modern ones manufactured in
Europe, or repaired and constructed buildings. In 1903 there were 57 lighthouses,
many of them built by the Americans.

Of those built during the Spanish era, the parola at Capul Island off Samar has a
cylindrical tower; its quarters were built during the American period. The parola at
Cape Engaño in Corregidor is one of the most pleasing, built during the Spanish era.
An octagonal tower is capped by a cylindrical light, around which is a catwalk of
wrought iron. The tower is surrounded by three buildings arranged as a “C.” The
tower and the buildings share the same gate of wrought iron. • R. Javellana

Reference

Report of the Philippine Commission 1903.

RETABLO
A retablo (from Latin “retro Tabulum,” behind the altar, and Spanish “retablo,”
altar piece), is the hispanic altar piece of the 16th to the 19th centuries. The
retablo which formed a decorative background for the altar table evolved from
medieval painted panels attached as backdrops to the altar. In Spain and her
colonies, the retablo evolved into monumental proportions characterized by a
fusion of architectural orders, painting, sculpture, and relieve (relief) which could
be basso relieve (low relief), medio relieve (demi-relief ) or alto relieve (high relief);
the last mentioned contain figures sculpted almost in the round. The work of
artists Geronimo Balbas and Lorenzo Rodriguez at the Capilla de los Reyes in
Mexico inspired in the Americas a taste for the frenetic decorations of ultrabaroque
or Spanish rococo, also called churrigueresque.

Philippine retablos tend to be more restrained than their counterparts in Spain or

Mexico perhaps because of the absence of exceptionally brilliant European artists
in the Philippines. While the classical orders, the Mexican estipite, and the baroque
salomonica were used, these were often treated as mere decorative elements, part of
a larger composition whose foci were the niches containing santos. The estipite was
a shaft of square cross section that tapered downwards and was combined with the
other elements such as Corinthian capitals and used like an order, while the
salomonica was the twisted column popular in Spain and the Americas. Retablos
were crowned by pediments, the most common being the triangular and the broken
or open type.

Few retablos in the Philippines are more than 150 years old. Jose has identified
three retablos as belonging to the late 17th and early 18th century; these are the
side retablos in Maragondon and Juan de los Santos ’ retablo made for the
San Agustin Church. These early works are characterized by several tiers of
niches with santos, the use of classical rather than baroque ornaments and the
absence of abotantes, flanges flanking either side of the retablo. The loss of early
retablos may be attributed to their destruction by fire, typhoons, termites, and dry
rot, as well as to enforced demolition.

By the 18th century, retablo making in the Philippines was a fully developed art
with master artisans coming from Binondo and from such towns as Paete and Santa
Cruz. Women were said to be gilders, adept at applying gold leaf on the wood and
gesso structure of the retablo. Retablos of this period are characterized by multiple
niches, florid decoration sometimes veering to excess, and imaginative flanges. These
abotantes took the form of large volutes, resembling coiled millipedes, that
metamorphosed into foliage from which cherubs and putti peered. By the end of the
18th century, circa 1783, rococo motifs began to appear in art and later in retablos.
Rococo presented a lighter treatment of decorative elements, its favorite motif being
flamelike decorations surrounding asymmetrical niches and cartouches. Examples of
18th-century retablos are those in Silang, Cavite, and the Basilica de Santo Niño de Cebu.
The main altar combines statuary with high reliefs on the life of Mary, the patroness of
the church being Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. The Santo Niño retablo contains 17
niches with santos, flanges at the first and second story, and a broken pediment that
terminates in volutes, known as the dinzenhoffer motif. Other outstanding altars of this
period are those in Magsingal, Ilocos Sur; Pakil, Laguna; and Kawit, Cavite. Retablos
with rococo decorations are found in the churches of Tanay, Rizal, and Argao and
Dalaguete, Cebu, and in side altars at Pakil, Laguna, and Tayabas, Quezon.

Around 1780 a reaction in Europe against the excesses of rococo gave rise to the
revivalist styles, like the neoclassical and neogothic. Artistic changes took some time
to reach the Philippines and were abated by poverty which hindered the renovation
of many retablos. An early example of the neoclassical is mentioned by Zuñiga who
registered his admiration for the retablo of Lipa, Batangas. But a series of
devastating earthquakes from 1852 to 1880 caused damage to many structures,
which were then rebuilt following the latest revivalist style. Neoclassical retablos are
characterized by the lack of florid ornamentation, a reduced number of niches—
usually a principal one for the church’s patron, flanked by two minor ones—and the
use of the classical orders in an architectonic rather than decorative manner. To suit
the changing tastes of 19th century Manila, the de los Santos retablo in San Agustin
was replaced by a neoclassical one, composed of three pairs of Corinthian columns
flanking a single niche. Indang, Cavite, had three neoclassical retablos, the main one
having a main niche flanked by two smaller niches. Other outstanding neoclassical
retablos are found in the churches of San Jose and Taal, Batangas; Tagbilaran, Bohol,
and Jabonga, Agusan. The best-known surviving example of neogothic retablos are
the altars of the San Sebastian Church, although these were not the best, as the
ruined altars of Santo Domingo in Intramuros exceeded these in size and grandeur.
Other neogothic altars are found in Maribojoc, Bohol and Molo, Iloilo. The church
at Oton, Iloilo, unique for its Greek-cross plan, had a four-sided neogothic retablo at
the crossing of the naves. This structure resembled the spires of gothic cathedrals.

Churches often had many retablos, at least three. The altar mayor (central altar) was
the most elaborate. Flanking it were the altares menores (minor altars). Some
churches had many altares menores, some up to 10 as in the case of San Agustin.
Single-niched retablos were also found in the sacristy and the baptistry; the former
often enshrined a crucifix and the latter an image of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.
A charming example of the latter is found in Morong church.

The altar table, a long narrow ledge, was attached to the retablo. Flanking the altar
were small tables called credenzas (credence tables). At the center of the altar table,
raised by about one-third of a meter was the tabernaculo or sagrario (tabernacle),
sometimes of wood, often of silver plate. A crucifix surmounted the tabernacle.
Flanking the tabernacle and on the altar table were step platforms, called gradas or
gradillas, depending on size, on which candlesticks—at least six in number, in many
cases 12 or more—reliquaries, flowers, and ramilettes (flowerlike decorations in
silver) were arrayed.

The retablo of the altar mayor usually had a flight of steps behind it that led to the
camarin, a niche for the image of the patron saint of the church. The camarin,
traditionally placed right above the tabernacle and cross, allowed the sacristans or
camareras (keepers) to remove the patron saint’s image for cleaning or changing
vesture; it also allowed devotees to come close to the image to kiss it or its vesture.
Until the late 19th century, retablos were made of wood, gesso, paint, and gilt. Later
works used brick and mortar, even marble. Examples of such retablos may be found
in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte, and Leon, Iloilo.

Retablos continued to be made well into the 20th century, often employing cement
and marble and favoring the baldachin design. After the Second Vatican Council,
concluded 1965, retablos fell into disfavor; some antique ones were torn down in an
overeager but unenlightened attempt to implement the decrees of the Council.
Santos and retablo parts found their way into antique markets and have been used as
decorative elements for private homes. • R. Javellana

References

Galende, Pedro. Angels in Stone: The Architecture of Augustinian Churches in

the Philippines. Manila: C. Formoso Publishing, 1987.

Javellana, Rene. Wood and Stone for God’s Greater Glory: Jesuit Art and
Architecture in the Philippines. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
Press, 1991.

Jose, Regalado Trota. Simbahan: Church Art in Colonial Philippines, 1565-

1898 Makati: Ayala Museum, 1991.

RICE TERRACES

Rice terraces are flattened areas of mountains, made secure by retaining walls, and
irrigated for the purpose of planting. Probably the most convincing evidence of the
Igorot’s capacity for construction of heroic magnitude is the spectacular rice
terraces, often dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” While terrace-building
is known also to the Assam people of northeast India and among the Naga Hills
people of Burma, as well as in Taiwan, Indonesia, and many parts of Southeast Asia,
the Philippine rice terraces are perhaps the most extensive in the whole world,
occupying unusually high altitudes in the central Cordilleras of the Mountain
Province, especially in the Ifugao, Bontoc, and Kalinga areas, and also in parts of
Abra.

Various theories have surfaced regarding the age of these terraces. Henry Otley
Beyer, pioneer in Philippine archaeology, found abandoned rice terraces in Benguet.
His theory was that the settlers of the area where the rice terraces were subsequently
built had migrated from the South China-Tonkin area, entered Lingayen Gulf, and
then went up the Agno River to establish the terrace culture of northern Luzon. The
oldest terraces, found in the highest mountains, according to Beyer, must have been
made around 2,000 years ago during the Copper-Bronze Age, while the last ones
were built some 500 years ago. This theory, however, does not explain the presence
of similar abandoned rice terraces in Majayjay, Laguna, and in the provinces of Rizal,
Quezon, and even Cebu.

Anthropologist Felix Keesing and the Belgian missionary and scholar Fr. Francis
Lambrecht contradict Beyer’s claims, noting that the earliest terraces could not have
been built earlier than the Spanish times or circa 1680, since no written accounts by
Spanish chroniclers who visited the area in the 17th century ever mentioned the
presence of these terraces. Even Ifugao folklore does not offer evidence of wet-rice
agriculture. This contention is supported by a C-14 radiocarbon dating of artifacts
dug out from an excavation in the area, which yielded a date of not earlier than 300
years ago.

From 1964 to 1967 Robert Maher of the University of Michigan took charcoal
samples of rice chaff from a house terrace in Banaue, which revealed a C-14 dating of
close to 3,000 BP (or roughly 1,000 years BC) that could have readily disproved the
Keesing-Lambrecht theory. But Maher made it clear that “there was no age
determination of the rice terrace itself” and that the age of the house terrace cannot be
held simultaneous with those of the field-terrace sites.

Terraces, as understood by the Cordillera peoples, could either mean house terraces
which are “levelled terraced areas for houses, granaries and work sites; drained fields
which are levelled terraced areas used for the cultivation of dry crops and intended
for more permanent forms of terrace use after a few years; or pond fields, which are
the levelled irrigated rice terraces” (Folk Architecture 1989). Almost all terraces,
however, belong to the pond-field type.

E.P. Patanne (1975) describes rice terracing as not simply “the levelling of
mountainsides into broad steps or embankments but a whole system of engineering
built around a network of irrigation canals fed by a mountain spring.” However,
among the Tinguian of Abra, terracing is done “along rather steep banks of a river
into which flow many rivulets. Ditches or canals are cut at almost right angles to the
rivulet, and water is carried down to the terraced fields.” Furthermore, all rice
terraces require the use of a series of retaining walls on different levels, whose
purpose is to create level fields suitable for wet-rice growing in wet-rice farming, the
walls also retaining the water diverted from the rivers (Klassen 1986).

Beyer (1935) describes the process of building these terraces. The terraces were first
built of broken stones: as they decayed, they were replaced by round river stones.
After the retaining walls were built, they were backfilled with material from the river
or from the hillside. Over gravel and sand the builders put some clay to make them
waterproof. On top of this lining they placed another layer of sand. Skillfully built
irrigation ditches took care of the water supply.

Rice terraces may be found in elevations of anywhere from 500 to 1,600 meters. The
walls themselves rise up to a towering height of 6 meters or, in some cases, up to 16
meters in varying shapes and slopes, in stone and mud, depending on the terrain, and
on the capability and taste of the indigenous builders.

Traditionally known as the artists among the Cordillera groups, the Ifugao have
fashioned long, massive, sloping walls of stone and earth that seem to follow the
contour of the mountainsides, so that the terraces themselves appear as an enormous
sculptural piece.

The Bontoc, on the other hand, have terraces that run in straight lines with almost
vertical stone faces intended to maximize the level area for planting. Such a strictly
architectural and functional approach to form may partly be explained by Bontoc
culture—the Bontoc being known for their reverence to the gods, their courage and
resourcefulness, patience, industry, and physical endurance.

The courageous and warlike Kalinga, in contrast to the Ifugao and the Bontoc, have
low stone walls supporting inward sloping earth walls.

Patanne (1981) describes the mode of planting on these rice terraces as follows:
When the wet season comes, the seedbeds are sown. The water is then channeled in
the terraces, and the soil becomes soggy. The men line up in the field and stab sticks
into the soil to allow the water to seep in, all the while chanting songs. Manure from
the pigpens is brought up and the soil tramped upon and puddled into a soft ooze.
Then the women appear with rice seedlings.

Water is steadily fed into the terraces and when the plants begin to grow, the sickly
ones are promptly pulled out and the plots are kept free of weeds. As the rice
plants mature, bamboo “birds” are hung from poles to keep away the greedy rice
birds. The home of the terrace owner becomes taboo at harvest time. Only
immediate friends and helpers are permitted to enter the terrace. A small fire is built
and offerings and prayers made to the spirits of the fields before the ripened grains
are plucked. While the harvesting is in progress, visitors are not allowed to approach
the field. The work is done by hand, and the stalks with the grain are bundled up
and left to dry in the sun. Before the grain is finally stored, a priest invokes the
blessing of the high deity Lumauig, so that the rice might last a very long time.

Animism pervades the whole tone and process of rice production in these upland
farming areas just like in the lowlands. Spirits that abound everywhere—in the
ricefields, river, hill, or mountain—must be appeased by the regular performance of
rituals and sacrifices guided by the spiritual leaders of these mountain peoples.
Needless to say, the sense of community is heightened with these periodic
ceremonies.

The building and maintenance of these rice terraces are administered by mutual-help
teams in every community, with no complex institutionalized arrangements to
oversee the continuous operation of the terraces.

Problems have mounted at present. For one, soil erosion has been a perennial factor
reducing water supply. • C. Hila

References

Beyer, Otley H. “The Origin and History of Philippine Rice Terraces.” In

Proceedings of the Eight Pacific Science Association, held at Diliman,
Quezon City, 16th to 28th November 1953. Vol. I. Quezon City: National
Research Council of the Philippines, 1955.

Conklin, Harold C. Ifugao Bibliography—[S.I.] South East Asian Studies. 1968.

Folk Architecture. Texts by Rodrigo Perez III, Rosario Encarnacion, and

Julian Dacanay Jr. Photographs by Joseph R. Fortin and John K. Chua.
Quezon City: GCF Books, 1989.
Klassen, Winand. Architecture in the Philippines: Filipino Building in a
Cross-Cultural Context. Cebu City: University of San Carlos, 1986.

Keesing, Felix M. The Ethnohistory of Northern Luzon. Stanford, California.

Standard University Press, 1962.

Lambrecht, Francis M. “Ifugao Villages and Houses.” Publications of the

Catholic Anthropological Conference I. No. 3 (1929), 14-117.

Patanñe, E.P. “The Filipino Image.” Solidarity. Vol. I, No. 1. Manila: Solidaridad
Publications, 1966.

________. “Dating the Rice Terraces.” In Kalinangan. Vol. I, No. 2, (1975).

SABUNGAN

A sabungan (from Tagalog “sabong,” cockfight, and “an,” a suffix denoting place) or
cockpit is the building where cockfights are held. It is sometimes called a coliseum or
sports center. It is one of the landmarks of a town, as well known as the church, the
town hall, the plaza, and the market, since cockfights take place regularly on
weekends and on holidays, and are attended religiously.

Its location varies. It could be in a busy section of the town, particularly if it is an

old cockpit. New cockpits are usually built outside the town proper, on spacious
grounds which can be occupied by food stalls and used for parking.

The building could be square, octagonal, or circular in plan. The rueda (arena) is the
center of the structure. Square in shape, it has a dirt floor to better absorb blood, and
is enclosed by a fence or grille with gates for access. Around the pit rise the seats for
spectators in amphitheater fashion. The lower section or ringside is for heavy
bettors; the galeria or upper section is for ordinary bettors and spectators.

Around the cockpit is an enclosure which serves both as the entrance area and as the
ulutan, a gallery where cocks are matched prior to actual combat.

The roof may be square, octagonal, or circular in plan, depending on the floor plan.
Over a square cockpit, the roof may be hipped or gabled. Over the octagonal or
circular plan, the roof may be conical, somewhat like a salakot. At the apex of the
roof, whatever its shape, is a covered vent that allows warm air from the interior to
escape.

For maximum ventilation, the building, which consists of the structural frame and the
platforms for seats, has no sidings. The sabungan of this type looks light and
transparent and is in fact quite airy. On the other hand, the sabungan may be
enclosed by wooden sidings and provided with windows or with wooden louvers or
jalousies. Some cockpits are completely enclosed and air-conditioned.

Prints from the 19th century show various types of cockpits. One type has a
fenced, circular arena, surrounded by a narrow, slightly sloping gallery for
spectators, with the entire area covered by a conical roof resting on slender posts.
Part of the gallery is occupied by the ulutan.

Another type has a square arena surrounded by a ground-level gallery and flanked or
surrounded by an elevated platform that also accommodates spectators.

Since the Spanish period, cockpits have been used for political meetings and
theatrical performances because the arena is visible from all seats.

Cockfighting aficionados in the Philippines established several cockpit arenas in

Metro Manila, such as the Pasay Cockpit Arena (Pasay), Elorde Cockpit Arena
(Parañaque), Zapote Cockpit Arena (Las Piñas), AP Recreational Area (Makati),
Pasig Square Garden (Pasig), Northbay Cockpit Arena (Navotas), Potrero Cockpit
Arena (Malabon), and Marikina Valley Cockpit Arena (Marikina). Occasional
cockfights are held at Araneta Coliseum (Quezon City), ULTRA Cockpit (Pasig),
and San Juan Coliseum (San Juan). There are numerous cockpit arenas in the
provinces, like the Paniqui Provincial Cockpit in Tarlac. • R. D. Perez III

Reference

Roces, Alejandro. “Warbirds.” In Filipino Heritage: The Making of A Nation.

Vol. VI, 1590-1596. Edited by Alfredo R. Roces. Manila: Lahing Pilipino
Publishing Inc., 1978.

SEMENTERYO

The sementeryo (from Spanish “cementerio”), also known as kampo santo (from
Spanish “campo,” a tract of flat and even land, and “santo,” sacred), pantyon (from
Spanish “panteon,” a funeral monument), and libingan (from Tagalog “libing,” to
bury, and “an,” a suffix denoting place), is a cemetery or memorial park, i.e., a
place for burying the dead.

The practice of burying the dead with special honors and in a special place is an
ancient one, as attested to not only by the numerous burial grounds excavated
throughout the Philippines but by the persistence of ancient burial practices
among the enthnolinguistic communities of the Philippines. Excavations in Santa
Ana, particularly Lamayan Street, Metro Manila, along the banks of Laguna de Bay,
especially in Pililla, Laguna, Iloilo in the Visayas, and Butuan in Mindanao, indicate
that ancient Filipinos lavished elaborate rites on their dead and buried them with
material goods, such as tradeware, gold, and other ornaments.

Distinction must be made between primary and secondary burial: the first happens
after a person dies, and the second when the corpse is exhumed after a few months
or years and the bones are interred or kept in some place of honor. For both primary
and secondary burials, earthen or limestone jars were used. In some cases, the
corpse was buried in a wooden coffin, then the remains were kept in a jar. An
outstanding example of a secondary burial earthen jar is the Manunggul jar found in
Palawan. Earthen burial jars could be plain oversized pots with covers, or they could
be decorated with light-colored slip, burnished or incised. Some earthen burial jars
had zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures molded on their covers. Limestone
burial jars found in Mindanao have flat sides and are incised with chevrons. Other
burial jars are shaped as caskets or are zoomorphic.

Don Alonso Martin Quirante, sent by Governor General Fajardo to conquer the
Igorots, describes Kankanay burial practices circa 1624. For many days prior to
interment, often more than a month, the community gathers to feast around the
corpse until it is fully desiccated, after which the body is wrapped in a blanket with
provisions of buyo or betel nut and other things given the corpse, then buried inside a
cave or placed on a tree.

The Dominican Francisco Antolin, writing in 1789, reports that the Tinguian interred
their dead under the house, within the house or granary, or in a cemetery outside the
village as in the case of Tonglo, or in mountainside caves. The dead were buried
with as many as 20 expensive blankets and even personal ornaments or jewelry. The
Ifugao, like the Tinguian, took part in lengthy feasts. The Ifugao, dessicated the
corpse by salting and smoking with pine fires. After about four months the bones
were interred in one corner of the granary.

The practice of burying in caves persists today in the Cordilleras. The cave
cemeteries of Sagada contain hundreds of mummified corpses, in some cases, in
wooden coffins. Today the Badjao and the Sama bury their dead in isolated islands.
The southern Badjao’s traditional burial grounds are the islands of Bilatan Boon and
Bunabunaan. Grave markers are carved as birds, sea horses, and serpents. Grave
plots are adorned with canopies, colored paper parasols, and buntings. The Sama
graves are marked with abstract sculptures that indicate the sex of the deceased and
his or her status in the community.

The Spaniards did not find it difficult to convince the Filipinos of an afterlife. The
Filipino practice of burying the dead with respect jibed squarely with the Christian
respect for the dead in view of a future resurrection. Until the 19th century it was
the practice to bury dead Christians within the church grounds. Ecclesiastical and
civil dignitaries were often buried within the church, and in larger churches or
cathedrals in a crypt below the sanctuary. Others were buried in an area on one side
of the nave. In Europe this was often the north side of the church, but the practice
was not uniformly followed in the Philippines. Graves were marked by a lapida
(stone slab) inscribed with the name of the deceased and the dates of birth and death.
For secondary burial, the bones of the deceased were transferred to the church nave,
where they were buried in the walls or in the floor of the church, appropriately
marked by a stone slab.

During the 19th century greater awareness of the spread of disease and a series of
epidemics caused the cemeteries to be transferred outside the town boundaries often
a kilometer or two away. These cemeteries were called campo santo (literally, sacred
field). Ideally, the campo santo had a capilla (mortuary chapel) at its center, and
walls demarcating its boundaries. Within the walls were stone nicho (vaults) placed
one on top of the other, where the dead, enclosed in a kabaong or ataul (coffin) were
buried. The lapida sealed the nicho. The nicho was sometimes found along the
perimeter wall; hence the wall not only enclosed the cemetery but served as a burial
site. As a nicho was paid for by private individuals or rented from the church, the
poor often could not afford such luxury and so for a pauper’s burial, a 2-meter deep
ditch was used. After about five years, secondary burial took place. For secondary
burial, a place called osario (from Latin “ossa,” bones) was built. Wealthy
individuals could have a special niche for their dead, while the poor or those remains
which could not be identified were interred in a common niche. The practice of
secondary burial inside a church continued up to the 20th century when wealthy
benefactors and other dignitaries were given a special place of honor on the church
floor or wall, as seen in San Agustin Church. Another special place in the campo
santo was the angelito (little angel), the burial site for baptized children who died
before the “age of reason,” i.e., seven years. Catholic teaching indicated that such
children went straight to heaven, rewarded for their unsullied innocence.

The campo santo was considered consecrated ground, and those who were known as
public sinners could not be buried in it. With the establishment of Masonry and
other churches other than the Catholic, the list of those who could not be buried in
the campo santo increased. In response to the Catholics’ anathema, Masons and
Aglipayans took to building their own cemeteries, often right beside the Catholic, as
in Cagayan de Oro.

In many towns the cemetery was a flat space enclosed by a flimsy bamboo fence or
thickets of the madre de cacao tree. But in more prosperous places, the cemetery
was a well-designed space. An early example of a well-designed space is the Paco
Cemetery, built in 1823 as a burial site for victims of cholera. Two concentric walls
enclose an open space divided into quadrants by spacious walkways. One walkway
leads from the main entrance to the elliptical mortuary chapel, covered by a stone
vault. Behind the chapel are the angelito and osario. Outside Manila, outstanding
cemeteries were built in Santa Maria and Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Nagcarlan, Laguna;
Tabaco, Albay; San Joaquin and Janiuay, Iloilo; and Boljoon, Cebu.

The cemetery of Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur, is at the foot of the hill where the church is
built. The mortuary chapel within the cemetery is capped by a short bell tower.
The outstanding feature of the Vigan Cemetery is the espadaña (bell turret) over the
gate of the cemetery. The Nagcarlan Cemetery, built by Fr. Belloc, is a brick
structure. The mortuary chapel, located at the rear, is flanked by walls that curve
out to enclose a circular space. Beside the chapel the walls contain niches, and at the
sides and front, the walls are pierced by arches. Inside the chapel, steps lead down
to a crypt. The Tabaco Cemetery, made of cut lava blocks, has a handsome chapel
with a hemispherical stone dome. The San Joaquin, Iloilo, Cemetery has a low front
section from where a grand flight of steps leads to the main elevated section
dominated by an octagonal mortuary chapel with a towering dome. The Janiuay
Cemetery, like San Joaquin, is elevated. Three front entrances, at the middle and
sides, are impressive for their stairways and gothic arches. The cemetery chapel,
now in ruins, was originally in the gothic style. The gate of the Boljoon Cemetery is
decorated by low reliefs of demons and symbols of death.

Toward the end of the Spanish period the city government of Manila opened La
Loma Cemetery at the outskirts of Manila. This cemetery, surrounded by a wall and
entered through an elaborate wrought-iron gate, has a full-sized church. Plots were
laid out in orderly fashion for niches and mausoleums. The apportioning of public
lands for cemeteries continued into the American period. The North and South
Cemeteries were built for the inhabitants of Manila and its environs. Other
municipal cemeteries were created; many, however, were built after the American
regime.

Cemeteries spawned a whole industry catering to the need for aesthetically pleasing
burial sites. Prominent architects were employed by the rich to build mausoleums
for their departed. These structures resembling small buildings could contain living
quarters used on 1 November, the day traditionally set for commemorating the dead.
Mausoleums range through various styles—Egyptian, neogothic, neoclassic, art
deco, and modern. Those in the Chinese Cemetery, adjacent to the North Cemetery
and La Loma, draw from Chinese architecture. Ranking below the mausoleums are
the nichos, often surmounted by a cross or by saints and angels. Other ornaments
used in cemeteries are a tree or post cut in half or hourglasses with wings to
symbolize the unexpectedness of death, skulls and skeletons, laurel wreaths, and
lilies.

At the end of World War II, American and Filipino casualties were buried in special
cemeteries. The American Battle Monuments in Makati and the Libingan ng mga
Bayani are examples of such special cemeteries. The American cemetery might be
considered an early example of the memorial park that rose in popularity during the
late 1960s. The American cemetery has wide lawns planted with trees and flowers,
so chosen that one or the other would be in bloom at a particular time of the year.

Patterned after memorial parks in the United States, the memorial parks promise
perpetual care for the grave of a loved one. Extensive landscaped grounds are
properly zoned so that mausoleums occupy a particular area, nichos another, and
wide tracts of green lawns cover burial vaults below ground level. A chapel,
administration building, facilities, and free-standing sculpture complete the memorial
park. The first memorial park to be opened was the Manila Memorial Park in
Parañaque. Memorial parks have been built in many places outside Manila, their
popularity stemming in part from the overcrowding and filth of the older cemeteries.
• R. Javellana

SIMBAHAN

The “place of worship” is called simbahan in Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilongo, and Bicol;
pisamban in Pampango; and simbaan in Ilocano and Pangasinan. It may also be
called by the Spanish name, iglesia. The simbahan is an enclosed place where a
congregation gathers for worship.

Catholic Churches

These structures of stone and wood are landmarks of colonial architecture.

Centrally located at an area right in front of the plaza, they continue to be the most
prominent building in many towns. Many lowland Philippine towns have grown
around the church-plaza complex. This did not happen by accident but rather by
deliberate planning of the colonial government in conformity with the Ordenanzas
of 1573 promulgated by the Spanish crown.
Churches may be classified according to the material used. They may be of ligero
or light construction, hence impermanent, or of durable construction. The former
employed materials such as tabla (wood planks) or caña y nipa (bamboo and thatch),
or de carizo. The latter employed stone and were classified as de sillar or made from
cut stones; de mamposteria or rubble; de cota or from old stones used in previous
constructions; de ladrillo or brick; or de tabique or of rubble, brick, or stone. A
variety that employed a colonnade of tree trunks was known as de harigue.

Churches may also be classified according to function. The church at the seat of a
diocese is called catedral. Smaller churches, usually in convents of nuns, colleges, or
cemeteries, were called capilla. A capilla is ordinarily an independent structure built
beside the convent or another building, but in some cases it is located in a room in a
building. A few churches have been given the honorific title basilica, namely: the
churches of San Martin in Taal, Batangas; Inmaculada Concepcion in Batangas
City; Nuestra Señora de la Caridad in Agoo, La Union; Santo Niño in Cebu City;
San Miguel Arcangel in Tayabas, Quezon; Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo, Manila; and the
Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila. A basilica originally referred to the church
patterned after the law courts of ancient Rome, characterized by a long nave, flanked
by arcades and terminating in a semicircular apse. By extension it referred to any
church noted for its antiquity or for its spiritual significance.

Plans and parts. The Council of Trent’s liturgical reform dictated the shape and
form of the typical colonial church. The council fostered frequent and sometimes
simultaneous celebration of the Eucharist, restored preaching to its central role as a
vehicle of reform and instruction, encouraged devotion to the Eucharist and frequent
confession, and emphasized the distinction between priest and clergy.

A typical church of the colonial period reflected these reforming tendencies and had
two focal points: the altar mayor (main altar) where the Eucharist was celebrated
and the consecrated host kept in the sagrario (tabernacle); and the pulpito (pulpit)
often placed at the crossing of nave and transept or crucero, or at the nave so as to
enhance audibility of the sermon. Because of the strict Eucharistic fast starting at
midnight, the mass was celebrated early in the morning. Thus when a church had
several priests, they celebrated mass at about the same time at different altars, hence
the altares menores (side altars).

A typical church had a wide empty space in front of it, the plaza or patio, which
made it possible to view the church facade in all its grandeur. Facade styles
depended on what was in vogue at the time of construction and on the preferences of
the cura or parish priest. Facade styles and ornaments included the renaissance,
baroque, rococo, neoclassic, neogothic and neoromanesque.

The campanario (from Spanish “campana,” bell, derived from Latin “campana,”
from Campania, a southern Italian region whose metal was used for bells) or bell
tower was a tall structure at the top of which bells were hung. Most churches have
one bell tower. A good number have two, and a few have three. In the Philippines
these towers range from simple wooden structures to massive stone monuments.
The campanario was an important part of the church complex. Aside from calling
the people to mass and tolling the hours, its bells heralded the coming of important
personages, warned of fires and enemy raids, and announced significant events in the
parish, such as fiestas, weddings, and deaths. The towers served as lookouts. It is
said that along the coasts of Ilocos, Bicol, and other areas, flares were lit up from one
belfry to another to warn the next town of impending danger. Because they towered
above the trees, they were probably used as landmarks by travellers.

Although most campanarios adjoined the facade, a few parishes adopted other
arrangements. The one in Marilao, Bulacan, for example, juts out just behind, not to
the side of the facade. In Padre Garcia, Batangas, the tower adjoins the church but
stands a little distance behind the line of the facade. In some Cebuano churches, as in
Argao and the Cathedral, the solitary tower is connected to the main building by a
small covered passageway, referred to by Coseteng (1972) as a camarin de los
campaneros (bellringer’s quarters). This might have been used as well for other
purposes. The Manila Cathedral in the 18th century utilized the same arrangement,
but this housed the Sala Capitular or Chapter Hall. In Meycauayan, Bulacan and
Milaor, Camarines Sur, a large archway linked the bell tower and the church.

Detached bell towers are characteristic of Ilocano churches. It is conjectured that the
tower was constructed far enough from the church so that should it topple during an
earthquake, the church would be safe from falling debris. Thus in the parishes of
Laoag, Ilocos Norte, and Bantay, Ilocos Sur, a little hike is needed to get to the bell
tower. Outside Ilocos, detached bell towers are quite rare, found only in Jaro, Iloilo,
and in Baclayon, Loay, and Loboc in Bohol.

Bell towers have generally either four or eight sides, the quadrilateral form being the
earlier of the two. Many consist of four-sided bases topped by octagonal cuerpos
(stories or levels). The campanario in Badoc, Ilocos Norte, has six sides. The
magnificent tower in Tumauini, Isabela, is cylindrical.

Towers were usually crowned by a small dome or chapitel, occasionally referred to

as a bonete. Atop the chapitel was perched a wooden or wrought-iron cross,
sometimes ornamented with a velete (weather-vane). In the late 19th century, it
became the trend to install pararayos (lightning rods).

The espadaña (from Spanish “espadañar,” to spread the tail feathers, derived from
Latin “spadix,” shoot of the palm tree) was rarely used for church facades. This was
a belfry composed of a thick wall, pierced with windows from which the bells were
hung.

This type of belfry did not appear suited to local conditions, and thus only a few
such structures were erected. The largest one, found over the entrance to the
cemetery chapel in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, has openings for four bells. A massive one in
Buguey, Cagayan, houses two bells. Its base is quadrilateral and seems to have been
intended for a polygonal structure rather than an espadaña. Smaller variants with
openings for one to two bells can be seen in the cemetery chapel in Nagcarlan,
Laguna; the Ermita de San Jacinto in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, and the parish churches
of Basco, Mahatao, and Sabtang in Batanes. Over the pediment of the church of
Puncan, Nueva Ecija, is an espadaña, unusual for its top-heavy appearance.

As with the rest of the church building, bell towers were adapted to the peculiar
seismic conditions of the country. They were far from being soaring and airy for
they had to be squat, thick, and massive. To insure stability, each upper story was
smaller than the lower. Good examples of this form are those in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur
and Miag-ao, Iloilo.

Buttresses support the nave and transept walls. In Spanish colonial times, the
buttress was known as a contrafuerte (from Spanish “contra,” counter to, and
“fuerte,” fort). Other local terms were estribo (Spanish from Old German “streban,”
to hold up) and machon, (from Spanish “macho,” derived from Latin “masculus,”
male).

To withstand earthquakes, colonial stone buildings had massive pader (from Spanish
“pared,” wall), some almost two meters thick. It seems that no cost was too great to
secure the strength of these walls. Buttresses of all shapes, sizes, and thickness
employed particularly in churches account for the peculiar character of Philippine
colonial architecture. Some of the bulkiest buttresses are those in the church of
Majayjay in Laguna, the Cathedral of Naga in Camarines Sur, and the redoubtable
church of Paoay in Ilocos Norte.

There are many examples of early buildings being propped up later in time by
buttresses. However, it does not follow that the size or number of buttresses is any
evidence of the great age of a building. There is some indication that a number of
17th-century buttressless churches were sound enough to resist earthquakes. On the
other hand, 19th-century structures, such as the church of Las Piñas and the La
Loma Cemetery chapel in Caloocan, have oversized estribos. To be sure, buttresses
carried no lifetime guarantee that a wall would be temblor proof. In 1983 a strong
earthquake damaged several churches in Ilocos Norte, a province known for its
formidable buttresses. The church of Badoc lost a sizeable amount of masonry, and
many of its bulbous contrafuertes were reduced to half.

Stepped buttresses, huge stairways leading right up to roof level, are found in many
Ilocos churches, although they may also be seen in churches across the Cordillera
such as in Tuguegarao, Cagayan, and Basco, Batanes. Their precise function has not
yet been established, although some hypothesize it was to aid in roof maintenance,
such as replacing the thatch covering and discarding broken roof tiles. A variant of
the stepped buttress is the sawtooth buttress found in the church at Iguig, Cagayan.

The buttresses of Paoay, Badoc, and Laoag, all in Ilocos Norte, are remarkable for
their awesome volutes and curves. In Pangasinan, particularly in the churches of
Calasiao and San Carlos, the buttresses appear to be half-hearted attempts and
scarcely reach half the height of the walls, although they rest on inordinately large
pedestals. Arched or “flying” buttresses are exceedingly rare and can only be seen in
such churches as Iguig and Santo Domingo in Piat, Cagayan, and Tumauini, Isabela,
where they support the apses, or in Vigan Cathedral, Ilocos Sur, where a series of
ungainly mini-“flying” buttresses link the upper portion of the clerestory of the nave
with the lower roofline of the aisles.

The dome (from Latin “domus,” house), also known as cimborio (Spanish, from
Latin “cymbium,” a vase or cup), cupola (Spanish, from Arabic “cubba,” ceiling),
media naranja (Spanish, half orange), or naranjado (Hispanism, orange colored), is a
hemispherical roof. The crowning glory of any church, it was constructed over the
crossing of the transept and the nave and, like the bell tower, was visible from a great
distance. If there was no transept, it was erected near or above the main altar. The
dome rested on a cylinder, the drum, which was of the same diameter. It was
sometimes topped by a lantern or linterna, a small cylindrical or octagonal tower
crowned by a smaller dome. The dome was often mentioned in records as media
naranja because it resembled a halved orange. The media naranja dome was the most
popular type and was used in the churches of Pampanga, Batangas, and Iloilo, the
majority of which were built by the Augustinians in the late 19th century. The
dome of the church in Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur, is the only one in the Ilocos region.

Instead of domes, crossing towers in the shape of octagonal pyramids were used in
some Laguna churches and in the Taal Basilica in Batangas. The four-sided cimborio
was a type fairly used here but not commonly seen in Spanish or Latin American
churches, although some examples are found in Peru. Such a crossing tower was
utilized in some churches in Bohol, Pangasinan, Laguna, Rizal, and other places.
This may have evolved as a solution to a leaking media naranja, as when it was
decided to cover the defective dome of the Manila Cathedral in 1768 with a
pyramidal tile roof resting on four walls (Diaz-Trechuelo 1959:265).

The ceiling under the dome or crossing tower was usually hemispherical. An inner
gallery running throughout its circumference was popularly called langit-langitan
(little heaven). It was approached through a catwalk that ran between the ceiling and
roof of the nave. From the gallery, banners and other decorations were hung.

The dome rested on four pendentives, triangular-shaped concave walls between the
supporting pillars and the base of the dome. These pendentives were visible inside
the church and were traditionally adorned with the portraits of the four evangelists.

The entrance of the church was usually a single portal, sometimes flanked by niches.
In some churches the main portal was flanked by side doors. A large door almost
always had a postigo or smaller door cut into it. This was the customary entrance to
the church as the main door was opened only on important occasions, such as town
fiestas. Aside from the front portal, there was a side portal leading to the nave.
Some churches had additional portals at the transept.

The coro (Spanish, derived from Greek “choragos,” then Latin, “chorus,” a band of
singers), was the area where the choir and accompanists gathered to provide music
for masses and other religious functions. It was usually a loft built over the entrance.
In some rare cases it was located near the apse, just before and to one side of the
sanctuary.

In cathedrals, the section where the cabildo (cathedral chapter), composed of the
bishop and various religious dignitaries, gathered to chant their divine office was also
called a coro. Unlike in many Spanish churches where the coro was located just in
front of the main altar, available Philippine data, i.e., the plan of Cebu Cathedral in
1719 where it is termed coro baxo (low choir) and the plan of Manila Cathedral in
1753, show that the coro was located away from the main altar and near the
entrance. There is a coro for such use in the Vigan Cathedral, although it is located in
the apse. It seems to date from the early 20th century, but it may have replaced
earlier constructions. There are no other local extant examples of this arrangement
otherwise common in the larger churches in Europe and Latin America. Verjas (iron
grills) around such coros provided some measure of privacy for the clergy, separating
them from the rest of the congregation.

In the center of the coro was a large facistol (choir lectern) on which were propped
music books or cantorales. A number of choir lecterns were four sided and had
rotating upper parts, as that which may still be seen in the San Agustin Church in
Intramuros.

Monastic churches, such as those in Intramuros, had rows of specially carved

sillerias (choirstalls) lining the three sides of the choir loft, where the religious
community gathered to chant the divine office. The silleria of the San Agustin
Church, Intramuros, said to date from circa 1608 to 1611, is a masterpiece of the
wood-carver’s and furniture maker’s art. The rows of seats are intricately carved
and inlaid with wood. The undersides of the seats are provided with misereres
(misericords), small wooden ledges on which tired, weak, or aged friars could lean
while standing during prayers.

If the bell tower was built adjacent to the church, the bautisterio (baptistry) was
placed at its first story so it would be near the main door of the church. The
baptistry as a structure separate from the church was common during the
Renaissance, but fell out of favor during the Baroque. The baptistry’s location near
the door was dictated by the rites which considered the unbaptized child unworthy
to enter the main body of the church. Some baptistries were afterthoughts, added to
the side of the church, in the case of Lauang and Guiuan, Samar. The baptistry was
traditionally decorated with an image of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan.

The naveta (nave) could be bounded by colonnades separating it from the side aisles.
This is especially true in neoclassic and neogothic churches. In the San Agustin
church, the nave is flanked by cryptocollateral chapels, i.e., side chapels not
immediately visible from the entrance.

The nave was the place for the laity, and the comulgatorio (communion rail)
separated it from the santuario or presbiterio (sanctuary) which was one or several
steps above the church floor. The santuario or presbiterio was named thus because
here holy (Latin “sanctus”) rites were performed by priests (from Greek
“presbyteros,” elder, priest). Dominating the sanctuary was the altar mayor with its
retablo, raised an obligatory three steps above the sanctuary floor. To one side of
the sanctuary was the sacristy where vestments and vessels used for church rites
were kept. This was also where the priest and acolytes vested. In some instances,
especially in monasteries or large conventos, as in the case of San Agustin in
Intramuros and in Pakil, Laguna, the sacristy was a room within the living quarters
of the priests. Sacristies could also be independent structures that abutted the
sanctuary of the church, as in Santa Cruz, Marinduque. The sacristies had
aparadores (large cabinets) for vestments and church records. A separate treasure
room was sometimes built near the sacristy. This well-fortified place housed vessels
and appurtenances of gold and silver, objects of ivory, and gem-studded vestments
and vessels.

If the church had a crucero (transept), the altares menores were found at the
transept. The left side facing the main altar was called the gospel transept while the
right side was called the epistle transept, because during the mass, these parts of the
scriptures were read at these sides of the sanctuary.

The pulpit occupied a prominent place in the nave. It fell into disuse with the
liturgical reforms of Vatican II. Of finely carved wood or of well-crafted wrought
iron, the pulpit was an efficient acoustical device. Its hollow hemispherical base and
its hemispherical canopy, called torna voz, worked together as resonators of the
preacher’s voice.

The Church Complex. The convento, the residence of the parish priest, was
attached to the church, usually to one side but sometimes behind or beside as a
separate structure, which could be connected by a bridge. The convento followed
the structure of the bahay na bato, i.e., with a lower story of stone and an upper one
of wood. Some are entirely of stone or brick, like the conventos of Tanay, Rizal, and
Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. The convento of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, is a one-story building
raised a few meters above the ground. The only three-story convento is found in
Loboc, Bohol. Around Laguna de Bay the Franciscans built a number of conventos
in the monastic style, i.e., with a courtyard enclosed by the church on one side and
by the convento on three sides. Examples of this plan survive in Tanay and Baras,
in Rizal, and Pakil and Majayjay, in Laguna.

The convento was the second most important structure in a Philippine town, the
first being the church. It also served as a lodging house for visiting dignitaries,
storeroom for food and munitions, school, office, parish archives, and in some cases,
jails and places of punishment. The convento served so many functions, including
civil ones partly because of the failure to build other permanent structures as
required by colonial urban planning. The casa real (town hall), which should have
housed visiting dignitaries, was often of nipa and bamboo; so were the school and the
tribunal, which was both courthouse and jail.

Fronting both church and convento was the plaza, also called patio. This open space
allowed an unobstructed view of the church and enabled passersby to appreciate its
full majesty. The patio was used for outdoor gatherings and services. A tall
wooden cross, called the atrial cross, stood at the middle of the patio. It was
customary for children studying the catechism in the parish school to pray and sing
before the cross before and after classes. Before Holy Week, a temporary platform,
called kubol, was set up for the Palm Sunday services. The patio was the setting for
the salubong of Easter Sunday, the benediction on the feasts of Corpus Christi and
Cristo Rey, and the komedya and moralistic plays during town fiestas. A patio
could be enclosed by a low catenated or sway-back wall. At the corners of the patio
are small altars, called capillas posas, which were stations during a processional
service. Capillas posas, common in Mexico, are found only in a few places in the
Philippines, such as Argao, Cebu; Tayum, Abra; and Minalin, Pampanga.

The fully developed church complex thus included the church, the convento, and the
patio with its structures.

Church Construction Finances. The common belief that churches were built from
tribute and with forced labor stems from a simplification fostered by the Reform
movement and reinforced by American polemicists who sought to disparage the
contribution of Spain to the Philippines in an effort to bolster American claims on the
Islands.

The institution of tribute has been grossly misrepresented as source of income.

Not until the 19th century was the population large enough to make tribute a lucrative
source of income. Tribute was a family tax, about one peso a year, a mere pittance
even by the standards then. Tribute remained in force until the late 19th century
when the cedula personal was established for which a graduated fee was collected.
Forced labor or corvee was limited to 60 days per year only for males. Labor was
expended on public works, like roads, bridges, fortifications, and the construction of
galleons. An elaborate system of exemption from both tribute and labor also greatly
reduced their usefulness as sources of income and manpower. Exempted were the
elderly, the children of the principalia, and those who had rendered military service or
were building a church. Records of income and expenses kept in many churches show
that skilled labor was paid at about the rate of one peso and one cavan of rice per month
during the late 18th century. Retablos, bells, silver and gold work, and other delicate
appurtenances were paid for. A gold monstrance could cost about 500 pesos during
the mid-17th century, a chalice about 50 pesos, and a set of vestments with gold and
silver embroidery about 187 pesos during the late 18th century.

All these do not imply that forced labor was not employed in church construction in
some exceptional cases. Historical records reveal that the town of Majayjay was
quickly depopulated as residents would flee to other towns rather than build the
enormous church and convento in this vacation town of the Franciscans.

It should be noted that corvee labor was commonly used even in premodern states
that were never colonized, like Thailand, pre-Dutch Java, or pre-19th century
European monarchies. Since little money circulated in the rural sector of these
noncapitalist economies, labor services for the state supplemented monetary taxes.
In a premodern context, organized religion and the state were one. Thus, religious
buildings tended to be regarded as public works.

To raise funds for building, friars and priests depended on the patronage of the
Spanish crown. The king contributed a third of the cost of building and paid for the
wheat, wine, and oil needed for the rites. Part of the funds came from the situado, a
silver subsidy that came from Mexico and continued to be sent to the Philippines
until 1815. Crucial to the generation of income to pay for their missionary
enterprise, including building, was the system of internal and external trade engaged
in by the religious communities. This trade in products from haciendas, like rice and
vegetables, and export through the galleon of products, like beeswax, canvas, and
even ivory statuary and paintings, greatly enhanced income. The Church also relied
on patronage from pious persons, both in Europe and Mexico, and in the
Philippines. Such patrons included governor generals, priests and religious from
noble or wealthy European and Mexican families, and successful criollo or mestizo
sangley merchants. These persons would donate money, jewelry, or land as a votive
offering to a particular church or shrine for a prayer answered. Toward this end, for
instance, salt beds were given to the Kawit Church, and the Virgin of Antipolo
assumed a legal identity as the owner of lands and property. Some churches were
paid for by friends and family of the missionaries. Huerta reports an unusual source
of income: Fr. Pantaleon de la Fuente OFM reconstructed the Palo convento,
installed clocks in the church towers, and paid for these out of his winnings from the
Madrid sweepstakes.

A fund, called sanctorum, was collected during the annual confessions held at Easter.
The fund financed celebrations, not construction.

Churches could not be built nor remodeled at every whim or fancy of parish priests
as they were public buildings subject to control. A priest wishing to build or even
repair a church was asked to submit a presupuesto, a project proposal accompanied
by appropriate sketches or plans and estimates of cost, to the bishop who then
approved or disapproved the plans. A good number of 19th-century presupuestos
are kept in the archives of the Archdiocese of Manila. Many plans were not carried
out, but the finest of these show the work of professional architects. Among the
religious, plans were sent to the provincial superior and, in some cases, to the
superior or master general in Rome.

The construction and repair of churches was sometimes contracted out to builders, a
good number of whom were Chinese. This system, called paquio (pakyaw in
Tagalog), was responsible in part for the construction of the Manila Cathedral
designed by Juan de Uggucioni. This system apparently was also employed for the
retablos of which parts were contracted out and then clearly inventoried.

Churches were subject to yearly inventario or inventories during the bishop’s or

provincial superior’s visitation. These inventory lists were carefully kept in parish
archives. They recorded every acquisition of a church under different headings:
altares or altars; ornamentos or vestments; alajas de oro or golden diadems, crowns,
and vessels; alajas de plata or silver vessels; and alajas de cobre or copper vessels.
Bells were also inventoried, their weight, material, and inscriptions duly recorded.
As for expenses for repair or renovation, these were carefully recorded in a book of
expenses called cargo y data.

Cabecera-Visita Complex. A temporary church, of bamboo and nipa, or wood and

tile, was first constructed in a newly organized community called reduccion or
rancheria. As the community became more organized and acquired material wealth,
it was raised to the status of pueblo or town. The pueblo had a geographic center,
poblacion, which was the most organized; satellite communities called barrios and
smaller units called sitios. In ecclesiastical parlance, the poblacion became the center
of a parroquia (parish). The center was called cabecera and the outlying barrios,
visitas. Visitas were so called because the priests did not reside in these places but
rather visited them for the duration of their annual fiestas and other important feasts.
The cabecera-visita, parroquia-visita or poblacion-visita complex laid the
foundations for the development of towns and parishes. As the visita’s population
increased in number, it was raised to parish status. A condition for such, however,
was the building of a church and convento. Hence, the date of church construction
always antedates the creation of a parish, though the early churches were often of
wood, bamboo, and thatch.

Styles and Religious Orders. The Catholic clergy was divided into two groups.
The seculars (from Latin “saeculum,” time, and figuratively, the world of human
affairs) were affiliated with a diocese, and subject to the bishop, and lived among
their parishioners in the world. The regulars (from Latin “regula,” rule) belonged to
the religious orders, were bound by one common rule or law and grouped themselves
according to provinces. The friar orders were part of the regular clergy. In the usual
order of evangelization, the friars pioneered in the conversion of peoples, to be
succeeded by the seculars who took charge of normal parish duties. A different
system evolved in the Philippines, which was two years by galleon from Spain via
Mexico. Members of the regular clergy would mostly officiate at the altars of
Filipino churches for more than three centuries.

The first to seriously begin evangelizing were the Augustinians who came with
Legazpi’s expeditionary forces in 1565. This order built the most number of
churches in the country, since it had the largest number of parishes. Their territories
included the entire Ilocos region, northern Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija,
Batangas, southeastern Cebu, and Panay island.

The Franciscans who followed in 1578 carried out their ministry in the towns
bordering the eastern shores of Laguna de Bay, lying now within the boundaries of
Rizal and Laguna provinces; the long strip of land now comprising the coastline of
Isabela; and the provinces of Aurora and Quezon, some towns in northern Nueva
Ecija, and the entire Bicol area. Samar island and eastern Leyte were turned over to
them after the Jesuit expulsion in 1768.

Arriving in 1581, the Jesuits commenced work in some towns around Manila within
present-day Rizal province, and expanded to Cavite province, the Negros islands,
Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Mindoro and Marinduque, and to parts of Mindanao. In 1595
a royal decree stipulated that the Philippines be divided into regions for the
purposes of evangelization. At this time the Jesuits were given charge of eastern
Visayas, except Cebu, and Mindanao. In 1767 Carlos III ordered the expulsion of all
Jesuits from Spain and her colonies, a decree which took effect in the Philippines the
following year; their vacated parishes were turned over to both the secular and
regular clergy. In 1771 the order was suppressed by Pope Clement XIV. After their
restoration in 1814, the Jesuits returned to the Philippines in 1859 and did most of
their apostolic work in Manila and Mindanao.

Following the Jesuits were the Dominicans who landed in 1587. They built churches
in the lands which now comprise the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Cagayan,
Batanes, Pangasinan, and Bataan. They also held some parishes in Cavite and
western Laguna, attached to their haciendas.

The last large order to arrive was that of the Recollects or Discalced Augustinians
who came in 1606. Partly because of their late arrival, they were assigned some of
the most difficult mission territories, such as Palawan, Zambales (ceded to them by
the Dominicans in 1712), northern Bataan, western Pangasinan, and the eastern
portion of Mindanao. Later on they spread to northeastern Cebu and to the islands
of Mindoro, Romblon, and Masbate, the Jesuit territories in the islands of Negros
and Bohol, as well as parishes in Mindoro. Cavite and the rest of Mindanao were
turned over to them after 1768.

The seculars, although here as early as 1564, were always too few and never formed
as large a community as the religious clergy. They chiefly occupied positions in the
cathedrals but also held a few widely scattered parishes. During the early 17th
century the islands of Marinduque, Mindoro, and Negros were under them, but for
lack of human resources they ceded them to the regulars, namely, the Recollects and
the Jesuits. At various times they ministered to towns and erected churches in
Cavite, Batangas, Pampanga, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Cebu, Iloilo, Negros island, and
western and southern Leyte.

Theoretically, the religious were to open missions and once these were stable, turn
them over to the seculars. In fact, the parishes were belatedly turned over to them.
Well into the 19th century, many seculars were coadjutors of the regulars. Many
seculars were Filipinos.

Members of the Hospital Order of the Brothers of San Juan de Dios, who first
arrived in 1641, performed their apostolic labors in hospitals which they
administered in Cavite and Manila.

In the twilight of the 19th century, two more orders came to share in the missionary
work. The Capuchins, a branch of the Franciscan order established in 1529, opened
their first chapel in Intramuros in 1890. The Benedictines of Monserrat arrived in
1895 and were assigned the Jesuit parishes in Surigao, where they were to establish
agricultural communities as a strategy for consolidating Spanish rule in Mindanao.
The Benedictine mission was short lived as the Revolution of 1896 overtook them.
However, the Benedictines were able to build a few churches, that of Cantilan being
the best.

The supposition that a religious order determined the style of its church or that the
assignment of an order to a specific region resulted in the emergence of regional style
is not quite true. Grandness and sumptuousness were not the preserve of any one
group. All orders, even the seculars, built large, solid, and magnificent churches if the
parishes could afford them. Unknown to most are the large number of wooden and
thatch churches which each order maintained in the poorer parts of their districts.
Historical styles—such as baroque, rococo, neogothic, and others—were adopted by
each of the orders and modified according to local conditions. In several cases,
however, style seems to have been more dependent on an area than on the order. For
instance, the Franciscan churches in the Bicol area are mostly small and simple and,
with few exceptions, simply decorated. The same cannot be said of churches of the
same order in the area around Laguna de Bay, such as Paete, Pakil, Tanay, Morong,
and Lucban which are exuberantly carved and decorated.

There are details or silhouettes common to a number of structures in a given area or

period, like certain late 18th-century Dominican churches in the Cagayan Valley, late
18th-century Augustinian churches in southeastern Cebu, or mid-19th-century
Augustinian churches in Iloilo. Churches built by seculars, such as those of Samboan
in Cebu and Molo in Iloilo, have the same elements as those built by regulars. The
facade of the secular-built church of General Trias, Cavite, is virtually a copy of that
of the Augustinian church of Santa Lucia, Ilocos Sur. Such instances might indicate a
“school of architects” or perhaps, more accurately, just one builder’s idiosyncracies.
They are usually not enough, however, to warrant the attribution of a style to a
particular order. Thus one cannot properly speak of an “Augustinian grand style” or
a “Jesuit baroque style.”

Church styles “would tend to change from period to period,” and as “churches were
being built, destroyed and rebuilt constantly during the whole three century Spanish
rule, identifying regional styles becomes complicated” (Legarda 1981:70).

Churches built during the late 19th century are easy to identify. While their facades
and retablos were built in the revivalist manner, the builder did not adhere strictly to
one style but mixed neogothic windows with Roman arches or a Greek-cross plan
with gothic finials. The periodization of older church styles is still tentative,
although it is safe to say that not until the 1780s did rococo motifs appear. The
earlier periods may be called baroque and, in some cases, plateresque. During the
19th century revivalist styles appeared. The neoclassical made its first appearance
about the 1820s, while the neogothic appeared circa 1860. Other influences tend to
blur stylistic characteristics.

Chinese, Indian, Muslim, and Mexican influences are noted. Thus the styles of
colonial churches come about by the confluence of regional influences, the aesthetic
preferences of the group evangelizing a given place, period styles, foreign influences,
the availabilty of competent architects and artists, the construction materials, and the
availability of tools and technology.

Manila, Cavite Puerto, and Cebu remained common territory; thus the regulars had a
church or more in these places. Manila boasted of seven churches, the mother
churches of the religious orders, the cathedral of the seculars, and the church of the
Venerable Orden Tercera, a lay branch of the Franciscans. The order of San Juan de
Dios had a fine church built beside its hospital. Cebu had a Jesuit college with its
church and a Chinese parish under the seculars, aside from its cathedral and the Santo
Niño Church of the Augustinians.

Like Intramuros, the port city of Cavite, present-day Cavite City, had a defensive
wall surrounding it. In this enclosure were the Augustinian, Franciscan, Dominican,
and Recollect churches; the Jesuit Colegio de Cavite with its church dedicated to the
Nuestra Señora de Loreto; and the shrine to the Nuestra Señora de Dolores more
popularly known as Nuestra Señora de Porta Vaga.
The Augustinians built the most number of churches, 264 of which are still standing.
Among these the widest is Taal, 44 meters wide, and the longest, Sarrat, 115 meters
long. Augustinian churches are characterized by catholicity of styles ranging from
the renaissance to the revivalist, including the rococo, as in Argao, Cebu and the
plateresque, as in Tigbauan, Iloilo. The church in Miagao, Iloilo is the most
imaginative of the Augustinian facades. Flanked by two massive towers, the facade
is lavishly decorated. The bas-relief at the pediment depicts San Cristobal and the
Child Jesus in a landscape lush with tropical vegetation.

The churches of the Cagayan Valley are distinguished by common characteristics—

the use of bricks; clay insets in the form of rosettes, festoons, cornucopiae, sun
faces, angel faces, floral and foliate forms, animal and human figures, as well as
religious symbols and coats of arms; flying buttresses; and salomonica columns in
alternating arrangements with plain columns.

The Ivatan of Batanes were not evangelized until the end of the 18th century, as the
Batanes were pummelled by strong winds and treacherous currents which made
crossing difficult. The church of Mahatao, like other Batanes churches, is built of
stone bound together with lime and finished with a layer of stucco, the same type of
building the Ivatan were to adopt for their houses. The Mahatao facade is similar to
the California mission style. Engaged columns divide the facade into five sections,
the central one being the widest. The central portion rises to four uneven stories, the
topmost being an espadaña crowned by a semicircular pediment. Only in the central
sections are there openings. The facade is decorated with finials. To the right of the
facade is the stone convento, which has an arcade in front, and a walkway above the
arcade. The Basco Church also uses the espadaña. It is a more graceful though severe
version of the Mahatao Church facade. Pilasters rather than columns decorate the
facade, and a double arch, Roman below and gothic above, defines the main entrance.

The all-steel, neogothic church of San Sebastian, built to replace earlier structures of
stone and wood, was designed in Manila by Genaro Palacios and constructed of steel
plates in Belgium. The prefabricated structure was brought to Manila in eight ships,
assembled, and then decorated by Manila artists.

The seculars built outstanding churches in these towns and provinces mostly during
the 19th century Quiapo, Manila; Molo, Iloilo; Dumaguete, Negros Oriental; Parian
and Mandaue, Cebu; and Cabalian and Baybay, Leyte.

Although most churches were built at the initiative of priests and friars and the
townsfolk, the colonial government, which expended its energies most of the time on
civil and military structures, did build a few church-related buildings, such as, the
chapels at Fort Santiago and Fort San Felipe in Cavite. A notable work is the
Paco Cemetery, built in 1823 for the victims of cholera. Two circular walls
enclose an elliptical chapel with a stone dome.

20th-Century Catholic Churches. Church-building in the hispanic tradition

continued into the 20th century. Churches that were not finished during the Spanish
period were completed with great difficulty during the American regime. Early 20th-
century churches were done in revivalist styles, such as the neoromanesque and the
neogothic.

World War II destroyed many churches. Those rebuilt after the war showed a
tendency to adopt new styles. For the sixth Santo Domingo Church, built in
Quezon City from 1952-1954, the architect Jose Zaragoza employed a modernized
Spanish mission style. In the 1950s two new churches departed from the
longitudinal plan, and employed a central plan in which the altar was at the middle,
with pews arranged around it. The circular Chapel of the Holy Sacrifice at the
University of the Philippines (UP), which was designed by Leandro V. Locsin,
aimed to bring the people closer to the Mass. The polygonal St. Thomas More
Chapel of the Ateneo de Manila on Padre Faura, designed by Gines Rivera, had the
same aim. Churches built after Vatican II followed the prescriptions of the council
which decreed active participation of the congregation as well as greater visibility of
the rites at the altar. The altar became a free-standing table that enabled the mass
celebrant to face the people. The pulpit in the nave disappeared and was replaced
by a lectern located at the sanctuary. Examples of post-Vatican II churches are St.
Andrew’s, Makati; Santa Maria de la Strada, Quezon City; and Christ the King,
Green Meadows. The old churches were renovated to conform to the Council’s
directive that the mass be celebrated facing the people. Unfortunately, a good
number of colonial churches were renovated by ill-advised persons.

Other Churches

Aglipayan Churches. At the turn of the century Gregorio Aglipay, the military
vicar of the Philippine revolutionary army, formed the Iglesia Independiente Filipina
and cut all relations with the Roman Catholic Church. Popularly called Aglipayans,
this group took possession of many Catholic churches until a US Supreme Court
ruling in 1930 restored ownership of churches and lands to the Roman Catholic
Church. When the Aglipayans did build, they constructed simple structures of
bamboo and thatch or of wood. Since Aglipayan rites closely resemble Catholic
rites, and more recently Episcopalian rites, to which a branch of the church has ties,
the plan of Aglipayan churches resembles that of Catholic churches.

The church in Batac, Ilocos Norte, is innovative in style. The Cathedral of the Holy
Child on Taft Avenue, Manila, designed by Carlos Arguelles, is in the contemporary
idiom.

Protestant Churches. Protestantism, which came with the Americans, emphasized

reading of the Bible and preaching over the celebration of the sacraments, which a
number of Protestant Churches believe to be only two—Baptism and the
Eucharist—in contrast to Catholics who acknowledge seven. Because of the
emphasis on the Bible and preaching, the most eminent feature in a Protestant church
is the altar where an open Bible is prominently displayed. To one side of the altar is
a raised pulpit where the minister preaches. A number of chairs are placed in the
sanctuary to accommodate those leading the rites. In many instances, the sanctuary
accommodates the choir, as choral singing is an important part of worship.
Outstanding Protestant churches in Manila are the Bradford Memorial (now Central
Methodist Church) on T. Kalaw Street, built in 1916 and restored after it was
damaged during World War II; the Knox Memorial along Rizal Avenue, and the
Ellinwood Church in Malate. These churches are in the neogothic style—a style also
favored by main line Protestant groups in the United States. The Church of the
Risen Lord, designed by Cesar H. Concio and located at the UP Diliman Campus,
has a paraboloid roof that also rises from ground level. The form of the church has
been described as fishlike or as evoking the canvas roof of prairie schooners that once
crossed the American plains.

Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Churches. Felix Ysagun Manalo began preaching to

Manila workers in 1914. After Manalo’s death in 1963, his son, Eraño, became the
executive minister. The Bible, as interpreted by Manalo, is the only source of truth.
Worship takes place on Thursdays and Sundays and consists of psalm- and hymn-
singing, prayers, and offerings. The main event is an hour-long sermon on doctrine.
The houses of worship are called kapilya (chapel) in memory of the humble
beginnings of the church and its equally humble prototypic buildings or sambahan
(house of workship). Houses of worship are called kapilya regardless of size. Only
the house of worship at the central office in Quezon City is called a templo (temple),
although the San Fernando Kapilya is popularly known as the Templo Central
Luzon.

Initially, the INC met in private houses. The faithful living within a particular
vicinity, called lokal (locale), soon began building makeshift houses of light materials,
like bamboo, nipa, and cogon. The lokal of Tondo built the first house of worship in
1918 along Gabriela Street. Subsequently, provincial lokal built houses in Tiaong,
Bulacan; Peñaranda, Nueva Ecija, Sapang Tagalog, Tarlac, and General Trias, Cavite.

Medium-sized chapels of sturdier materials, like wood and galvanized iron, were
constructed in the 1930s. A few surviving examples are Bambang, Luisina, Santa
Maria, and Siniloan, all in Laguna. Just before the outbreak of World War II, the
semiconcrete house, like the Punta Santa Ana Chapel, appeared. In 1948 Manalo
employed the services of the architect Rufino Antonio, who designed the first
concrete kapilya in Sampaloc. This 800-seat castlelike structure employed the
gothic windows and spires that characterized later structures. The central office
complex and chapel in San Juan, Rizal, designed by Juan Nakpil and Carlos Santos-
Viola, was dedicated on 17 March 1952. The Caloocan Kapilya, fully airconditioned
and accommodating 1,200, was built that same year.

Shortly after came the Cubao kapilya, 1954, which was designed by Santos-Viola
and Alfredo Luz, then partners. After the partnership broke up, Santos-Viola
became the architect of most of the major kapilya all over the country. However,
Raul Villanueva did design the kapilya of Solis, Tondo, 1955. Originally, smaller
ones were entrusted to the INC’s Engineering and Construction Group, headed by
Dominador Manalo. The year 1954 saw the building of the 2,000-seat Pasay
Kapilya. Then followed those of Baguio; Paco, Manila; Angeles City, Pampanga;
Taguig, Rizal; Arayat, Pampanga; San Jose, Mindoro Oriental; Cabanatuan City,
Nueva Ecija; Bacoor, Cavite; Orani, Bataan; Batangas City; Tarlac, Tarlac; Malabon,
Rizal; Lucena City, Quezon; San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City; Cavite City;
Concepcion, Tarlac, and Bago Bantay, Quezon City. In 1963 the foundations for
San Pablo City and San Fernando, Pampanga were laid.

In 1971 the INC formally organized its Engineering and Construction Department to
take care of the construction and maintenance of the church’s buildings. By the
1980s it took over the design of even major kapilya. It was headed by Bienvenido
G. Manalo, assisted by Herman E. Bilang. But the Templo Central, dedicated in
1974, is Santos-Viola’s work. It contains five main areas for worship. The central
hall, called the templo, seats 3,000. Two side chapels have a total capacity of 1,931,
besides the observation rooms located above them.

The Cubao Kapilya is a giant shell made of reinforced concrete, lifting lyrically as
one continuous gothic arch. A vast traceried window decorates the facade. Because
shell construction is expensive, subsequent INC structures use a lighter framework
consisting of trusses resting on pillars of reinforced concrete. Trusses used to be of
wood; as long beams became rare and expensive, they were replaced by steel. The
side walls are of poured concrete for durability.

An INC facade often has an arch that is either triangular or Tudor, flanked by tall,
slender towers tapering into spires. Sometimes a spire rises in between the two,
directly over the facade. At the kapilya’s rear end are two additional towers, also on
both sides of the building. Entrances are dramatized with cantileverd canopies in
wavelike patterns. Galleries run beside the kapilya, connecting front with rear, to
create a protected area for taking in the air.

There are two separate entrances for the sexes. On the wall in between is a
cardholder with membership cards. At the men’s entrance is a deacon’s room; at the
women’s, a deaconess’. Within the body of the kapilya, men and women sit
separately on either side of a central aisle. The hall’s focus is a tribune, a dais with
an imposing lectern on which the Bible rests and from which preaching is done.
Behind the tribuna rises a tiered stage for choirs. Under the tower on each side is a
dressing room for each of the sexes. If the kapilya is big, there is a second-floor
balcony, the stairs to which are located within the front towers. The towers thus
define functional areas. Newer kapilya have a nursery room from which parents
with infants can attend the ritual. Older churches had a bautisterio or baptistery,
with a pool for the baptism of adults by immersion. However, this feature has
disappeared in the later design. Only central houses of worship have a bautisterio
which is used by neighboring kapilya. In some cases, baptism is held in rivers or
bodies of water.

INC interiors are well lit and airy, as they have many windows of plain glass and
high ceilings. The emphasis is on fellowship rather than on mystery.

Towers and spires are many and decorated with openwork tracery. Walls feature
elongated mullions with flat arches, weblike tracery, or frets in precast. Decorations
are nonfigurative. Felix Manalo chose gothic because it seemed ecclesiastical. In
fact, gothic was only a starting point. The lavish openwork tracery in towers and
spires is possible because of modern materials. So is the fondness for fancy towers
that gradate in tiers before ending in spikes or forming corollas that taper to a point.
The windowless but decorated facades embraced by a huge Tudor arch is another
innovation. • R. Javellana and F. Zialcita

SINEHAN

Sinehan (from “cine,” a shortened form of the French patent label “cinematografo,”
and “han,” a Tagalog suffix denoting place), also known as sine, is a place for
showing motion pictures. Film historians differ on the exact date when motion
pictures—also called cinema, movies, or films—made their first appearance in
Manila. One source says that it was in 1897, when Swiss entrepreneurs, Leibmann
and Peritz, opened a movie house at No. 31 Escolta, Manila. Another source refers
to 1 January 1897, when the Salon Pertierra showed six films on a chronophotograph
at No. 12 Interior, Escolta. Seven months later a Spanish army officer, Antonio
Ramos, imported 30 films, including a Lumiere cinematograph, named after the
French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiere who held their first public screening
in Paris in December 1895.

The movie, as entertainment, rapidly overshadowed traditional theater productions,

such as the sarswela, during the American period. During the screening of a silent
film, a string quartet under a conductor or composer played appropriate music,
while someone made an explanatory comment on what was being screened.
After the Philippine-American War, an Englishman reopened the sine at No. 60
Santa Rosa in Intramuros, which was called Cine Walgrah after its owner. In 1902
the Gran Cinematographo Parisien was opened at No. 80 Calle Crespo in Quiapo by
a Spanish businessman, Samuel Rebarber. By 1909 three Manila studios were
firmly established and covered events like The Great Taal Disaster, Gold Mining
in Paracale, and La Fiesta de Obando. In 1911 Pathe Freres Cinema, the first
distributing agency in the country, began selling and leasing film projector gear.
Movie houses began to mushroom all over the city and theaters originally built for
stage productions began showing films. The Teatro Zorrilla at Azcarraga (now
Claro M. Recto Avenue) began showing films in 1909 and the Grand Opera House
nearby combined movies with bodabil. Among the movie houses in full operation
at this time were Anda, Paz, Cabildo, Empire, Majestic, Tivoli, Comedia, Apollo,
Ideal, Luz, Savoy, and Gaiety. The Cinematografo Filipino, the first Filipino-owned
movie house, located at Azcarraga near Tutuban, was opened in 1909. In the 1920s
and the 1930s movie houses were improved. The old Ideal Theater, reconstructed to
be able to show movies, was later replaced by the new Ideal designed by Pablo Antonio.

Movie houses did not differ much from theaters. The lower floor was called
orchestra, and an upper floor with raked seating was called balcony. Sometimes,
balconies continued into galleries or wing balconies. The balcony was divided into
the front and generally better furnished area, called loge, and the rear which retained
the name balcony. On the stage, a screen was hung. During the silent film era, a
small section below the screen was set aside for a piano or an orchestra that
accompanied the film. The projection booth located opposite the screen and often
above the orchestra seats was a necessary feature of the cinema.

Azcarraga was the first movie row of Manila. In the 1930s the Escolta, where the
Lyric and Capitol theaters stood, and Rizal Avenue, where the Ideal, State, and
Avenue Theaters were located, became the moviegoer’s paradise. Then considered
the country’s most modern theater, the Metropolitan Theater, built in 1931, was
equipped for exhibiting movies. Art deco was the style for movie houses. However,
Bellevue in Paco, built earlier, employed the not-too- popular neomudejar style.
Movie houses were also built in the provinces: the Prince was the best known in
Iloilo; Vision, built in the renaissance style, was famous in Cebu; while Pines and
Session Theater were built in Baguio. More movie houses were erected after World
War II, among them the Ever Theater, remarkable for its elegant lobby, and the
Cinerama, notable for its size.

Rizal Theater, designed by Juan Nakpil and completed in 1960, introduced the one-
floor auditorium in which the orchestra, loge, and balcony formed one continuous
slope. This seating arrangement was to be emulated in movie houses that came later,
especially those built in malls.

“Mall” originally meant a promenade but in contemporary usage has come to mean
an open or covered concourse flanked by shops, restaurants, and movie houses. The
last are not detached units but part of the mall’s structure. Movie houses in malls
are generally smaller compared to earlier ones which were seperate buildings. The
first successful mall was the Quad in Makati, built in the 1970s, whose main feature
were four movie houses respectively called “Q,” “U,” “A,” and “D.” Other malls in
Manila with movie houses are Ali Mall, Robinsons, Manuela, Shoemart, Shangri-La,
and Gotesco. These malls are often a chain and have more than one branch in the
city. Malls with movie houses have also been built in provincial urban centers.
• R. Javellana

References

Castañeda, Dominador. Art in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the

Philippines, 1964.

Pareja, Lena S. “Philippine Cinema: The First 15 years (1897-1912).” Kultura.

Vol. III, No.2 (1990), 14-23.

SPLIT LEVEL HOUSE

The split-level house is that in which the floor levels of one or more rooms are
separated by approximately half a story (or less) and connected by stairs. In
general, the Philippine split-level house has two main levels, the lower portion
which includes the living, dining, and kitchen area, and the elevated one which has
the bedrooms. In some, the two levels are covered by one hip or gable roof, with
the lower level having an unusually high ceiling. In other cases, especially in larger
houses, the lower and higher sections have separate roofs, giving the houses a more
interesting exterior appearance.

The elevated portion of the split-level house is usually made of wood and may rest
on concrete walls. If high enough, the space under the elevated portion is used for
storage. The lower portion is almost always of concrete and is slightly above the
ground level.
The split-level arrangement effectively delineates the private and common spaces
of the house by the slight change in levels, which spares the dweller the effort of
negotiating a full staircase. The split-level house design enables one to build on
sloping or irregular terrain, without extensively altering the topography.
• A. Gonzales-Biglang-Awa

TEATRO

The teatro (Spanish, theater), also known as dulaan (from Tagalog “dula,” play, and
“an,” a suffix denoting place), and coliseo (Spanish, from Latin “colosseum,” a large
place for staging spectacles), refers to a building designed specifically for theatrical,
musical, and dance presentations. While an auditorium serves the same purpose, it is
not necessarily an independent building like the teatro, but may be part of a larger
building, such as a school or office building.

Teatro was the name given to the structure when first introduced in the Philippines.
It consisted mainly of the stage and related areas; the house or space for the
audience, and the lobby or entrance. The entablado (stage platform), where a
performance takes place, is generally framed by an arch called proscenia
(proscenium), and covered by a curtain. Beside and behind the stage are the
backstage areas which include dressing rooms, space for scenery and equipment,
workshops, and storage rooms. The house is occupied by rows of seats, which may
be on one level or, for better viewing, on several levels. Seats may be grouped in
boxes or on tiers. Aisles run between rows of seats and along the side walls. The
house section of old theaters was rectangular or circular in plan. Later theaters
adopted a trapezoidal or fan-shaped plan with the stage at the narrow end. The
house section is reached through a lobby. Running above it like a balcony is a lounge
where the audience repairs during intermissions. The teatro may have other spaces
within the building, such as administrative offices, shops, and a refreshment parlor.

Probably the earliest theaters in the Philippines were the teatros al aire libre (open-
air theaters) which were temporary platforms with open space around for the
audience. Sources mention the Teatro Comico, located in Arroceros near the Pasig
River, which flourished from circa 1780 to 1790. Tondo circa 1840 was the setting
of coliseos, i.e., bamboo theaters roofed with nipa, where Tagalog plays were shown.
At about the same period, reference is made to the camarin-teatro (barn theater),
located at Arroceros. This bamboo-and-nipa structure had a stage and a patio with
long benches.

Probably the first of the elegant theaters was the Teatro de Binondo, a building of
brick,stone, and wood, located near the Escolta on what is now San Vicente, between
San Jacinto and Nueva. An old print shows the facade of the two-story building,
with arches on the ground floor and a colonnade and balustrade on the second floor.
A spacious lobby led into the semicircular auditorium. The seating included palcos
(boxes) classified as principales and segundas or first and second class; plateas
(tiered seats) on the main floor; and the tertulia or paraiso (gallery), the uppermost
section. The Teatro de Binondo, also known in its heyday as Teatro Español, was
inaugurated in 1846 but by the 1860s was no longer functioning.
The Teatro del Principe Alfonso, later called Teatro Español, built in 1862, was of
light construction, i.e., largely of wood, with probably a tin roof. It was located on
the Campo de Arroceros in what is now the area between Quezon Bridge and
MacArthur Bridge.

With its reputed capacity of 2,500, the Teatro Circo de Bilibid was the largest in its
time. Called Circo because of its circular plan, and de Bilibid, being located opposite
the Bilibid prison, it was originally a bullring. Its roof was of wood and metal. It
flourished in the 1870s, became a cockpit in 1880, and was destroyed by a typhoon
in 1882.

Similar in shape to the Teatro Circo de Bilibid was the Teatro de Novedades, later
known as Teatro de Variedades. It was originally an octagonal pavilion for public
dances, and was converted to a theater in 1878. It was located opposite the Principe
Alfonso.

Across the Pasig, at the corner of Calle San Roque and Calle General Echague, was
the Teatro Filipino. Built in 1880, it was a rectangular building of wood with a
galvanized-iron roof. It had one tier of boxes, the best of which were near the stage.

Considered the most prestigious in its time was the Teatro Circo Zorrilla, named
after the Spanish poet and playwright Jose Zorrilla y Moral. Inaugurated in 1893, it
was located at the corner of the Calzada de Iris and Calle San Pedro, the area now
bounded by Recto Avenue, Quezon Boulevard, and Calle Evangelista.

The circular hall accommodated 1,352—four in the palco de honor (box of honor), 48
in palcos arranged in tiers, 400 in the butacas (orchestra seats), and 900 in the
galeria (general admission section). The Zorrilla was the venue for sarswela, opera,
drama, concerts, and the early movies. It was demolished in 1936.

The Teatro Tagalo de Tondo or Coliseo de Tondo, which flourished from 1840 to
1890,was originally of bamboo and nipa and later of wood, with a metal roof.

The Teatro Infantil de Dulumbayan was 24 meters wide and 34 meters deep. Its
facade was of sawali; the stage had a nipa roof and a floor of wood and bamboo. It
had 14 palcos, 30 butacas, 12 seats in the orchestra pit, and a five-tiered galeria with
bamboo seats.

The Teatro Guiñol was 6 meters wide and 14 meters deep, roof-less, and collapsible
so that it could be easily transported.

The only true opera house of the 19th century was that established in Pandacan circa
1887 by a Franciscan, Fray Cipriano Gomez. The theater was exclusively for opera
performed by native singers who were trained by an Italian teacher. Its orchestra
was conducted by Ladislao Bonus.

The Manila Grand Opera House, was built in 1902; it followed the traditional
design, being provided with tiers of boxes around the main floor. In this building the
First Philippine Assembly was inaugurated on 16 October 1907. The building was
burned in 1943 and was rebuilt with a cinema-style auditorium.
The Metropolitan Theater, inaugurated in 1931, was built along Arroceros, the 19th-
century theater district. A masterwork of Juan Arellano, it may be considered
Manila’s first modern theater. It was designed for plays, opera, symphony
concerts, and cinema. The orchestra, loge, and balcony of the auditorium
accommodated 1,670. Destroyed in World War II, it was restored in 1978.

The Rizal Theater, designed by National Artist Juan F. Nakpil, was the first theater
in Makati. Although normally used as a movie house, it had a large stage suitable for
ballets and musicals. The auditorium had one sloping floor with orchestra, loge, and
balcony forming one vast space. A fine example of contemporary theater design, it
was unfortunately demolished to give way to high-rise buildings.

The Meralco Theater, designed by Jose Zaragoza, is likewise of the one-floor type.
Operas, musicals, and concerts have graced its spacious stage. It is a major feature of
the Meralco Building located on Ortigas Avenue in Pasig.

The main building of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, inaugurated in 1969,
houses a 1,893-seat theater, called the Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo; a 402-seat
theater, called the Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino; and an experimental space, called
Tanghalang Huseng Batute, which seats a maximum of 260; as well as art galleries, a
museum, rehearsal rooms, and offices. A major work of National Artist Leandro V.
Locsin, the building rises prominently on reclaimed land along Roxas Boulevard. The
main theater has an orchestra section, parterre boxes, two balconies, and two tiers of
side boxes, as well as a large orchestra pit. Its stage is the best equipped in the
country, provided with flies and a sophisticated lighting system. • R. D. Perez III

References

Atayde, Juan de. “Los Teatros de Manila.” La Ilustracion Filipina. 21

August-7 September 1892.

Buenaventura, Cristina Laconico. “The Theaters of Manila.” Philippine Studies,

Vol. XXVII (1979), 5-37.

Bañas, Raymundo C. Filipino Music and Theater. Quezon City: Manlapaz

Publishing Company, 1969.

TREE HOUSE

The tree house, built either on tree stumps or limbs, has been a rarity in the country.
Early 20th-century anthropologists and travellers have documented it as existing in
only a few parts of northern Luzon among such groups as the Ilongot and the
Gaddang, in north-central Mindanao among the Bukidnon, and in some areas in
Eastern Mindanao, among the Manobo of Agusan and the Mandaya of Davao. It is
usually found in places where violent intercommunity strifes and night attacks were
frequent. Occasionally, it was a practical solution to frequent flooding in low-lying
areas and to wild animals prowling at night.

One of the earliest accounts of the tree house was written by the Frenchman Paul de
la Gironiere in the early 19th century. Writing about the dwelling and settlement
patterns of the Tinguian of Palan, northwest Abra, he noted that the Tinguian had a
day and a night abode. The day abode was a typical bamboo and straw hut of
modest proportions, while the night abode, called alligang, was even smaller and
perched high on a tree top, about 18 to 24 meters above ground, as a precaution
against surprise nocturnal attacks of the Guinana, their arch-enemy.

In 1913 Fay Cooper Cole wrote on the tree houses of the Mandaya of Mindanao.
Cole noted two types of tree houses: firstly, those that rest “on the limbs of trees,
conforming in size and shape to the nature of the supporting branches,” and
secondly, those built on trees whose crowns had been “cut off some 4.5 or 6 meters
above the ground leaving the stump to serve as a part of the foundation.” Houses of
the first type have sloping roofs and may or may not have side walls. For those
without sidings, the roofs slope directly from a central ridgepole to the edges of the
platform making the side walls unnecessary. In the second type, many smaller poles
are added to support the flooring and also to extend the space upward to form the
framework for both the walls and the roof. Either type of house is entered by means
of a notched pole or a bamboo or rattan ladder, which is drawn up at night to prevent
unwelcome entry and surprise attacks by hostile groups.

The tree house is often located on the edge of cliffs and can be approached only from
one direction.

However fragile in appearance, the Mandaya tree house could endure even the worst
storms; the whole house may move and creak with each strong wind but it always
remains safely in place. Using no nails nor hardware, the structure is firmly lashed
together with rattan and during turbulent weather further secured by anchoring the
house with the help of strong vines to nearby trees. Despite its limited size, this
house can also accommodate two to three families living together, as by custom,
suitors and husbands of married daughters reside with the women’s folk.

Several other tribal groups are reported to have tree houses, namely, the Gaddang of
northern Luzon, whose thatchedpile dwellings are built right into the high-forked
branches of a tree; some members of the Higaonon tribe of Bukidnon, whose
swaying high-rise dwellings are connected by a wobbly cat-walk to a central
communal room; the Ilongot, whose houses are scattered and concealed in the forest,
fenced with fallen trees and thorny bamboo, and approached by way of a hidden
entrance. The Tiruray, the Manobo, the Aeta, and other groups are reported to build
tree houses.

A further development of the tree house concept may be seen among such peoples
as the Bilaan, whose houses are propped up on poles as tall as trees in elevations
ranging from 6 to 18 meters above the ground.

The aforementioned groups, however, also maintain other types of piled dwellings,
moving to the tree house only during critical periods when defense is important.
• C. Hila

References
Cole, Fay Cooper. “The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao.”
Field Museum of Natural History Anthropological Series 12, No. 2, (1913),
49-203.

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine

Artistic Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

De Leon Jr., Felipe M. “The Architecture of the Philippines: A Survey.”

In Philippine Art and Literature, The Filipino Nation. Vol III, Manila:
Grolier International Philippines, 1982.

Gironiere, Paul Proust de la. Adventures of a Frenchman in the Philippines.

Revised edition. Manila: Burke Miaillhe Publication (Members of the National
Academy of Science) Vol. XXIII, No. 1, 1972.

TRIBUNAL

During the Spanish era the tribunal or casa tribunal (from Spanish “casa,” house and
“tribunal”), usually built along or near the plaza which fronted the church, was the
town’s court of law. A feature that distinguished it from the casa real (town hall)
was the presence of a calabozo (jail) usually on the first floor of the two-story
structure or in the most secure area of a one-story structure. The two-story casa
tribunal did not differ much from the bahay na bato (stone house) except that some
tribunal, were made entirely of stone and had balconies jutting out of the facade. The
one-story type was similar to the school-house. When a town had no casa tribunal,
the casa real or the convento in the church complex served as tribunal; hence the
stories about friars imprisoning and punishing dissidents in the convento.

A development of the calabozo in the tribunal was the construction of institutions

and colonies during the 19th century, the best examples of which are Bilibid in
Manila and San Ramon in Zamboanga. Another common penal practice during this
century was deportation to Mindanao, Paragua (now Palawan), or the Marianas.
Deportation had a double purpose: punishment and the creation of communities in
areas not under Spanish rule.

Prisoners—whether criminals, vagabonds, prostitutes, or political dissidents—were

housed in bahay kubo (nipa hut) settlements organized by the civil government. In
some cases, areas of deportation were disorganized when the prisoners built
whenever and however they pleased. Missionaries sent to these areas are often
credited with organizing the towns following the norms of colonial town planning.
• R. Javellana

References

El Archipielago. Washington DC: Government Printing Press, 1900.

Castañeda, Dominador. Art in the Philippines. Quezon City: University of the

Philippines, 1964.

TSALET
The tsalet (from French “chalet,” sheltered place) originally referred to the Swiss
peasant house characterized by a steep roof, an ornamented gable, and upper floors
projecting over the lower ones. In the Philippines the term is used for the compactly
planned, one-story suburban house that appeared during the early decades of the
20th century. The tsalet could also be a two-story structure with living quarters on
the upper floor or a one-story house elevated above the ground.

The house embodied principles of tropical architecture popularized by the

government architect William Parsons. The one-story house, like the bahay kubo
(nipa hut), was raised 50 centimeters or more above the ground to avoid the
humidity of the earth. The first floor of the two-story house, like that of the
bahay na bato (stone house) was an empty space. Concrete was used for its
foundations and piers. A prominent feature was the veranda built in front of the
house or on three sides of it, which was often adorned with carved railings. Entrance
to the house was through a simple stairway at the very center of the house facade, or
through an L- or T-shaped stairway. Stairs were usually concrete but could also be
of wood. The house, made of wood, had large windows, a departure from those of
the Swiss prototype which were small and hung as casements. Neither was its
galvanized-iron roof as low pitched nor as largely projected at the eaves as in the
continental variety. Instead the roof had vents to allow the free flow of air, thus
cooling the structure. Compared with the older bahay na bato, the tsalet was simple,
comfortable, and not ostentatious, although some used decorative elements like lattice
work and carved transoms. Planned as a quadrilateral, the tsalet had the amenities of
modern living: a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.

The tsalet, often built in a lot with trees and flower gardens, was a comfortable home
for the urbanized middle class that emerged and grew under the American colonial
period. There were different variations, i.e., with adaptations of the continental,
American (the log-cabin type), and native models, and with some local details. A
notable example is the present Cafe Ysabel along P. Guevarra in San Juan.
• M. P. Consing/C. Hila/R. Javellana

Reference

Perez III, Rodrigo D. “Arkitektura: An Essay on Philippine architecture.”

In Tuklas Sining: Essays on Philippine Arts. Edited by Nicanor G.
Tiongson. Manila: Sentrong Pangkultura ng Pilipinas, 1991.

TULAY

The tulay, also known as taytay, and puente (Spanish) is a bridge, i.e., a horizontal
structure that provides passage between two points separated by a depression, a
body of water, or a thoroughfare.

Ethnic Philippine bridges are constructed of pliant but sturdy materials, like bamboo
and coconut trunks. The Mandaya of Davao Oriental, when building houses above
bamboo marshes, connect them with bamboo bridges without handrails. Even today,
the bamboo or coconut bridge is found in areas where the government has not built
suitable infrastructure. Tall bamboo poles or coconut trunks are lashed together to
form the piers of the bridge. The number of piers depends upon the distance to be
spanned. The piers support girders, which in turn carry the bamboo poles that form
the passage. The bridge may have a handrail, often to one side. At the turn of the
century American engineers documented more elaborate indigenous bridges. One,
built over a river in the Carigara-Barugo road in Leyte, consisted of dressed wood
beams and planks and had a geometrically designed wooden handrail and a nipa roof.

Stone bridges were introduced by the Spaniards in the Philippines. An early stone
bridge, the Puente de España, built in 1630 over the Pasig, east of the site presently
occupied by Jones Bridge, consisted of elliptical arches of stone resting on massive
stone piers. The bridge was renovated a number of times, and by the 19th century
had steel members imported from France. Many stone bridges were built in the
provinces, often at the initiative of the missionaries. Batanes abounds with old
bridges built by the Dominicans. Sorsogon still has a number of stone bridges, so
does Leyte in Ormoc and Cebu in Cauayan, Dalaguete, and Samboan. A bridge of
earthwork was built during the 19th century in Bohol to link the towns of Tagbilaran
and Dauis.

In 1852 a suspension bridge, Puente Colgante, was built over the Pasig at the site
presently spanned by the Quezon Bridge. This suspension bridge was a
technological innovation made possible by the use of steel. A suspension bridge
consists of tall piers of steel or masonry built on both banks of a river. A pair of
stout cables are hung from the piers. Smaller cables that support the roadway are
hung from the cable. Suspension bridges were built in other parts of the Philippines
where piers could not be sunk into the river bed. One such bridge was built in
Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental.

During the American period bridge-building took on a faster pace as the colonial
government aimed to improve transportation. Deteriorating bridges were repaired or
replaced by new ones. American-built bridges were of three types. The most
durable, the steel bridge, consisted of girders or trusses resting on concrete piers sunk
into the riverbed. The roadway could be made of sturdy lumber, like molave, or
paved with asphalt. A rung below the steel bridge was the wooden bridge that
spanned creeks and rivulets. This bridge followed the structural design of the girder
bridge or consisted of a triangular arch, with the bases embedded in the earth and the
apex supporting the span. The structure supported the roadway which was flanked
by railings on either side. A third type of bridge, similar to the pontoon bridge,
rested on the surface of the water and was used while a permanent bridge was being
repaired or built.

Many American-built bridges are still used today. The Ayala Bridge over the Pasig
is one example. During the American regime, the hispanic bridges built over the
Pasig were replaced by new ones. Jones Bridge replaced Puente de España; Quezon
Bridge replaced Puente Colgante; and two new bridges, Santa Cruz and Ayala
Bridges, were built. The pre-World War II Jones Bridge was designed by Juan Arellano.
The Quezon Bridge used art deco motifs. The bridges over the Pasig were destroyed
during World War II and rebuilt after the war.
 Other American-built bridges can be seen all over the Philippines. One of the longest
bridges, found in Carmen, Pangasinan, was unfortunately damaged by the earthquake
of 1990.

With the introduction of reinforced concrete, bridges took on simpler lines. Massive
piers built into the riverbed support reinforced-concrete girders. The roadways are
paved with concrete or asphalt and are flanked by pedestrian walkways with
concrete railings. Bridges of this type were built during the Philippine Republic
period.

Reinforced concrete and better engineering techniques spurred the construction of

lighter and longer bridges to span not only waters but low areas and the intersections
of roads. From the 1960s to the 1980s the government prided itself in improving the
infrastructure of the Philippines. Highways were built to link the capital, Manila,
with provinces north and south. At intersections where heavy traffic was expected
to converge. overpasses were built. Elevated pedestrian walkways were also built
over roads with heavy traffic. The North Expressway has an elevated portion, the
Candaba Viaduct, which stretches for about 40 kilometers above flood-prone areas.
To link together the Maharlika Highway, built on the eastern side of the Philippines
and projected to stretch from Luzon to Mindanao, a bridge was built over the San
Juanico Strait dividing Samar and Leyte islands. The islands of Cebu and Mactan are
linked by a bridge across a channel that separates them. • R. Javellana

Reference

Dacanay Jr., Julian. Selected Writings I: Ethnic Houses and Philippine

Artistic Expression. Pasig, Metro Manila: One Man Show Studio, 1988.

http://digitaleducation.net/epa-web/philippine-architecture-forms-and-types/