Our first Iloilo municipality tour is  Janiuay. Although we have seen the magnificent stone arches of Janiuay Cemetery before we reached the church, we were unable to stop by and take pictures of it. Were we too tired to make the stopover? Or were we too lazy? [Sigh!] Whatever our reasons were at that time, I surely regret that none of us insisted on going back there.  The 3 stone arches were such a spectacular view and it was such a shame that we didn't have any souvenirs of it.

We went directly instead to the Janiuay Church which was named San Julian de Cuenca Parish. The church is quite new (or recently renovated), but the ruins of the older church was still standing beside the new one. Although most of the parts of the older church have been destroyed, it still looked magnificent, just like some of the ruined parts of the Fort Santiago in Manila.

Next, we went to the San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish in Cabatuan.  This neo-classical church was built in the early 1880's and every side of the church is a facade in itself. [So it's really up to you to decide if my picture here of the church is the front.] We went up to the not-so-high belltower to take a look at its bells. Of course, the bells weren't much compared to the ones we saw in Pan-ay, Capiz.

Our next stop was the Church and Convent of Santa Barbara in [where else?] Santa Barbara. Seeing this church felt like we had a deja vu of some sort as it looked a lot like the St. Isidore Labradore Convent in Lazi, Siquijor. I was the only one among our group who was able to go inside the church as they were too strict on dress codes. Most of us were wearing sando, low necklines and shorts -- the very clothes not allowed within the church.

It has always been my habit to know the name of a church that I have visited for the first time instead of merely referring to it as the church of some place. I knew that this church was popularly and simply called Jaro Cathedral, but I still wanted to know its real name. So after all our picture takings with the church and the belfry, I asked this Baranggay Tanod what the church of the name was. He answered "katedral." Of course, I knew it was the cathedral. So, I asked him again and clarified that I was actually asking for the specific name of the church making sure I used the simplest Tagalog words I can think of so I can be understood. Looking at me straight in the eye as if I'm some moron who doesn't know what he said earlier means, the Baranggay Tanod answered again "KA-TED-RAL." Yes, it was said with too much conviction, stress and was syllabicated. I get the point. For him, I was indeed a moron who doesn't know what "katedral" means. [Sige na nga, KA-TED-RAL na itu!!!]

Our 5th Iloilo church was the one in Mandurriao called the Parish of the Spousal of our Lady. The church doesn't look historic at all, but we still went down anyway to make sure we have enough churches to complete our Visita Iglesia.

Our next church stop was nothing at all like the Mandurriao Church. If I felt that the previous church lacked history, this one in Molo is a history in itself. St. Anne Parish is a Gothic Renaissance church built sometime in.... [Ooops! I didn't get the year.] Personally, this magnificent structure seemed more like a castle than a church at a distance. Sad to say, it was hard to take a picture of the entire church as the plaza at its front were covered with trees, plus a lot of people were gathered on the main street since a Lenten procession was about to start then.

We also went to San Joaquin, the last municipality in Iloilo before the province of Antique. Personally, I wanted to go to this place to take a look at the historic Sirawagan River which was said to be the site where the legendary 10 Bornean datus landed in the 13th century. Since there was also an old church here, we decided to look for it first before the landing site [which no one in San Joaquin seems to know]. 

The San Joaquin Church was named [how creative!] the Parish of San Joaquin. Its facade boasts off a bas-relief depicting the historic battle between Christians and Moors in 1859, known as the Battle of Tetuan in Morocco. You may think of it as a Miag-ao Church look-a-like, but with less grandeur and maintenance. 

Next, we tried looking for the Sirawagan River but we only got disappointed as the river turned out to be a soon-to-be dry riverbed. 

Still in San Joaquin, we also dropped by the San Joaquin Cemetery. The cemetery's gate had a stone arch which looks like the ones in Janiuay Cemetery, only smaller. Inside, there was a 20-step stone staircase and a hexagonal chapel on top of it.

Our next destination was not a church, but a university. We passed by the University of the Philippines in the Visayas and went down in front of the Oblation for picture taking. [Don't worry, it was no different from the one in Diliman, Quezon City.] Right after this, we headed straight to the famous Miag-ao Church. 

The Church of Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Miag-ao was built in 1768. The facade had a bas-relief with a native botanical motif, reminiscent of the Aztec Art. It was one of the 4 Baroque churches in the Philippines included in the UNESCO's Heritage List and was declared a national landmark in 1973. Yes, the church was indeed grand and beautiful. [And for anyone who would be going to Iloilo, I suggest that you include this church in your tour or it wouldn't seem like you've been to Iloilo at all.]

The last 2 churches that we went to were the San Nicolas de Tolentino Parish in Guimbal and the St. John of Sahagun Parish in Tigbauan. These 2 were still good-looking churches but after seeing the one in Miag-ao, I knew I had enough churches for this Holy Week.