TAYTAY BONI (pls. don't call it a Spanish bridge)

Photo courtesy of Miagao Munisipyo

If you’re coming from Iloilo to visit the UNESCO World Heritage church of Miagao, there’s a strange-looking stone structure on the left of the National Highway, near the bend at Bgy.Guibongan. It’s actually a bridge. Many folks tend to call it a Spanish bridge. Correction please. It’s a Filipino bridge, specifically an Ilonggo-made bridge. Art historically-correct terms for it can be: “a Spanish-colonial period bridge”/ a stone bridge from the Spanish (colonial) period/ a Spanish-era (stone) bridge/ a heritage bridge/ an old stone bridge.”

The Spaniards did not build that bridge. Nor did they build those churches, convents, cemeteries, schools, houses, town halls. Those structures were built by our forefathers, by Filipinos. Thus, it is very inaccurate to label them as Spanish. Moreover, Spanish architecture has a style of its own. We did borrow certain features from Spanish and Mexican architecture (because the initiators of these building projects were usually the friars);however, our environmental conditions and our local cultural idioms transformed them into truly Philippine architectural pieces.

Going back to Taytay Boni: Iloilo’s best preserved Spanish- colonial stone bridge. Taytay of course means bridge. Why Boni? Short for Bonifacio Neular, the lead guy who built this bridge in 1854. That makes it 157 years old now. Wow!

Several bridges in Bohol have been given recognition by the National Museum. But mind you, our Taytay Boni is many times more beautiful I believe.

Draw a straight line from either end of Taytay Boni and that's your colonial highway. Can you imagine yourself crossing this bridge on foot and walk all the way to Arevalo or the Punta (Iloilo City)? That was nothing unusual in the 19th century. Back then, people did a lot of walking.

The Miagao cemetery capilla

Text & Photo by Joy Rosal-Sumagaysay

The Miagao cemetery located at Bgy. Baybay Norte (formerly Cota Baybay) houses an exceptional capilla or funerary chapel. In olden times, masses were held here on All Saint’s Day, Sundays and other important feast days.

Probably built around 1889-1895, the Miagao cemetery capilla can definitely boast of its original brick dome. It is the only existing capilla in the region or perhaps in the country with such a distinct feature. The capilla is octagonal in shape and flanked by winglike extensions that are actually burial chambers for past town heads and parish priests. Decorative urns carved out of solid stone surround this brick dome.

While the dome and the walls are made from bricks, the capilla’s pilasters, jambs and carved decorations are of creamy limestone. The capilla exhibits Romanesque influence in its three identical arched openings and two circular windows. Most interesting is the skull and crossbones motif enclosed in concentric mouldings found above the arched entrance. This design is repeated in the capilla’s interiors.

The UPV MAIN BUILDING (Iloilo City Campus) by Juan Arellano

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, Juan Arellano is one of the Philippine’s best, having been proclaimed as a National Artist for Architecture. He is responsible for the Art Deco Metropolitan Theater in Manila (now being rehabilitated).

In Iloilo, he designed two buildings, the more famous of which is featured above. The other one is the Jaro Municipal Building (now used as a police station). Arellano took care of the lay-out and design of this former City Hall but he left the embellishment of the façade to his Italian buddy, Francesco Monti.

By the way, I pass through that entrance almost everyday. Sometimes it hits me, “Wow, I’m in a National Artist’s building!” My favorite detail inside is the Art Deco chandelier (which Arellano himself must have also designed). It is made of capiz shells with a stylized bamboo design. Another is the grillwork of what was originally the cashier’s office for this city hall.

Iloilo's Most Awe-Inspiring Cemetery

Found at the southernmost town of Iloilo is San Joaquin cemetery. Its a spectacular sight as these Ilonggo teens have proven when they scaled its steep stone steps to the capilla--the cemetery's crowning glory.

San Joaquin cemetery is the last cemetery to be completed before the revolution erupted in the late 1890s. Fray Mariano Vamba, the last Augustinian parish priest of the town, initiated the project but real credit, of course, goes to the people of San Joaquin who worked on this camposanto.

Check out the ironwork above the entrance to see if you can still decipher the numbers. That's the inauguration date, my friend.

You will see all over the capilla made of coral stone and brick (do go around it) rich stone carvings of flowers and leaves. At the entrance are more engaging designs. There's a skull-and-crossbones (nope! that is not a symbol for death, nor pirates, nor poison) carving guarded on either side by cute little angels without bodies (cherubs). Move back from the entrance (be sure to check for approaching bullet San Joaquin jeepneys!), look up and examine the design at the pediment (that triangular space above the entrance). Its a man's head in profile alongside a growing plant. A half circle encloses these figures and sun rays radiate from it. Guess what that means.