Iloilo is home to many old churches and one these is the church of Dingle, a peaceful town in eastern Iloilo. Like other churches in the province, Dingle Church is of Baroque architecture with its interiors showing features of the Neoclassical style. The parish church of San juan de Bautista is simple yet elegant. It is not lavishly adorned but it is a real beauty. Take a photo of it and you will see.
I have been longing to feature this church in this blog and finally we took a turn to Dingle to visit its wonderful sight like its church.And when we got there, we were not dismayed. It is indeed a nice church and should one of the old churches in Iloilo that a traveler should visit. I felt a little dismayed why it took me so long as a freelance writer to feature and share this church to my dear readers.
Going back to Dingle Church, its main component is limestone and I find it unique. In this part of Iloilo, baked bricks is the most common material as seen in the churches of Santa Barbara, Cabatuan and even of Janiuay. Limestone is more evident in southern Iloilo like that of Miag-ao Church. For this church, limestone was quarried in the mountains of Bulabog-Putian which is now a national park.
Another thing that I noticed with this church is that it only has one belltower. I’m not sure if it is really built like that or it was burned some time in its history. For its facade, it is well decorated given its smaller size compared to other old churches in Iloilo. Its facade aside from statues has a circular stained-glass of saints. In its center is a dome-shaped canopy that I presume to be part of its recent renovations. To be honest, it looks very off-tangent; it is pretty obvious to be a new addition.
on top is "ano 1886", the year that this church was finished
So, the next time you are here in Iloilo and have plenty of time to spare for visiting old churches, head to the town of Dingle. Aside from its church, this town is home to the Bulabog-Putian National Park.
Going to Dingle
Going to Dingle is not very accessible especially if you don’t have your own transportation. The town center is not accessible from the national highway going to northern Iloilo or to Capiz and Aklan. You can either take a jeepney to Dingle from Tagbak Terminal or hire a tricycle from the national highway going to Dingle center.
Tags: dingl church, Dingle, old church, old churches in Iloilo
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i am a native of this town, i left this town in 1971 to go to mindanao and when i was back in 1983 the old church bells are no longer there. the sound of this bells could reach as far as five to seven kilometers. where are these bells now. they were replaced by a new ones which sound like a tin can.
Hi Rene,
Thank you for dropping by and leaving your comment. I will tried to do little research on the original bells of Dingle church but I can’t find fruitful information. I will ask some of friends ( History people) though if it was destroyed by calamities or by vulgars.
Again, thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see your future comments here!! Have a nice day Rene!
This could be the church my mother was baptized. I have a copy of the certificate written in spanish that she was baptized 1905 in a Dingle parish. I assume that the church is closed and not an active catholic parish anymore. I am filipino, born in Hawaii and would want to see if there are old church records I could research and find out. On the baptismal certificate it is recorded in book 2, page 172. who would keep and where are the recordsnow, if kept, now?
Hi Jimmy,
Wow, that is very fantastic. I have a degree in History from UP so those old records are wealth to me. Dingle Church is still a parish church and they try to preserve it as much as possible. I’m not sure if they still have a record in Dingle because what I know those old records like way back in early 1900s they are moved to the main church of the diocese like cathedrals. So maybe they are stored in the Jaro Cathedral.
I’ll try to ask around. Thanks again for leaving a comment. I really appreciate it..