Words I heard while talking over the phone with Father Victor Bompat of Stella Maris in Tagbilaran. Bohol at 8:12 a.m of October 15, 2013.
A few minutes later social media was flooded with news that a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol and nearby provinces.
It turned out that our short conversation saved Fr. Bompat from falling rocks as he was supposed to celebrate a mass at that time inside Dauis church during the earthquake.
With its epicenter located near the boundary of Sagbayan and Catigbian towns, the tremor lasted for about 30 seconds that was one of the strongest to hit the country in recent history, toppling centuries-old churches, splitting roads apart, and leaving widespread destruction in its wake.
The earthquake caused heavy damages to 25 churches in the Diocese of Tagbilaran and 9 churches in the Diocese of Talibon. The damaged churches in Diocese of Tagbilaran included those in Alburquerque, Antequera, Baclayon, Balilihan, Batuan, Calape, Catigbian, Corella, Cortes, Dimiao, Dauis, Garcia-Hernandez, Lila, Loay, Loboc, Loon, Maribojoc, Panglao, Sagbayan, Sevilla, Sikatuna, Tagbilaran, and Valencia.
The damaged churches in Diocese of Talibon included those in Carmen, Clarin, Inabanga, Talibon, Tubigon.
One of the notable damaged part of the churches are the painted ceilings displaying biblical scenes and celestial imagery.
Many feature trompe-l’œil works by Cebuano artists Raymundo Francia (dubbed “Cebu’s Michelangelo”) and Canuto Avila.
Francia is the genius behind the enchanting murals of Alburquerque, Anda, Balilihan, Carmen, Cortes, Dauis, Dimiao, Inabanga, Jagna, Lila, Loay, Loboc, Loon, Maribojoc, Panglao, Sevilla, Tubigon and Valencia.
It was Monsignor Juan Gorordo, first Filipino bishop of Cebu (1910-1932) who discovered the talent of Francia and recommended him to his friend and parish priest of Dauis, Bohol, Father Natalio del Mar.
The church of Dauis was consecrated in 1923, the first of Francia’s Boholano masterpieces. From there, the tradition of painting church ceilings in Bohol spread like wildfire.
Like Michaelangelo, Francia usually worked by lying on his back on a scaffold constructed several meters above the floor.
Despite the lack of modern mechanical instruments, he managed to embellish church ceilings with his paintings with the precision and meticulous craftsmanship that was uniquely his own. His technique is primarily trompe l’oeil, designed to create optical illusions of three-dimensional space and grandeur.
A ceiling is more than a simple, functional engineering solution. The word ceiling traces its roots from the Latin word caelum, which means heaven or sky, thus “vision of these ceiling paintings are not just for show as the murals served as “visual bibles” to educate the populace.
Artists were commissioned by the church to paint the walls and ceilings to visually catechize the Filipinos through telling the stories of the new and old testament. Many of the murals portray scenes from the life of Christ, his mother and various saints.
Beyond its religious symbolism, the murals serve as enduring visual narratives to how sacred stories are woven into the very fabric of Boholano identity through church architecture and decorative arts.
Anachronistic elements became increasingly common in some paintings, incorporating scenes and figures of remote town life into Gospel scenes and lives of the Saints in medieval times.
Art in a sacred space is used to represent and re-create the divine realities, signifying a fusion of divinity and humanity.
The initial response of a person as one goes inside past the church portals could vary from a feeling of intimacy with God, to an overwhelming sense of awe.
An elemental factor to the person’s foremost impact from his viewpoint is the height of the ceiling from the ground. The higher the ceiling, the more heightened the evoking emotion of “Visions of Heaven on Earth” experience.
During my recent visit in my family’s hometown of Tubigon, I was again mesmerized by Francia’s ceiling art in San Isidro Labrador Parish Church that features the “Queen of Bohol Domes,” a majestic di sotto in su (foreshortened) painting of Mary’s coronation. Other murals include the Seven Sacraments and the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Boholano Artist Marc John Frontreras is one of those involved in the rehabilitation and conservation efforts in the ceiling artworks heavily damaged during the 2013 earthquake or by Typhoon Odette.
Frontreras noted that restoring and conserving church ceiling art involves complex, high-stakes challenges that balance structural, artistic, and environmental factors to preserve sacred history.
He stressed that common challenges include water damage, structural instability, and the reversal of past, improper restorations.
(Peyups is the moniker of the University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the Seafarers’ Division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan Law Offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0908-8665786.)
