I was overwhelmed with joy when I learned that Guagua’s Betis Church is included in Culture Shock PH’s Pampanga Culinary tour. The Sistine Chapel of the Philippines it is dubbed. The Baroque-inspired Betis Church is one of the 26 elite churches in the country that has been declared as National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum and the NCCA.

The group has visited another church in Pampanga, the half-buried Bacolor Church, just a few hours before we disembarked at Barangay San Nicolas in the town of Guagua. The sun was almost setting behind the faded pink façade of the church as we gazed upon its peeling exterior.

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I once was fascinated by furniture design. During my stint as an Architecture student in UST, I used to design furnishings that go along with the houses I draw, believing that both the structure and its content should speak a single holistic language.

And during my still brief course as a traveler, I’ve seen all sorts of architectural gems around the country. But it has only been during my Pampanga tour with the Culture Shock PH crew that I was able to visit something related to furniture design—Pampanga’s Betis Crafts Inc.

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