Welcome to the grand ballroom, our guide announced as he flicked a switch open, lighting the cavernous hall at the second floor of Tacloban City’s Sto. Niño Shrine. Five massive wooden chandeliers carved by Betis artisans all the way from Pampanga illuminated the space where lavish balls were once held by deposed president Ferdinand Marcos and his first lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos.

We were all bowled over. It was grand. It was luxurious. And it was almost vulgar in its excesses.

THE FIREFLY RECEIVING ROOM, DUBBED SO DUE TO ITS CURIOUS CEILING LIGHTS

Forgive me, but when my companions said we were visiting the Sto. Niño Shrine, I thought we’d be going to the Sto. Niño Church in Tacloban. Well, could you really blame me? Whoever would have thought that a presidential guesthouse would have a chapel for its foyer? Blame Imelda for that one.

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One morning during our four-day trip across Leyte, we decided to walk the length of the San Juanico Bridge. It was not a first for me, having gone through the longest bridge in the country, both during the early mornings and evenings of Tacloban City. I could write about this latest crossing, but my previous experience at this bridge was far more interesting. Let’s roll back four years ago.

EVENING WALK AT THE SAN JUANICO BRIDGE

It was not in my planned itinerary to visit Tacloban City, or even pass it during my recent trip down south of the Philippines. A missed flight back to Manila from Cebu City for a connecting plane ride to Northern Samar forced me to reevaluate my plans and do an impromptu Plan B—that being a combination of sea and land trip from the Queen City of the South to a little known island in Northern Samar.

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Love. Love. Love. That’s all you need according to the Beatles. But man does not live on love alone or even just bread, as the bible confirms. That’s just a big no, no, and no. I don’t want love, I want food. I want good food. But at Tacloban’s cutely named restaurant, Chew Love, I’m pretty sure you can have both.

CHEW LOVE’S NEW WING HAS AN OUTDOOR PATIO

Situated near the city’s food center, Chew Love easily stands out from the neighborhood with its pastel-colored façade complete with striped awnings and a cute balustrade-lined patio. On its yard, the walls are painted to look as though the neighborhood is as dainty as restaurant itself. And right as you enter the door, hand-sewn colorful hearts would greet you from every inch of the frame.

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Even with my architecture background, I’m not overly fond of visiting provincial capitols. I often find them dull and hollow, their architectural pompousness making up for their lack of historical context. So it was with Leyte’s own provincial capitol, with time to spare and nowhere else to go, my companions dragged me, kicking and screaming, to see one of Eastern Visayas famed capitols.

THE LEYTE PROVINCIAL CAPITOL’S NEO CLASSICAL FACADE

Without any background on it, I was surprised to find the symmetrically neo-classical building to be quite interesting. Walking around its dark pebble-washed patio, I found a National Historical Committee marker. This building has historical significance after all.

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Always on the lookout for something local to eat out on, Jo’s Chicken Inato was the furthest thing from our mind as we roamed the streets of Tacloban City. I’ve seen this restaurant before in Dumaguete and other parts of Visayas, so I thought there’s really nothing that special about it. I mean, why go all the way to Leyte if you can find it elsewhere? Right? Wrong.

It turns out that this chain of restaurant does serve dishes unique to each of its own branches. This one in Tacloban, specifically called Jo’s Chicken Inato Milagrina, served us specialties I won’t soon forget.

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It’s not always that a hotel has a backstory to its name, and Tacloban’s newest boutique hotel is one of those rare ones. Ironwood Hotel, it is dubbed, its name coming from the strength of mangkono, a local hardwood used as foundation to the former structure that was swept away by Typhoon Yolanda two years past.

THE SEED CAFE AT IRONWOOD HOTEL’S LOBBY

And it’s not just a name too. Coming in late from our Kalanggaman Island trip, we checked in at Ironwood Hotel just a day after their formal inauguration. We sat our weary selves on their comfy lounge and marveled at the interiors of the hotel; the front desk and chandelier, a clever combination of iron and wood planks salvaged from the previous building that once stood on its ground.

And yes, we immediately connected to their fast and very free Internet Wi-Fi connection. Instagram time.

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As we landed at Tacloban City the previous night, there was only one thing on our mind, lechon. Granted, Tacloban is no Cebu when it comes to this porky delight, but we were told that the city boasts of a good lechon culture all its own—the numerous lechon stalls along Real Street is a testament to that.

Do we eat now? That was the question on our mind as we navigated the highway en route to Lorenzo’s Way Bed & Breakfast. We were, however, told that we should probably wait until the morrow since most of the lechon being hawked right then were probably not that good anymore as most of these were cooked very early in the morning.

So we waited until lunch the next day.

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There it is, coming directly from our lodging, Lorenzo’s Way Bed & Breakfast, I pointed to my companions as the church’s rectangular five-story belfry poked through the busy roofline of downtown Tacloban City. I was a bit puzzled, the bell tower stood white through the morning’s blue sky. It was not the tower I remembered seeing several years back.

STO. NINO CHURCH’S OLD FACADE

Four years ago, I visited Tacloban City. A chance visit that resulted from a missed flight from Cebu to Manila to Catarman, which eventually led to a fast-craft ride from Cebu to Ormoc, then an epic bus ride all the way to Allen. In between that arduous journey, I found myself in Tacloban City for two days.

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THE PRE-YOLANDA INTERIORS OF THE TACLOBAN CHURCH

I distinctly remember entering the Sto. Niño Church back then and leaving somewhat unimpressed. I knew it had stood on that same ground for more than a century and I knew that the ivory Sto Niño enshrined on its retablo is said to be miraculous, but the symmetrically structure, painted in orange, simply didn’t stir my architectural appetite.

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THE NEW ALL-WHITE MODERNIST FACADE OF STO. NINO CHURCH TACLOBAN

Four years later, standing on that exact same spot, my eyes gazed upon the exact same church and my eyes couldn’t believe what it was seeing. The Tacloban Church has transformed beyond recognition. It still retained its basic shape, but the choice to repaint it in pure white was astounding. It didn’t look like the same church I visited several years back at all.

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INTERIORS SET WITH CURVES AND CIRCLES

This transformation was brought about by Typhoon Yolanda which struck the city November of 2013. The church, being quite near the waters of San Pedro Bay, was severely affected by the storm surge brought about by the typhoon. It was said that Taclobanons used the church as a shelter during that time and I can’t even imagine what happened inside the church then.

THE NEW INTERIORS SEEMED MORE GRACEFUL THAN ITS FORMER

The renovation which transformed the Sto. Niño Church from a forgettable building into a marvel of modern minimalism was spearheaded by Manila-based architect Dominic Garcia to a cost of 64 million pesos.

A CLEANER WIPING ONE OF THE NEW STAINED GLASS WINDOWS

The most notable of the changes are the pointed arches of the church windows and openings which have been replaced by circular and curved ones. The interior is also much improved, echoing the stark whiteness of its exterior with its graceful rib-vaulted ceiling.

TACLOBAN’S STO NINO CHURCH’S OLD RETABLO BALANCES NICELY WITH THE WHITE WALLS

I also noticed that the original golden retablo has been retained, the home to Señor Sto. Niño, a revered figure dubbed by locals as El Kapitan; a moniker it got from when it was lost to sea during its transport to Manila before being recovered at Siminara Island by fisherfolks—the event now commemorated by the locals as the Sto. Niño de Leyte Festival throughout the month of June every year.

Indeed, even after the massive devastation that Typhoon Yolanda inflicted upon this city, the resilience of its people to spring back, move forward and be better than before is very evident. The Sto. Niño Church is a shining proof of that resolve.

Sto. Niño Church
Address: Real cor. Zamora Street, Barangay 27, Tacloban City, Leyte
Contact Number: (053) 321-2602
Mass Schedule:
Opening Hours: Open daily
GPS Coordinates Map: 11.241535, 125.005793

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