Quake Wreaked Terrible Damage on Sto. Niño Church

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit the different parts of the Visayas early on Tuesday did not spare the historical and oldest Churches, including the 273-year old Basilica del Santo Niño Church situated in the heart of Cebu City.

The Basilica’s “bell tower”, which is attached to the right side of the church along Osmeña Boulevard, has been destroyed by the powerful quake causing the bricks and other stones scattered at the church entrance.

“Grabe, mora’g naigo sa dinamita,” a radio reporter described the damage of the Church tower in his report. There is no immediate estimate of the damage.

The Agustinian priests have decided to transfer the mass at the Pilgrims Center just across the Basilica and closed the church pending the results of the inspection to be conducted by the technical persons who will verify the church building’s integrity.

The Basilica del Santo Niño is the oldest Roman Catholic church built in the country, purportedly established on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebu, a statue depicting the Holy Child Jesus, was found in 1565 by Spanish explorers led by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi.

Based on history, the image is the same statue given by Ferdinand Magellan to the wife of Rajah Humabon as a gift after Humabon’s baptism to Christianity on April 14, 1521.

It was found preserved by a soldier in a burnt wooden box after Legazpi razed the village of hostile natives. The present Church building was completed from 1739-1740.

Aside from the Basilica del Santo Niño in Cebu City, several other Roman Catholic Churches in the Cebu municipalities also incurred damages but only cracks in its walls and floors.

But because the epicenter of the quake was recorded at 2 kilometers south of Carmen town in Bohol, the churches in Bohol are the ones that suffered heavily, like the old Church in Loboc that totally collapsed.

Bohol Gov. Edgar Chato said aside from Loboc, the churches in Baclayon, Loon and Dauis, which are also hundreds of years old, sustained heavy damage.

Five persons died in Cebu City when they were pinned down by the 27-year old Fish Port building in Barangay Suba near Pasil that collapsed during the quake.

In Mandaue City, a woman named Durinda Casol died when her head was hit by a fallen crack of concrete wall at the city market.

Meanwhile, a four-year old daughter of a 4P’s beneficiary died in a stampede in Pinamungajan town Cebu when the hundreds of beneficiaries, who were waiting to collect their cash aids, were chasing against each other towards the door after they felt the quake.

“Natamak-tamakan tingali ang bata nga si Shaisha Mae Peteluna mao nga namatay,” said Pinamungajan town police chief Roseller Paller.