Tubigon ChurchTubigon, meaning watering hole, is a jump off point to Cebu. It was the customary docking place for boats coming from southern Cebu. The Jesuits had already arrived in Tubigon and in 1613 was made a visita of Tubigon. This is probably the same “Tobigu” mention by Pedro Chirino (1600) where he mentions that the people in anticipation of the Jesuits’ arrival built a church.
Tubigon Church main facade
Tubigon no longer appears in a 1779 inventory of churches, suggesting that the town may have been abandoned. It was formally constituted a town in 1819 from barrios of Calape and Inabanga, and became a parish under the Recollects in 1854. All through the intervening years, priests visited the town for Sunday Mass. No clear dates are available for the construction of the church.
At the exterior of the gospel flank, the mortar has been exposed to reveal the presence of stout posts or haligi that support the church’s roof. These posts are embedded in the mortar of the church fabric.
Tubigon Church is follows the basilical plan of a central nave with aisles, however, it has a transept, and crossing is covered by an octagonal cupola. The church fabric shows a mixture of materials, the upper part of the wall and most of the facade is concrete, however, the lower part is of rubble bound by lime mortar. Metal sheet are also used in the upper section of the nave. Jose (2001, 100) opines that these modern material were applied between 1928 and 1934, when the bell tower was made.
Tubigon Church Nave
The nave is covered with metal ceiling decorated by Ray Francia from Cebu, his signature is found over the gospel or left transept. With Canuto Avila, Francia was commissioned by the Cebu bishops to paint the churches of Bohol in the 1920s and 30s. These paintings were mostly derived from holy pictures and illustrations from catechism and Bible histories.
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