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Local Heritage Sites

Heritage Sites

Other houses that Biñan declared as local heritage sites are those of Alberto Yaptinchay in Barangay San Antonio, Filomena Belizario Hernandez in Barangay Santo Domingo, and Jacinto Francisco in Barangay Poblacion. Apart from the houses, Biñan declared some other structures such as the San Isidro Labrador Catholic Church, including its belfry and meditation garden, as heritage sites. The very land where the church stands was the site where the first cross was established by the conquistadores when they used the sword and the cross against Biñan’s native people, where eventually the first church was erected. Due to calamities, the church underwent several renovations and remodeling from the time it was built during the Spanish occupation. On June 3, 1826, a massive earthquake damaged the church and its convent. Fifty-four years later, on June 22, 1880, another earthquake damaged it further. On May 13, 1929, the reconstruction of the church and construction of its present belfry were finished. A remodeling of the church started in March 1953 and was finished in four years. In February 1968, however, a fire destroyed the newly remodeled church as well as the old convent. Since its reconstruction because of the said fire, several other changes were done both inside and outside the church. The cemetery owned by the San Isidro Labrador Parish, the Biñan Roman Catholic Cemetery Camposanto in Barangay Canlalay, was also declared a local heritage site.

The Biñan Cursillo House (former Casa Parroquial) also suffered the same fate as the first church in Biñan. Its construction began in 1848 and was completed in three years. It was destroyed by an earthquake on June 23, 1882, but the reconstruction began right after. Half of the structure was once a school run by the Dominican nuns (now the relocated Santa Catalina College), during whose occupancy the structure went into decay. They left the Casa Parroquial almost completely ruined. The founders of the Cursillos de Cristianidad (literally “short courses of Christianity”) in Biñan led its restoration to its original form. The Cursillo was a movement by a group of laymen to deliver lectures on Christian leadership and to cultivate a strong sense of personal spirituality through weekly reunions after the initial three-day weekend course. On February 5, 1968, the building was destroyed by fire, but its reconstruction was immediately initiated. On March 20, 1969, it was unveiled as the Biñan Cursillo House. Among other structures that were also declared as heritage sites are the School of Rizal Site and Museum, the Rizal Monument, Los Maduros Band Stand, and the old Municipal Hall (now Sentrong Pangkultura ng Biñan), all at the heart of Biñan’s town plaza.

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