Saints Peter and Paul Parish

Saints Peter and Paul Parish anchors a town center on Bantayan Island, built in coral stone during the Augustinian mission era that put down most of Cebu’s oldest island parishes. The thick coral-block walls and the weathered facade are original load-bearing fabric, not a later cosmetic finish — the kind of construction that has outlasted the wooden structures typhoons regularly take out around it. Bantayan’s Holy Week processions, centered on this church, are among the more elaborate in the province, drawing crowds well beyond the island’s usual population. The parish also sits within reach of Bantayan’s other defining trade: dried danggit, cured and sold along the roads near the church on any given market day.

• The ceiling paintings and altar detailing inside are worth the few minutes it takes to look up before heading back out.
• Holy Week is the one week the church and its grounds are genuinely crowded — plan around it or plan for it.
• The church grounds stay quiet outside festival dates, coral-stone walls holding the heat out better than the newer concrete buildings nearby.

Explore More in North Cebu Mainland

• Medellin Bamboo Forest
• Kota Beach
• Lapus Lapus Cliff