From the Baler Museum, we walked a short distance to the small but venerable San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Church, the site of the siege depicted in the movie. Commonwealth Pres. and native son Manuel L. Quezon was also baptized here. However, the present masonry church is nowhere near the appearance of the wooden church depicted in the movie Baler which deteriorated later and was rebuilt in brick and stone in 1939.
Church of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa |
The church was declared as a National Historical Landmark on February 29, 2000. On the left side of the church is a marker, installed in 1931, to commemorate the capture of Lt.-Cmdr. James C. Gilmore and 16 American marines of the U.S. gunboat Yorktown who attempted to relieve the Spanish garrison.