After breakfast at Nature Spring Resort, Bernard and I, accompanied by Ms. Jerelle J. Marquez, Irosin’s Municipal Tourism Officer, were driven to Irosin town proper. Here, we made a courtesy call on town mayor Eduardo Ong, Jr. at the yellow, white and blue, 2-storey municipal hall, the town’s former presidencia. In olden times, the presidencia was the office of the gobernadorcillo (translated as “little governor”).
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| The Irosin presidencia |
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| Bernard and I with Mayor Ong |
After our courtesy call, Jerelle and I climbed the 100 or so steps of a grand stairway, beside the presidencia, leading up to the hilltop Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel. A number of landings, provided along the wide stairway, allowed me some moments to rest. The cathedral, whose roof was blown away during a typhoon on August 11, 1987, was renovated in 1996. I was surprised with the finished product.
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| The grand stairway |
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| The Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel |
Possibly, in an effort to enlarge the cathedral, a 1-storey, box-like extension, with a white-tiled facade and semicircular openings with steel doors, was added during its renovation. This not-so-carefully thought of extension blocked the original church facade, its upper storeys seen only from afar or below the stairs. Besides, this modern extension doesn’t at all match the old facade it replaced in front. The old convent was destroyed during a typhoon on December 25, 1981 and a new one was built at the right side entrance of the sacristy of the present church.