One of Phl’s oldest churches featured in commemorative stamp

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Postal Corp. (PhlPost) yesterday issued a stamp featuring the San Bartolome Parish de Malabon, one of the oldest churches in the country, in commemoration of its 400th anniversary.

In a statement, PhlPost said the commemorative stamp features the old structure as it diffuses alongside the renovated and preserved edifice of the parish, indicating the massive transformation the building has gone through, the image of Saint Bartholomew (Malabon’s patron saint) and the quadricentennial logo on its foreground.

The stamp measures 80mm x 30mm, 40mm wider than the usual size of a stamp. It was designed by PhlPost in-house artist Victorino Serevo.

PhlPost assistant postmaster general for marketing Luis Carlos was scheduled to present the quadricentennial commemorative stamps to Rev. Fr. Ricardo Torrefiel, parish priest of San Bartolome Parish de Malabon, yesterday.

PhlPost printed 104,000 commemorative stamps that will be sold at P20 each.

The stamps are available at the PhlPost Post Shop, Philately and Museum Division, Manila Central Post Office, and at all regional offices of PhlPost.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said there were activities in line with the 400th anniversary of the San Bartolome de Malabon Parish, including a wreath-laying and a mass.

The San Bartolome de Malabon Parish was founded by the Augustinian friars.

Tambobong, the former name of Malabon, was established as an independent parish church on May 17, 1614 under the patronage of San Bartolome Apostol with Fray Luis Gutierrez as its first vicar prior.

The parish church is Malabon’s first stone church built by the Augustinian Fray Diego de Robles in 1622, a year after he was named prior of Malabon.

The twin bell towers built in 1861 currently houses seven bells. Two are dedicated to Santa Rita, one of the patrons of Malabon. One is dedicated to the patron of the parish, San Bartolome and another bears the name of Fr. Guillermo Diaz, parish priest from 1881 to 1885.

The historic church measures 70.14 meters long and 25.05 meters wide. The façade of the church features ionic columns resembling a Greco-Roman temple. Its dome, of the barrel vault style, is famous for its ornate paintings of saints and Biblical scenes. Its imposing architecture is one of the remnants of Spanish influence on ecclesiastical architecture in the country.