Perhaps the most notable among all of the cemeteries in central Iloilo would be the cemetery of Janiuay, some 30 kilometers from Iloilo City. This is the town after Cabatuan, so if we started our trip there then its just 15 minutes away.
Janiuay town is settled in the foothills of the Panay Cordillera which its fertile valley is irrigated by Suague River. The church itself is new after some of the guerillas burned the old Spanish colonial era church in World War II. What is remarkable heritage site here is not in the town proper but several kilometers away from the town plaza, another place for the dead…the Filipino-Hispano cemetery.
Built through forced labour and was finished in 1884 under the supervision of the Agustinians, Dominicans and Don Placido Martin, this one hectare cemetery has baroque and gothic designs incorporated at the portals, the stone and wrought iron fences, the camposanto and the walls of the niches. As reported by the Philippine Commission during the American colonial era, this one is truly remarkable.
The cemetery sits on a hill with three wide grand stone staircases (which comes from a quarry some 25 kilometers away) leading to the grand portals. It was said that there were statues at the flanks of the wall, as if like sentinels guarding the departed, but unfortunately was lost in time.
It is quite unfortunate though that the said cemetery is somehow looking quite neglected. I hope the clergy and the local people would bring back its grandeur or even take care of it because this cemetery has been a major contribution of their ancestors with blood, sweat and tears.
How to Get There:
Just like going to Cabatuan, just take a jeepney from Iloilo Central Line Jeepney Terminal at Ungka, Jaro District. Take a jeepney with the sign “Janiuay” or “Badiangan,” “Calinog,” “Lambunao” since all of these jeepneys will pass by Janiuay. By the time you reach the plaza or terminal market, just take a tricycle and tell the driver to send you to patyo. The cost of fare would be more or less P40 from Iloilo City then P25 for one way if you are to consume the rest of the seats for the tricycle.
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