After Carmel, after much debate about where to go next, me and my barkada went to the “Cattle Trading Capital of the Philippines.” Well, minalas because it was Black Saturday, so nothing much to do for that day except for some people who are practicing for the upcoming Easter rituals the day after. Sayang, I wanted to see the action of cattle trade in this place. May next time naman.

The old name of the said town was “Lumang Bayan” where it was once the seat of power of its neighboring town Rosario. Later, the town was renamed in honor of one of Batangas’ prominent sons, Padre Vicente Garcia.

So we went to the church of Padre Garcia. Officially called the Church of the Holy Rosary (Iglesia de Santo Rosario), it is grey and squat, it looks like as if it was covered by concrete yet still manifest its Baroque influence. Some say it pre-dates the establishment of Batangas Basilica by several years.

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