The San Joaquin Campo Santo is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cemetery situated in the town of San Joaquin in

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

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. It is a designated as a National Cultural Treasure by the

National Museum of the Philippines The National Museum of the Philippines () is an umbrella government organization that oversees a number of national museums in the Philippines, including Ethnography, ethnographic, Anthropology, anthropological, Archaeology, archaeological, an ...

together with San Joaquin Church. The cemetery is under the jurisdiction of the

Archdiocese of Jaro The Archdiocese of Jaro (; ; ; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church headquartered in Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines. Its episcopal see is at the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also the National Shrine of ...

History

In 1892, the cemetery was established by Augustinian priest, Mariano Vamba. It was declared a National Cultural Treasure in December 2015 by the

and a marker to indicate this designation was installed at the site in August 2016. The park along with the San Joaquin Church, are known as the "San Joaquin Church Complex and Campo Santo of San Joaquin, Iloilo". The

Department of Public Works and Highways The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH; ) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for serving as the country's engineering and construction arm. It is tasked with implementing the government's policy to ...

plans of a road widening project which would affect a portion of the cemetery's perimeter received nationwide attention in May 2015 but no part of the cemetery's walls was demolished following an appeal by local officials to the transportation department. A pit was dug inside the structure of the cemetery's

Spanish Baroque Spanish Baroque is a strand of Baroque architecture that evolved in Spain, its List of provinces of Spain, provinces, and former Spanish Empire, colonies. History The development of the style passed through three phases. Between 1680 and 1720, ...

mortuary chapel by

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compromising the integrity of the structure. The digging of the pit reportedly had the authorization of the parish priest of San Joaquin and was commenced as early as December 2015. The parish priest who took a leave of absence was replaced by the Jaro Archdiocese. A restoration effort was finished by November 2016 which saw the filling of the pit of a proper mixture of soil, rocks and cement initiated by the Archdiocese of Jaro through the assigned Parish Administrator delegated by the Archbishop.

References

External links

* {{National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines Cemeteries in the Philippines Roman Catholic cemeteries in the Philippines Spanish Colonial architecture in the Philippines Landmarks in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Iloilo