Coffee Table Book: "Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu"

The University of San Carlos Press and the Cebu Cathedral Museum formally launched last Thursday, November 26, a 308-page full color coffee table book entitled “Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu”. The book details the art history and architectural features of the first 56 colonial-period parish churches and convents that were built in Cebu. The event, which was graced by Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal and Gov. Gwendolyn F. Garcia, was witnessed by over 200 guests as well as book sponsors and partners.

Balaanong Bahandi is a project of the museum, the Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church and University of San Carlos Press to mark 75 years of Cebu as an archdiocese. It is also intended to be a continuation of the seminal work of Fr. Felipe S. Redondo who in 1886 published the book, Breve Reseña de lo que fue y de lo que es la Diocesis de Cebu (A short account of what was and what is the Diocese of Cebu) or Breve Reseña, for short .

Under Msgr. Carlito Pono as project director, Balaanong Bahandi is perhaps the only coffee table book of its kind so far that is researched, written, photographed and printed entirely in Cebu by Cebuanos. It brings together pencil-pushers who are members of the archdiocesan heritage commission and the museum’s curatorial board together with young but professional heritage photographers.

Louella Eslao-Alix, Melva Rodriguez-Java, Trizer Dale Mansueto, Fr. Brian Brigoli and Arnold Sancover wrote the text while Jobers R. Bersales, USC Press manager, edited the book. It was Bersales who originally conceived the project and eventually became its project manager with Alix as coordinator.

The book’s principal photographers were Estan Cabigas, Lorens Gibb Lapinid and Mark Andrew Jorolan while Rodolfo Alix, Carlos Apuhin, Fr. Generoso Rebayla and Gil Francis Maningo contributed additional photographs. (Cabigas is a well-known photographer who has collaborated with the Augustinian historian Fr. Predro Galende in the book “Philippine Church Facades”.) Lapinid, who has won an international award for graphic arts, also served as the book’s layout artist and indexer. The book is a hardbound volume and was printed by Mackmayer Printers using 5-color Heidelberg speedmaster 102.

The book costs P2,000 each and will be available for purchase starting December 1 onwards at the Cathedral Museum (Tel. 4123455) and also from December 10 onwards at USC Press (Tel. 25321000 loc. 175).

Author: Department of Sociology and Anthropology