St.

William's Cathedral in Laoag City

is famous for its Sinking Bell Tower.
It is one of the things that will
capture the attention of the tourists
upon entering the city.

The 45-meter bell tower was built by

the Augustinians in 1612 and
believed to be the tallest bell tower
in the Philippines. It is actually the
bell tower of St. Williams Cathedral,
but unfortunately, it is 85 meters
away from the church. This is the
farthest tower I’ve known from its
church.

The bell tower is one of the

landmarks of Spanish colony in the
Philippines. The tower has earned its
“sinking” reputation because it is so
heavy and it was built on sandy
foundations that it has been
consistently sinking into the ground.
One story said that when the bell
tower was newly built, a person on
horseback could enter the tower, but
today a person with normal height
has to bend first just to pass the
entrance. Quite interesting :) But despite of this, the bell tower still continues its purpose
of ringing the bell to call the Catholic brethren to mass.
THE MYSTERIOUS BELL TOWER OF Laoag City continues to spark the curiosities of
people visiting Ilocos Norte, a northern province of the Philippines. Its tale traces a long
story of occupation, struggle, and survival—much like the tale of the country’s rise and
wane under Imperial Spain.

The coastal Ilocos Region of northwestern Philippines was home to the native Ilocano
ethnic group and served as a trading port for the nearby Malaysian and Indonesian tribal
peoples. Being over a thousand kilometers from the Visayan Islands, the first point of
entry for the Spaniards in 1521, this northern region was a rather peculiar place for
Spain to establish a stronghold.

Yet after 333 years of Spanish rule over the archipelago, the cultural and religious
traditions of Spain are still practiced in the region and many other parts of the
Philippines today. Along with these intangible transformations are the indestructible
structures that have withstood the test of time. Structures like the famed Sinking Bell
Tower, the tallest historic building in Laoag City, the capital of Northern Ilocos.

One of the first oddities a visitor may notice is the tower’s distance from the city’s main
cathedral, St. William’s. Bell towers are commonly built “attached” to cathedrals or a few
meters away, but for reasons unknown, St. William’s bell tower was built about
80 meters from its doors.

The bell tower was presumably built after the 1707 earthquake. It has withstood several
minor earthquakes since completion, thus earning membership to the “Earthquake
Baroque” style label by architecture scholars, along with several churches across the
Philippines and Guatemala. It was locally constructed by Ilocano artisans who used
bricks joined by molasses and leaves from a local plant named sablot. With a foundation
of 295 feet and a height of nearly 150 feet, it was a solid structure that towered over
Ilocanos for centuries.

Maybe not for too much longer.

It is believed that the tower is sinking at a rate of an inch every year. There aren’t
any conclusive scientific explanations for this, but one accepted theory is that the tower
being built on sandy land and its heavy and massive structure is causing it to slowly bury
itself into the ground.

Stories from the past tell of people mounted on horses being able to pass through the
tower’s gates. However, if you visit the bell tower today, you would realize you would
have to almost crawl through its gates to enter the bell tower. (Unfortunately, the city
council strictly prohibits unauthorized entry into its prized piece of history.)

Today, the bell tower is also sinking in a figurative way. The booming city of Laoag
continues to undergo tremendous structural changes. The cathedral itself was recently
repainted beige and yellow (much to the locals’ dismay), but the old, gray sinking bell
tower still stands, tarnished only by the passing of time.