villagers thru “dagyao” system.
but there is buried near or inside
St. Isidore the Worker Parish Church
also known as Navalas Church is
located in Barangay Navalas in the
Municipality of Buenavista,
Province of Guimaras. From Mc
Arthur’s Warf it only takes 20
minutes of traveling.
During the evangelization of Panay,
Fr. Juan Fernandez wrote: “their
existed villages in the island of
Himal-Us (an old name of the
province of Guimaras.) ”. In 1748,
the island was under the
jurisdiction or control of Dumangas
until 1751. The Agutinians ceded it
to the Jesuits. In 1768, the
Dominicans took over until 1773
and formed it as sub-parish of
Iloilo.
The Navalas Church then was
constructed and served its
constituents and it was considered
as the most convenient location
that it faces directly to Dumangas.
Back on the 1880s, a lot of Moros
raiding the island. The priest was
captured and enslaved by the
raiding Moros. They punished him
and poured a hot rice porridge over
his hands. Most of the church
followers quickly escaped to free
themselves from the bandits and
went to nearby Mount Kasarig.
Before he was carried to Mindanao,
the priest coursed the church as he
struck his hand on the wall leaving
its mark.
The Navalas Church was built with
the financial help of Don Miguel
Jayme. It was constructed by the
Dr. David Evangelista and his the church. The theory is supported
wife Agapita Javellana were the by ideas that it is impossible for the
primary benefactors, therefore, moros to carry the gigantic bell, and
they were given the honor to select
if it is thrown near the Siete
the church’ patron saint, and they
have chosen St Isidore- the farmer. Picados, why we can’t find it?
Due of the location of the church,
After the bell tower there
the major materials used in
was the century old church. It was
constructing this church is coral
slab because the church is near the built on 1880 and finished on 1885.
sea. The Church was
Before you enter the church, you
will see a bell tower, and two large
stone tablets with the Ten
Commandments written on it in
Hiligaynon. The bell tower has two
stairs going to the top. The
structure is very semetrical, and it
have a tunnel with four ways. The
bell tower itself has a rich history.
Based on the Buenavista Tourism,
the bell tower is very important to
the folks. It is the lookout tower in
case of bandits attacking the island
called “Moros”. The bell is a silver
and gold alloy with a diameter of
approximately 1 meter. The bell
rung loudly that the folks can be
heard over a distance. Because of
this the Moros decided to steal the
bell. They plan was successful,
unfortunately, the bell was thrown
in the sea, they say that the
location is near Siete Picados, but
there is no evidence. Once a
Muslims tried to dive and search for
it but they failed. There was a
conspiracy theory that the bell was
not thrown in the sea by the Moros,