The Backpack Adventures

Good news to all my foreign friends! 
Starting August 1, 2013, citizens of 151 countries may stay in the Philippines for 30 days visa-free!
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced the new policy last Monday. According to the DFA, the visa-free stay is an extension of the previous period of 21 days. 


Qualified foreign nationals who wish to try out this generous policy simply need to present a passport that is valid for at least six months of their planned stay and an outbound ticket.



The new policy will apply to the following citizens of the following 151 countries:

Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahamas
Bahrain
Barbados
Belgium
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Costa Rica
Cote d’Ivoire
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
…

One blog article is surely not enough to cover the beauty and wonder of Atimonan Church. During the first article I talked about the history of Atimonan, Quezon's oldest religious structure. 

In this second installment of my blog about Atimonan Church, we'll focus on the numerous statues found inside and outside the old church. Aside from that, we'll also climb it's bell tower and take a 360 degree look at the town of Atimonan. 
The statues that you'd probably see first are the statues of angels on the church facade standing watch over the plaza and Lamon Bay.  The most popular among those statues in the church facade is the one of St. Michael the Archangel stepping on the face of the defeated Lucifer.
Aside from St. Michael (called San Miguel in the Philippines), six other angels can be found standing guard on the right side of the church. Then on the further rightmost side of those angels, you can find the statues of some Roman soldiers and Jesus (probably depicti…

Located in Atimonan in the province of Quezon, Atimonan Churchalso called Our Lady of Angels Parish Churchwas built sometime in the early 16th century.
Atimonan Church HistoryDue to the fast-spreading Catholic faith in the country during those times, churches were built hurriedly using materials that were abundant in the area. In the case of Atimonan Church, it could be concluded that the first church was built using wood and stone as the primary material. Ironically, the material used would also be the cause of the first destruction of the church. The church was burnt to the ground in 1640 when the Dutch tried to invade the Philippines.


The church was rebuilt in 1643, this time they added more stone than would to fortify the church and prevent the same thing from happening. Still, the church burned down in 1648.


The church was rebuilt again in 1650, this time stone was used as the primary material. It was said that during this time the bell tower was twice the height of the present-d…