Sinimbahanan RuinsSinimbahanan Ruins is a Registered Property, Municipality of Tiwi, Albay located at Tiwi, Albay, Region V.
Sinimbahan Ruins, the roofless remains of Tiwi town’s original church which was built, in 1776, by Franciscan Fr. Pedro de Brosas at the mouth of a site called Tuytoy (“bridge”) Swamps, The church was burned by Moro pirates in 1846 and later abandoned due to its vulnerability to typhoon-induced tidal waves. All that remains of this single-nave church are the crumbling volcanic stone walls, and the buttresses that support it, and the equally sorry-looking bell tower on the church’s left. The walls are heavily overgrown with foliage and enveloped by roots of banyan (locally called balete) trees which cling to the cracks and crevices of the walls, making the ruins look charming but, actually slowly destroying it. The interior walls once had a glass-encased, embedded niche which contained human bones but the glass and the bones have long disappeared. The niche seems to have been used as a grilling oven. Other walls, probably that of the adjoining convent, now form part of a pottery factory.