From San Pedro Church to San Pedro Cathedral: revisiting history

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 15 March) — To know deeply about the city where I was born, I learned about the story of creation of every landmark and why they happened to be built on that location, as well as the changes they had undergone through the years.

Many of us have at least wondered about the story of the setting up of the first Spanish reduccion by the Davao bay, in the area now occupied by the Sangguniang Panlungsod, Davao City Hall, and the San Pedro Cathedral. But unlike most young Dabawenyos today, I am more interested in past events that have not been illuminated, or at least ones about which no one has dared to begin asking questions. 

Take, for example, the San Pedro Cathedral. It is being repainted gray, or at least a lighter shade than the original. Rev. Msgr. Paul A. Cuison, Rector of the cathedral, has finally taken the chance to give it new life. But what matters now is that its history of construction needs to be revisited.

^{It’s a literal bird’s eye view for this bird as it flies above the San Pedro Cathedral in Davao City where workers are preparing to repaint the facade on 13 March 2026. MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO}

I am writing this essay to present a succinct history of San Pedro Church and to shed light on inconsistencies regarding its postwar redesign into a cathedral — details that have proliferated in local newspapers for years. I will also focus this essay on the photographs, the articles published online, and the memories of Dabawenyos, all of which concern the year the church was redesigned.

This is a photograph of the laying and blessing of the cornerstone for the San Pedro Cathedral dated June 28, 1968, along San Pedro Street, Davao City. At the back is then City Mayor Elias Lopez, sitting cross-legged. The woman at the table is Guadalupe Cervantes-Suazo-Castillo, the granddaughter of Pablo Ferrando Suazo, a soldier from the east coast of Mindanao who came to Davao with Don Jose Oyanguren in 1848.

^{Laying and blessing of the cornerstone for San Pedro Cathedral on June 28, 1968. Photo courtesy of the Suazo-Castillo family albums}

Oyanguren came to Davao with Pablo Ferrando Suazo in 1848, along with other pioneer settlers who shaped the social and political scene of Davao in the early times. On the right side of the photo, a crowd witnessed the unfolding of another historic moment for the Catholic community. As seen in the photograph, the postwar structure of the old San Pedro Church still stood there in 1968.

It is important to raise one key question here. Was the cathedral that replaced the old San Pedro Church completed in the early 1960s, or, to be precise, 1964, as most published news articles claim?

The defeat of Datu Bago was pivotal in the consolidation of Spanish influence in the southeastern Philippines. Our dear historians, Father Pablo Pastells SJ,  Ernesto Corcino, Dr. Macario Tiu, Dr. Patricia Irene Dacudao, and Antonio Figueroa share the same narrative in telling the expedition of Oyanguren en route to Davao. After defeating Datu Bago, Oyanguren earned the distinction of being the last conqueror of the Philippines. Davao Gulf was the last unoccupied territory in the country. He dislodged Datu Bago on June 29, 1848, on the feast of St. Peter.

Oyanguren established his capital on the site of Datu Bago’s settlement, renaming it Nueva Vergara, after his hometown in Vergara, Spain. The province under his rule was called Nueva Guipuzcoa, also named after his home province in the Basque country. The town plan was created based on the standard Spanish grid system. The municipal hall, the tribunal hall, and the church were built as the face of the plaza.

It was also in 1848 that Father Francisco Lopez de San Antonio de Padua, a Recollect, assumed the first apostolic administrator of Yglesia Mision de Cabezera de Bergara dela Nueva Guipuzcoa. On January 30, 1857, the church was renamed Parroquia de San Pedro Apostol de Davao with Father Toribio Sanchez, a Recollect, as the parish priest and concurrent pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish of Pundaguitan. Then, San Pedro Church was named after the parish in Oyanguren’s hometown in Vergara. After the Recollects administered the missionary works in the area, the Jesuit priests took care of the church in the 1860s.

The inhabitants changed the name of the town from Nueva Vergara to its former name Davao after the death of Oyanguren in 1858; and in 1867, the whole province was renamed Davao.

In 1938, a ceremony held at the Immaculate Conception College Auditorium marked the transition of San Pedro Church from the Jesuit administration to the PME Fathers. This event signaled the eventual turnover of the Davao mission to the diocesan clergy of Mindanao. Reverend Father Clovis Thibault, PME was installed as the first PME Parish Priest of San Pedro Church. Mayor Santiago Artiaga, General Paulino Santos, Atty. Jose Palma Gil, Fr. Tomas Puig, SJ, the last Jesuit Parish Priest of San Pedro Church, Bishop Luis del Rosario SJ, DD of Zamboanga, and Councilor Isidro Bastida were among the attendees of the event.

^{Rev. Fr. Clovis Thibault, PME was installed as the first PME Parish Priest of San Pedro Church. Photo courtesy of the 25th Year (1973-1998) Silver Jubilee Yearbook of DCM (Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao)}

After the Second World War, plans for rebuilding the city got underway, especially for San Pedro Street. Architect Ramon Basa had made design modifications on the prewar church in the 1940s. 

According to his son, Architect Renato Basa in his essay in the book The Davao We Know, the church was built “along neoclassical lines, with a Filipino touch in the nipa hut-inspired roof of the two towers.” After the war, the church was rebuilt with minor changes. It had three windows on each tower; the round detail on its front was much larger.

The photograph dated June 28, 1968 clarifies that redesigning the postwar church would eventually materialize. If the claim that the church’s redesign was completed in 1964 using Manuel Chiew’s building plan, would he have been considered an architect then, given that he finished his Architecture degree at the University of Mindanao years later, in 1971? Before that, he was first a Civil Engineer. He earned his degree from the Mapua Institute of Technology in Manila. 

This led us to question if it was permissible for a civil engineer to create architectural designs in the 1960s if they were not a licensed architect? What were the laws that defined the scope of practice between an engineer and an architect that time?

^{Souvenir photo of the Davao Catholic Women’s League – San Pedro Unit during the 32nd annual fiesta, a celebration in honor of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal on November 27, 1978. Photo taken at the entrance of the stall unfinished cathedral. The streamer above urges parishioners to “help finish San Pedro Cathedral” and win prizes in a raffle to be drawn in December 1978. Photo courtesy of Rey} Feral

It is also crucial to point out which design was favored by the PME fathers during this laying and blessing of the cornerstone ceremony. Architect Renato Basa stated that out of many design schemes, “a circular cathedral with a domed roof was chosen” by the PME fathers who hired the service of his father, Ramon. 

In fact, “a scale model was even made, for display” during a San Pedro fiesta and during fundraising activities prior to the construction of the cathedral. As to the specific date and announcement when this happened, this still needs to be verified.

The key remaining question is when Manuel Chiew’s design came into play. Some records show he earned his Architecture degree from the University of Mindanao in 1971. However, the laying and blessing of the cornerstone for the cathedral, as depicted in the photograph, took place earlier, on June 28, 1968.

Another important information was the involvement of Architect Apolinar Bundalian in the construction of San Pedro Cathedral. The architect managed his own company, Steel Fabricators Builders, in 1965. He was also involved in designing several churches in and outside Davao City.

His son, Paul John Bundalian, remembers even up to this day, the times when his father would bring him to inspect the project in the mid-1970s. Because his father’s expertise was in steel structures, Architect Chiew recruited him to work on the cathedral’s roofing. Below are some of the photos he had kept of the cathedral’s construction. 

^{At the main entrance of the cathedral. Photo courtesy of Paul John Bundalian}

^{The construction of the cathedral also shows San Pedro Street and the Davao City Hall. Photo courtesy of Paul John Bundalian}

^{This is the truss system of the cathedral. Photo courtesy of Paul John Bundalian}

The articles previously published by the Atenews, Edge Davao, Davao Today, and SunStar Davao about the cathedral’s construction date may have been limited by the scarce evidence and primary documents available for interpretation.

In writing this essay, I have been enlightened by relevant articles that challenged me to contribute to the ongoing historicizing of San Pedro Church. It is expected that more writings about our dear San Pedro Cathedral will be published soon.

Neil Teves completed his bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Language and Literature), cum laude, at the Ateneo de Davao University. He is currently a member of the Davao Writers Guild. He writes about his hometown, Davao City and the region. 

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Sources:

“Building Davao” by Renato S. Basa in The Davao We Know, edited by Lolita R. Lacuesta. Published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. in 2011.

Key Stories of Our San Pedro Cathedral by Leenard R. Baquial. Published by Davao Catholic Herald on July 2, 2015.

A Sojourner’s View: Davao Gulf, Datu Bago and Davaoeños today by Karl M. Gaspar, CSsR. Published by MindaNews on March 16, 2018.

25th Year (1973-1998) Silver Jubilee Yearbook of DCM (Diocesan Clergy of Mindanao).