Historic cathedral in IIagan City ravaged by fire – CBCP
The St. Ferdinand Parish Church in Ilagan City, a historic 17th-century church, was damaged by a fire that broke out during renovations on Monday, April 22.

The fire, according to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), started around 11:40 a.m. and destroyed everything inside the church. Thus, a large portion of the roof collapsed.
“The fire ravaged everything,” said parish priest Ric-Zeus Angobang in a statement.
He added that this happened while workers were in the process of installing steel trusses on the church’s ceiling.
“So this happened while there’s an ongoing reinforcement of the ceiling of the parish church,” he said.
Angobang mentioned that work was underway to install ceiling fans, which had been his first major project since becoming parish priest in August 2023.
The priest then appealed to the parishioners for their prayers and asked them to rely on God's mercy and to work together to rebuild the cathedral.
“Nobody wants this (to happen), but we can surrender to God’s mercy and rise from these ashes, and work together to rebuild it,” he said.
CBCP added that the church served as the diocese's first cathedral when Ilagan was established as a diocese in 1970.