By Erick Lirios Photography is power. Whoever controls images has a good amount of control over how people perceive the ideas and reality behind such images. They can compel people to action or make them believe that they are in such a good place simply because it seems like the reality—as expressed in images—is very positive, speaking of beauty and power. This is something propagandists know so well. It isn’t very often that beauty is presented along with weakness but, as we shall soon see, it can be necessary to do so. What we have here is the San Sebastian Church. Recently, the foundation tasked with caring for and promoting the church has opened up the church to visitors—not only Catholics—to share the rich heritage of the place. One goal is very practical: Money is needed to save this building. No less than R300 million is needed to save the structure alone not counting the work that needs to be done on stained glass windows and the paintings on the walls. Most people know the basics: This is a metal church that was constructed this way to resist damage from earthquakes since four other churches had already been destroyed.The current church took a total of 10 years to be completed and was made a minor basilica in 1890. The design has allowed it to seem like a regular stone church though it is all metal. Two Belgian foundries were employed to produce the metal and a German studio took care of all the stained glass windows. The French handled the construction of the foundations and the foreman for the project was a citizen of the United Kingdom. Where were the Filipinos? Filipino students from the Academia de Pintura, Dibujo y Grabado painted the interior finishes. All these efforts came together to bring to reality the design of Spaniard Genaro Palacios. The church was inaugurated in 1891 and has since withstood no less than 11 earthquakes. It still has its stained glass windows and its paintings but there has been damage. Most of the oil paintings on the metal walls have lost their vibrant colors for a number of reasons and people have to be told that some images on the walls are supposed to look like angels, for example, but these cannot be easily seen because of the deterioration. Some of the stained glass windows have been damaged but instead of risking poor restoration, the San Sebastian Basilica Conservation and Development Foundation, the organization in charge of caring for this structure have thought it better to cover damaged spots until proper restoration can be done. These moves can easily be appreciated especially as some ill-advised moves were made by some parish priests on various churches around the country in a bit to make them look more “modern,” painting over or even constructing over the classic, historic, and more artistic original structures. Where does photography come in here? A volunteer photographer had actually come in to help the Foundation and part of the work was to document the damage to assist the group in figuring out just what needs to be done. It is both unfortunate and fortunate that part of what was learned was that the basilica’s mighty pillars were rusting from the inside. Years and years of rain droplets making their way into these pillars have resulted in pools of water inside. This was not even just restricted to pillars. Some of the metal walls have shown mineral deposits or hard water stains indicating that there is water behind them. Why can’t this water just be pumped out? Even if it is, there will just be water coming in because another issue is the gutter system that was not designed to take the amount of water coming in during heavy rainfall. Then there’s also the issue of climate change. No less than 300 leaks have been found and, fortunately, an international team of engineers have already done some intervention to slow down the rusting process. It is good though that the rust formed by the specific metal of the basilica is hard and not flaky like that produced by other types of metal. Images of this degradation can be shared with and shown to the public in an effort to appeal for more support. It is ironic that the biggest supporter of this project especially in terms of funds is the United States State Department. The Foundation really wants to get more local personalities and entities to put down more money into the project because this, after all, is part of the country’s heritage—regardless of a person’s chosen faith. The Foundation also hopes that with photos being shared even on the international stage, institutes of higher learning can come in to make this a learning laboratory of sorts. Professors from different disciplines and institutions can use this restoration effort as a means to teach their students, using the actual experience of working with the San Sebastian Basilica to hone their skills and improve their knowledge. Needless to say, this would also lessen the money that needs to be spent on international consultancy. More, this approach can also better expose Filipinos to how this can be done. This is a distinctively rare opportunity to learn specific skills and approaches. For example, while there may be talented painters in the country, there aren’t very many who have even attempted to paint on metal and on the basilica’s specific type of metal. All artists have to know their medium well before they do any work and with few locals knowing how to do this, there is much to be gained by getting the necessary foreign consultants and allowing the younger generation of Filipinos to learn from them. Is photography helpless here? Not in the least. Photos can show the damage, the past glory of the basilica, and the promise that is still there. If more images can be presented to show the basilica’s greatness, it is hoped that more people would want to come in and offer their help.   Note: This week, we will focus more on the structural images of the church. Next time is special.