Loboc, Bohol Etymology
- Dec 14, 2025
- 3 min read
The name “Loboc” came from the local dialect “ga Loboc,” meaning “pounding palay.” When the Jesuit missionaries arrived at the village, they passed by a family pounding rice. They asked for the place's name, and thinking they were asking what they were doing, the head of the family answered: “ga Loboc.” The name stuck, and to this day, the place and eventually the town are named Loboc.
Special credits: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loboc_Church
Church in town: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐚 𝐝𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐨́𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐥
San Pedro Apostol Parish Church, commonly known as Loboc Church and alternatively as the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura, is a Roman Catholic church in the municipality of Loboc, Bohol, Philippines, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Tagbilaran.
After the Jesuits established the Christian community in Baclayon, they moved to Loboc and established a second Christian settlement in Bohol. The parish was established in 1602, and the present coral stone church was completed in 1734. Because of its strategic location, it became the center of the Jesuit mission in the Bohol area. In 1768, upon the expulsion of the Jesuits, the town was transferred to the Augustinian Recollects.
The church is classified as a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines.
It was severely damaged when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Bohol and other parts of Central Visayas on October 15, 2013. Restoration works began in 2017, and the church was reopened on May 16, 2021.
After the establishment of the Jesuit mission in Bohol, Father Juan de Torres, SJ, moved to the community along the Loboc River in late 1596 to establish a second mission station. The first church, made of wood, was built by the people of the area on a site called Calvario, Sawang, near the location of the present-day church. It was dedicated under the patronage of Saint Michael the Archangel. Loboc officially became a parish church in 1602. Due to pirate attacks on Baclayon and the strategic position of Loboc, the Jesuits chose Loboc to become the center of their mission. The Jesuit superior of Bohol later resided in Loboc until the Jesuits' expulsion in 1768. A boarding school for boys, the Seminario de los Indios, was established at Loboc in 1605.
Fire destroyed the original wooden church in 1638; it was later reconstructed by the Jesuit priest Jose Sanchez. A larger church was built in 1670 on the site of the present-day convent. The coral stone church was finished in 1734. After the Jesuits were expelled from the country in May 1768, the Augustinian Recollects assumed the administration of the parish and the church that November.
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐜 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
In 1596, the Jesuit priest Fr. Juan de Torres, SJ came to Loboc from Baclayon to found the second Christian settlement on the island. After the traumatic Moro raid on Baclayon on 26 October 1600, the Jesuit missionaries decided to move the center of their missionary activities to the inland village of Loboc.
𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐜:
- San Pedro Apostol Parish Church
- Loboc River Cruise
- Bilar Man-Made Forest
- Loboc Eco-tourism Adventure Park
- Zoocolate Thrills Theme Park
- Tarsier Conservation Area
- Busay Falls
- Loboc River Zip Line
𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐜:
- None in the list
𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐜:
- None in the list
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