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Las Piñas Church

Roman Catholic parish church in Las Piñas, Philippines

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ4348943 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Diocesan Shrine and Parish of Saint Joseph, commonly known as Las Piñas Church or Bamboo Organ Church, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Las Piñas, just south of the city of Manila in the Philippines. It nestles in the heart of Barangay Daniel Fajardo, one of the oldest districts of Las Piñas. The church is renowned to house the Bamboo Organ, a pipe organ made mostly with bamboo pipes. To the right of the church is an old Spanish convent converted into a gift shop and the entrance for observing the organ up close. Also in the church complex is St. Joseph's Academy, a private, Catholic primary and secondary education school established in 1914.

The parish is under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Parañaque. The parish priest has been Roberto A. Olaguer since July 11, 2020.

History

Establishment

On November 5, 1795, the Archbishop of Manila assigned Las Piñas, then a small town of farmers and fishermen, to the Augustinian Recollects to establish a new church. Diego Cera de la Virgen del Carmen, a native of Spain, traveled from Mabalacat, Pampanga province and arrived on the town on the day after Christmas of 1795.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Las Piñas Church” as roman Catholic parish church in Las Piñas, Philippines. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1914, 2020, 1795—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Piñas, Church and Roman can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as roman Catholic parish church in Las Piñas, Philippines. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4348943. Authority coordinates are 14.481, 120.982. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1914, 2020 and 1795.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Las Piñas Church”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Las Piñas Church primary sources, Las Piñas Church archive and Piñas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Las Piñas Church”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Las Piñas Church” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.