Church construction in the Philippines

On February 13-15, 2024, Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi, the administrator of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese and a member of the Russian Academy of Engineering, Chairman of the Architectural and Construction Department of the Khanty-Mansiysk Metropolis, Priest Konstantin Memyachkin, visited a temple under construction in Kinabalan province on the island of Mindanao. The architecture of the temple has a pronounced outline of the basilica, the ancient architectural style of Christian churches. The temple is built on a reinforced concrete foundation slab and is a monolithic reinforced concrete frame with columns. The inter-column space is laid with hollow concrete blocks of local production. Construction technologies and materials are due to the special geographical location of the islands, logistical difficulties and a limited market for building materials. Nevertheless, the construction work is progressing successfully and is moving towards completion. In addition to Kinabalan, temples were visited in the cities of Lambayong, Lake Sebu, Polomolok and other settlements. A visual inspection of all the visited temple buildings was carried out and engineering decisions were made on their repair and reconstruction.

On a working trip to the island state of the Philippines, His Eminence was accompanied by the Secretary of the Philippine-Vietnamese Diocese, Hieromonk Cornelius (Molev), Archpriest Anthony Isakov, dean of the Surgut City Deanery, Archpriest Sergiy Shevchenko, dean of the Nizhnevartovsk city deanery, Priest Konstantin Memyachkin, Chairman of the architectural and construction department of the Khatna—Mansi Metropolia, Hierodeacon Nikodim Perkhovsky, a resident of the Dimitry Rostov Monastery Of the Khanty-Mansiysk Diocese, Director General of the UVIS IC, Vladimir Yurievich Bashkov. It should be noted that in 2023, in accordance with the decision of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Engineering, for his great contribution to church building in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, the development of church building in earthquake-prone areas of the Philippine-Vietnamese diocese: Kinabalan, Davao and others, Metropolitan Pavel was awarded the Gold Medal of the Russian Engineering Academy.