Visiting San Luis: church, bats and the Huk monument

San Luis is a small farming town of 17 barangays in eastern Pampanga, bordered by Santa Ana, Candaba, Mexico, San Simon and Baliuag in Bulacan. Rice fields still surround it, especially in Barangay San Jose.

The church of the bats

Start at San Luis Gonzaga Parish Church in the Poblacion. Look up: a fishnet hangs above the altar to catch the fruit bats that roost in the church, a reminder that the place was once called Cabagsac for its bats. Walk behind the church to the old cemetery, where tombstones from the 1800s carry the names of the town's old families.

The Huk monument

Then drive to the Garden of Peace Memorial Park in Barangay Santa Monica for the Luis M. Taruc Hukbalahap Monument, unveiled in 2023 to honour about 400 guerrillas who fought the Japanese occupation.

When to go

The town fiesta is on June 21, the feast of San Luis Gonzaga.