Oton Church is a daily destination for my friend Nilo and I. No, we’re not there to attended Mass every day. We arrive in front of the Oton Church every morning from Monday to Friday at about 4:45am because it faces the Town Plaza and is the starting point for our daily Walk for Heart.
Over the months we have noted the new signs heralding this or that about the construction project taking place on site. But we have rarely taken the time to read those postings. Nor, have we taken the time to take a walk around the site to gauge the progress of the project since our last visit in late December of 2013 or early January of 2014.
Oton Church from Oton Town Plaza
Well today is the day! We finished our walk, headed home and later in the morning came back to the Oton Church compound to take a look around and to determine the progress being made.
A close up review of the two signs was in order:
This is obviously dated information and may, we stress may, be indicative of a slowing of the donations being made to the project by the community at large. That in fact may be a partial explanation of what we found when we moved closer to the construction area.
Oton Church Construction Site Before – December 2013 or January 2014
Oton Church Construction Site – After September 2014
We found that the southwest side of the building has been added since our last visit, but in a time span of 8 months or more this seems to be being done at a snail’s pace. Given the fact, in addition, that there appeared to be only two or three workers on site at the time. One has pause to wonder what’s happening. Of course, this is the month prior to harvest and funds are notoriously low or non-existent in both August and September – perhaps an explanation for the slow progress of work.
Oton Church construction site, Panoramic View, September 2014
We tried to speak with someone in authority to discuss the project and perhaps obtain some additional information – no one would speak with us at this time. We will be keeping on top of the story to ensure we can report further on the situation as rapidly as possible.