Presently, the seat of a diocese, Borongan on Samar’s eastern coast was a dependency of Palapag.

Before 1710, a church of rubble was built by the Jesuit Fr. Francisco Diez.  In 1768, Borongan was ceded to the Franciscans, and its first Franciscan missionary was Fray Juan de Mora.

According to Huerta the church left behind by the Jesuits dedicated to Our Lady’s Nativity was “of rubblework, and too small for the growing population.”

In 1773, This Jesuit-built church burnt; this was the occasion for the rebuilding in 1781, initiated by Fray Roque de San José or de Osma. Rebuilding must have been total to judge from the present size of what remains of the Franciscan church.  In 1843, Fray Juan Navarrete installed a new roof then a decade later he  raised a new circular tower and paid for it from his own savings.

In 1895–97, Fray Fil Martínez built a new convento.

Heritage sites: Today, nothing remains of Jesuit architecture in Borongan.  Hardly any of Franciscan either except for Navarrete’s circular bell tower, a town landmark. The church fabric itself was drastically renovated, the façade replaced by a new one, the walls torn down to make way for more doors and windows. The church pillars though covered with cement and paint belong to the old fabric. Their positions give an indication of the size of the Franciscan-built church.

In the town plaza is an old image of Santiago in stone.

Like Basey, Balangiga is on Samar’s southern coast but the road from Basey to Balangiga is nearly impassable.  The most convenient approach is through Tacloban, or the roundabout way through Borongan.

Around 1653, Fr. Cristóbal Miralles rebuilt the Balangiga church which was formerly “de harigues o poste de madera.”

After 1768, the settlement fell into oblivion and may have been effectively dissolved until the Augustinians appeared to have refounded it in 1790.

In 1850, The Franciscan Fray Manuel Valverde repaired the church.  But which church is unclear. Was it the one built by Miralles? Or a later one built by the Augustinians?

In 1854, Balangiga was a visita of Guiuan and remained so until it was separated from its mother parish by the decree of 3 Aprilof this year.

In 1859, 27 Sept., Balangiga was established as a parish in accordance with an episcopal decree of 1 April 1854.

On 28 September 1901, Balangiga’s plaza was the scene of a retaliatory attack by the Katipuneros on members of Company C, 9^th Infantry, which killed 45 Americans and wounded 22 others.  The signal for the attack at 6:20 A.M was sounded by two church bells.

Heritage sites: The best known feature of Balangiga church is not found in town but in two US military bases in mainland United States and in Korea.  These are the church’s three bells looted as war booty after the orgy of killing and destruction ordered by Brig Gen. Jacob Smith.