Rising above the scenic landscape of Roxas City, the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Pueblo de Panay is more than a religious landmark. It is a lasting testimony of healing, gratitude, and a family’s enduring faith in God. Currently recognized as a sanctuary, it is completing the ecclesiastical requirements toward formal designation as a shrine.
From Tumandok Hill, the towering image of Christ watches over the communities, roads, schools, businesses, and green spaces steadily growing across Pueblo de Panay Township. Pilgrims come to pray for healing. Families visit to give thanks. Others make the journey simply to find a quiet place where they can breathe, reflect, and feel close to God again.
For Victoria Hariette Ong-Banzon, one of the seven Ong siblings who helped develop Pueblo de Panay, the township has always meant more than land, infrastructure, or commerce.
“To me personally, it is a gift from God,” she shares.
Today, Pueblo de Panay is a 670-hectare master-planned township where residential communities, commercial spaces, educational institutions, government centers, leisure destinations, and open spaces come together.
At its spiritual heart, however, is something that cannot be measured in hectares or investments: a family’s gratitude for a life preserved and prayers answered.
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Pueblo de Panay
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus stands on Tumandok Hill, surrounded by the rolling landscapes of Pueblo de Panay Township.
The 102-foot figure of Jesus stands on a 30-foot pedestal, giving the entire monument a base-to-top height of approximately 132 feet. Widely regarded as the tallest monument of Jesus Christ in the Philippines, it is also among the tallest in the world. Compared on the same base-to-top measurement, the Sanctuary monument stands about seven feet taller than Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer, which measures approximately 125 feet, including its 26-foot pedestal.
Yet the monument was never built simply to achieve a record.
Its true significance is found in the story behind it.
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents an offering of thanksgiving from the Ong family. It remembers a time when they were confronted by fear and uncertainty, turned to God in prayer, and discovered a mission that would eventually touch the lives of many others.
The Ong Family’s Story of Faith and Healing
In 1990, Hariette’s younger sister, Hyacinth Ong, now Hyacinth Ong-Viterbo, was only 17 years old when she developed a rare and life-threatening autoimmune kidney disease.
She was brought to the National Kidney Institute, where the family faced the frightening possibility of losing her. Treatment in the United States was being considered, but amid the uncertainty, the Ong family held on to the one thing that remained constant: their faith.
The siblings had received their early Catholic formation at St. Mary’s Academy of Capiz, a school administered by the Religious of the Virgin Mary Sisters. There, they learned the foundations of prayer and the Catholic faith.
But as Hariette reflects, faith becomes most real when life asks us to carry a cross we never expected.
“Little did we know that the real test of faith begins in facing the challenges of our life and carrying the crosses that God allows us to bear,” she says.
The family prayed fervently for Hyacinth. They surrendered their fear to God and placed her life in His hands.
In December 1990, they received the gift they had been praying for: Hyacinth was able to return home where Pueblo de Panay is.
Her recovery continued over the following months, and she would live with one functioning kidney. More than three decades later, her life remains a powerful witness to the faith that carried the family through one of its most difficult seasons.
What could have remained a private family experience gradually became a mission of prayer, service, and healing shared with the wider community.
How Hyacinth’s Story Inspired a Mission
The Ong family regarded Hyacinth’s recovery as an extraordinary blessing from God.
Their gratitude inspired a continuing commitment to the Catholic faith and eventually helped establish the Holy Trinity Divine Healing Ministry, a community centered on prayer, catechism, healing, and the sharing of testimonies.
Its name reflects the Catholic belief in one God in three Persons: the Father who created us, the Son who saved us, and the Holy Spirit who continues to guide and sanctify us.
Through the ministry, Hyacinth’s story became more than a memory of illness. It became an invitation for others to hold on to faith, especially when life feels uncertain.
The ministry does not teach that faith removes every difficulty. Instead, it reminds people that suffering does not have to be faced alone. Prayer, the sacraments, family, community, and professional care can all become part of a person’s journey toward healing and renewal.
At Tumandok Hill, that mission found a permanent home.
A Sanctuary for Those Seeking Healing and Peace
At the foot of the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue now stands a beautiful church designed by BAAD Studio and implemented by Blue Chip Builders Incorporated. Its architecture complements the natural surroundings and provides a welcoming space for prayer, worship, confession, catechism, and healing activities.
Every visitor arrives carrying a different story.
Some come to pray for physical recovery. Others seek comfort after grief, guidance during a difficult decision, strength for their families, or hope amid emotional struggles. Some arrive without a specific petition. They simply long to become still.
Surrounded by hills and open skies, prayer takes on a gentler rhythm.
The journey to Tumandok Hill becomes a moment of reflection. The panoramic view inspires gratitude. Above it all, the image of the Sacred Heart reminds pilgrims of Christ’s compassion and His enduring love for every person.
The sanctuary is not a promise of a life without suffering. It is a place where people can bring their burdens to God and be reminded that no cross has to be carried alone.
Healing Activities and Mass Schedule
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus holds healing activities every Friday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM for pilgrims and visitors seeking prayer, guidance, and spiritual renewal.
The Friday program includes opportunities for:
Confession
Catholic catechism
Prayer and healing sessions
Sharing of healing testimonies
Confession is available one hour before every Mass. Blessings for the sick, vehicles, pets, sacramentals, and other religious items are offered after every Mass.
Regular Masses are celebrated according to the following schedule:
Monday to Friday: 5:15 PM
Saturday: 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM
Sunday: 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 5:00 PM
Visitors are encouraged to contact the sanctuary before traveling, as schedules may change during special celebrations, Church events, or holidays.
A Township Blessed by Nature
The journey to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus also reveals the natural character of Pueblo de Panay.
The township spans both plains and hills, with panoramic views extending toward the Sibuyan Sea. Its landscape is shaped by waterways, green spaces, native trees, and wildlife, including sightings of the Philippine grass owl.
This meeting of rivers, sea, hills, and greenery gives Roxas City a beauty all its own. Hariette lovingly describes it as a kind of “Venice of the Philippines,” where waterways and nature become part of everyday life.
Pueblo de Panay was originally envisioned as a small residential community. Its first plans eventually grew into Verdant Meadows, a residential development surrounded by rolling landscapes and fresh countryside air. Orchard Lane, One Waterfront, and Monte Vista followed, forming four distinct residential villages within the township.
From that beginning, the vision expanded into a 670-hectare mixed-use township. Today, Pueblo de Panay is home to two residential condominiums, three academic institutions, and a seven-hectare PEZA IT Ecozone with two IT-BPO buildings.
Its continuing growth is further strengthened by the new Capiz Provincial Capitol, the new Roxas City Hall, a transport terminal, a cold-storage facility, a seafood-processing plant, and a hilltop convention center. Restaurants, hotels, and other commercial, government, and non-government institutions complete a community designed for both everyday life and long-term opportunity.
Roads and bridges made the area more accessible from central Roxas City, allowing these residential, educational, commercial, institutional, and leisure destinations to grow together within one connected environment.
What started as a small community became a township. What began as land development became a long-term mission for countryside growth.
Where People and Possibilities Grow
The story of the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reveals something essential about Pueblo de Panay Township.
Growth here has never been understood only in terms of buildings, roads, or commercial activity. It is about creating a place where businesses can prosper, families can establish meaningful lives, young people can learn, communities can connect, and the human spirit can find room to breathe.
Around the sanctuary, Pueblo de Panay continues to welcome educational institutions, government offices, residential developments, hospitality establishments, leisure destinations, and enterprises serving Roxas City and the wider Northern Panay region. It is also home to locators in Pueblo Technopark, Northern Panay’s first PEZA-registered IT Park, which now serves both local and international clients.
Its scale, accessibility, infrastructure, natural environment, and expanding community make Pueblo de Panay a compelling location for businesses and institutions with a long-term vision.
Perhaps its greatest advantage, however, is more difficult to place on a map.
Pueblo de Panay was built with a sense of purpose.
It demonstrates that economic progress and spiritual well-being do not have to exist separately. A township can welcome enterprise while caring for nature. It can pursue development while respecting its history. It can create investment opportunities while remaining grounded in faith, service, and community.
For families, entrepreneurs, institutions, and investors, Pueblo de Panay offers more than space to build. It offers an environment where aspirations can take root and where growth can create a meaningful impact on the lives surrounding it.
Here, businesses have room to grow, but so do people.
A Family’s Legacy Entrusted to the Church
The sanctuary’s relationship with the Archdiocese of Capiz began during its earliest phase. His Eminence Jose F. Cardinal Advincula, who was then Archbishop of Capiz, personally blessed the site and received the lot and development plans as the project began. His presence marked the Church’s guidance from the sanctuary’s beginnings.
Years later, on June 7, 2024, Pueblo de Panay, Inc. formally donated the completed Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Archdiocese of Capiz.
Hariette Ong-Banzon, Nery Joachim Ong, and Hyacinth Ong-Viterbo represented Pueblo de Panay during the turnover. The donation was received on behalf of the Archdiocese by the Most Reverend Victor B. Bendico, D.D., Archbishop of Capiz.
The turnover marked an important new chapter in the sanctuary’s history. What began as a family’s offering of thanksgiving was entrusted to the local Church so that it could continue serving generations of pilgrims, families, and faithful seeking prayer and renewal.
It transformed a deeply personal testimony into a spiritual legacy belonging to the wider Catholic community.
Visit the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus welcomes pilgrims, families, prayer groups, and visitors seeking a peaceful spiritual destination in Capiz.
Location: Tumandok Hill, Pueblo de Panay Township, Roxas City, Capiz
Opening hours: Daily, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Recommended attire: Casual, modest clothing that honors the sanctity of the consecrated worship space. Sleeved tops with the back covered and skirts or pants extending at least to the knees are preferred. Shawls are available at the Shrine Store for a minimal price when needed.
Friday healing activities: 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Mass schedule: Monday to Friday at 5:15 PM; Saturday at 11:00 AM and 5:00 PM; Sunday at 9:00 AM, 11:00 AM, and 5:00 PM
Confession: One hour before every Mass
Blessings: After every Mass for the sick, vehicles, pets, sacramentals, and other religious items
Contact number: +63 999 991 0662
Email: holytrinityministry@gmail.com
Website: www.sacredheartshrine.ph
Visitors are encouraged to contact the sanctuary to confirm the latest healing and Mass schedules before traveling.
While in Pueblo de Panay, guests may also explore nearby dining, leisure, accommodation, and lifestyle destinations throughout the township.
Helpful Links for Exploring Pueblo de Panay
Pueblo de Panay for a tour of the township’s amenities and must-visit destinations
Circulo for hilltop dining, its events venue, the Heritage Wall Painting, and the first “I Love Capiz” marker
For current announcements, events, and visitor updates, guests may also follow Pueblo de Panay and Circulo through their official social media accounts.
Come and Be Renewed
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is more than a monument overlooking Roxas City. It is a living testimony.
It tells the story of a family who turned fear into prayer, healing into thanksgiving, and gratitude into a mission shared with others.
It tells the story of Hyacinth, whose life continues to remind people that even the most difficult chapters can lead to a greater purpose.
It also tells the story of Pueblo de Panay, a township that grew from a small community into a place where faith, nature, enterprise, and everyday life come together.
Whether you are praying for healing, searching for clarity, giving thanks for a blessing, or simply longing to rest in God’s presence, there is a place for you on Tumandok Hill.
Come to Roxas City.
Come to Pueblo de Panay.
Come to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and allow your heart to be reminded that you are seen, you are never alone, and you are always loved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus located?
The Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is located on Tumandok Hill within Pueblo de Panay Township in Roxas City, Capiz, Philippines.
How tall is the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue?
The figure of Jesus rises approximately 102 feet and stands on a 30-foot pedestal, giving the entire monument a base-to-top height of about 132 feet. On the same measurement, Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer stands approximately 125 feet tall, including its 26-foot pedestal. The Sanctuary monument is therefore about seven feet taller overall.
When are healing activities held at the sanctuary?
Healing activities are held every Friday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Confession is available one hour before every Mass, while blessings for the sick, vehicles, pets, sacramentals, and other religious items are offered after every Mass. Visitors should confirm the latest schedule with the sanctuary before traveling.
What inspired the establishment of the healing ministry?
The Holy Trinity Divine Healing Ministry grew from the Ong family’s experience of faith during the serious illness and recovery of Hyacinth Ong-Viterbo in 1990.
Can tourists visit the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus?
Yes. The sanctuary is open daily from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM and welcomes pilgrims, Catholic groups, families, tourists, and individuals seeking a quiet place for prayer and reflection.
Visitors are encouraged to wear casual, modest clothing that honors the sanctity of the consecrated worship space. Sleeved tops with the back covered and skirts or pants extending at least to the knees are preferred. Shawls are available at the Shrine Store for a minimal price when needed. Visitors should also confirm the schedule before traveling during special celebrations or holidays.
What else can visitors experience in Pueblo de Panay?
Pueblo de Panay offers residential communities, schools, government institutions, restaurants, accommodations, shopping, leisure destinations, and open spaces, all within a growing master-planned township in Roxas City.
This article is based on the personal testimony of Victoria Hariette Ong-Banzon, one of the seven Ong siblings behind the development of Pueblo de Panay Township and a core member and catechist of the Holy Trinity Divine Healing Ministry.