Las Piñas

Farther South on the Cavite and Tagaytay road, 15 km from the centre of Manila, is Las Piñas, the 10th city of Metro Manila. The main feature of interest is the St. Joseph Parish Church that has a unique bamboo organ, the only one of its kind in the world, built in 1816-24 by the local priest, Diego Cera. It stands 5.17 m high, weighs 3500 kg and has 1031 pipes; 902 are made of bamboo and the remaining pipes are made of metal. In 1882 a strong earthquake destroyed the church and water fell inside the organ case which made it unplayable for several years, the organ was carefully restored by Johanes Klais Orgelbau in West Germany in 1975. Frequent recitals are given in the church.