Tamontaka Church

The Church of the Immaculate Concepcion of Tamontaka, also known as the Tamontaka Church is a Roman Catholic church in Cotabato City, Philippines.[1]

Tamontaka Church
Simbahan ng Tamontaka
Immaculate Conception Parish Church in Tamontaka, Cotabato City, Philippines
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic
Patron	Mary, Mother of Jesus (as the Immaculate Conception)
Year consecrated	1872
Order/Congregation	Society of Jesus (until 1939) Oblates of Mary Immaculate (since 1939)
Location
Location	Cotabato City
Country	Philippines
Architecture
Date established	1872
Completed	1978 (current building)

The church was established by Jesuit priests as part of the Tamontaka Mission which focused on the youth as well as the evangelization of Christianity in the Cotabato region[2] in the late 19th century.[1] The original church structure was built in 1872 along the Tamontaka river. Two schools one exclusively for boys and another for girls were established. The former was managed by the Society of Jesus and the latter was run by the Beatas de la Compania de Jesús (now the Religious of the Virgin Mary). The church was moved to its present site in 1879. The Jesuits of Zamboanga took over the establishment in 1899.[2]

In 1939, the church became part of the Cotabato mission of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The church building was destroyed in an earthquake on August 17, 1976, and was rebuilt after two years. The building sustained damage in a fire on May 11, 1994, and was repaired within a year. The church was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 19, 2004.[2]

The church is connected to a catacomb through a tunnel. The tunnel itself is part of a network of caves connected to the Pedro Colina Hill.[3]