A parish church located in Brgy. Polo in Valenzuela of Manila, Philippines, the San Diego de Alcala Church was once the oldest church in the city, it has a bit of history lying in its parish grounds.

The original church was first completed by Father Juan Taranto, Father Jose Valencia and Don Juan Monsod in the year 1632, through the locals who were forced into labor to complete the church after the town’s independence in 1623. Unfortunately, the main structure was destroyed into bricks and ashes by bombs during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in the Second World War, leaving only the belfry and the entrance of the four-century old edifice to be the remains. Fortunately, the citizens of Polo, (the old name of Valenzuela, Manila), took initiative of caring for the remains, preserving them into their historical state.

Nowadays, the bell tower of the San Diego de Alcala Church is labeled as a cultural and religious relic of the bygone Spanish era. The best time to visit the historical church is during the feast day of San Diego De Alcalala on the 12th of November, where the town also celebrates a food festival honouring the putong polo, a unique variety of the Philippines’ rice cake puto.