ByPat
Sacred Heights: 11 Hilltop Shrines in the Philippines, Measured One Way
The Philippines puts its biggest statues on hilltops. Twelve shrines ranked by height, with visitor hours, mass schedules and how to reach each one.
The tallest religious figure in the Philippines is the Mother of All Asia in Batangas City, 98.15 meters from the ground to the cross on her crown, Mount Samat’s cross comes close; the rest fall well short. This list covers eleven hilltop shrines, nine of them photographed by Suroy.ph, ranked by the height of the figure itself, with the pedestal shown separately where one is published. It replaces an earlier version that mixed statue heights with total heights, and it drops two entries that no source could confirm. Then there is one building on a Cebu ridge that many visitors treat as a shrine, and that the family who built it describes differently.
Philippines
Measured one way
Tap a tab.
Tallest first
Heights of the figure itself, statue or cross, as published by the named source, with the pedestal or podium shown as the lighter extension where one is published. Montemaria’s 98.15 meters runs from the ground to the cross on her crown, per the operator. Simala and Toledo are complexes, not single statues, and are not charted.
Four
Montemaria in Batangas City, the Mount Samat cross in Bataan, the Divine Mercy in Marilao and the Padre Pio statue in San Jose del Monte, both in Bulacan. Marilao and San Jose del Monte fit in one day out of Manila.
Three outside Cebu
The Sacred Heart in Roxas City and the Miraculous Medal on Agtalin Hill in Pilar, both Capiz, about 51 km and 45 minutes apart; and the Divine Mercy in Calbiga, Samar.
Q Park and El Salvador
Q Park’s Mary in Compostela is the smallest of the measured figures, 41 or 44 feet by source. El Salvador’s Divine Mercy, 50 feet, is in El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental, not Cagayan de Oro. Simala and Toledo complete the Cebu entries.
Where sources split
Mount Samat: 92 m (veterans office) or 95 m from base (provincial government). Agtalin: 70, 80 or 85 feet. Q Park: 41 or 44 feet. Calbiga: listed as 2020, dedicated April 2022. Roxas is 31 m of statue on a 9 m pedestal, not a 40 m statue.
Montemaria official site; PVAO via PTNI (2025); Bataan provincial government (2021); Pueblo de Panay (Aug 2026); Inquirer (2017); SunStar (2022); PNA (2023); MindaNews (2025); Sugbo.ph (2020). Checked October 29, 2026.
How the heights are measured
Each figure is the statue or cross alone, as published by the source named in its entry. Where a pedestal or podium height is published, the total is given too. There is no official national register of statue heights; several of the numbers circulating online come from a single unsourced table, and where a primary or news source disagrees, both are shown.
| Shrine | Where | Figure | With base | Since |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother of All Asia, Tower of Peace | Batangas City, Batangas | 98.15 m to the crown cross | Same | 2021 |
| Memorial Cross, Mount Samat | Pilar, Bataan | 92 m (PVAO); 95 m from base (province) | 1970 | |
| Divine Mercy | Calbiga, Samar | 36.5 m (120 ft) | Dedicated 2022 | |
| Sacred Heart of Jesus | Roxas City, Capiz | 31 m | 40 m with 9 m pedestal | 2015 |
| Divine Mercy | Marilao, Bulacan | 30.5 m (100 ft) | 45.7 m with podium | 2017 |
| Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Agtalin | Pilar, Capiz | 70, 80 or 85 ft by source | 1993 | |
| Padre Pio, Mountain of Healing | San Jose del Monte, Bulacan | 15.2 m (50 ft) | 2018 or 2019 | |
| Divine Mercy Shrine | El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental | 50 ft | 2008 | |
| Our Virgin Mary, Q Park | Compostela, Cebu | 41 or 44 ft by source | Park opened 2005 | |
| Birhen sa Simala | Sibonga, Cebu | A church complex | 1998 | |
| Divine Mercy Hill | Toledo City, Cebu | Height not published | Unknown |
1. Mother of All Asia, Tower of Peace, Batangas City
Montemaria stands at Sitio Montemaria, Barangay Pagkilatan, above the Verde Island Passage and Batangas Bay. The operator gives 98.15 meters from the ground to the tip of the cross on the crown and says the tower was built from 2013 to 2021. Visitors can go up inside her by three elevators or 420 steps to the hands and crown. The sculptor Eduardo Castrillo made a first version of the hands and face, displayed from 2010 to 2017; the finished tower was built from 2013 to 2021. The grounds are free; the view deck was ₱150 and the Miracle Walk glass bridge ₱300 in May 2026. Full guide: Montemaria.
2. Memorial Cross of Mount Samat, Pilar, Bataan
A war memorial before it is a shrine. The cross on the summit in Barangay Diwa is 92 meters per the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, or 95 meters from its base per the provincial government, at 555 meters above sea level, with an elevator and a viewing gallery in the arms. The cornerstone was laid on 14 April 1966 and it was completed in 1970. TIEZA broke ground on a new visitors’ complex there on 9 April 2026, so expect construction. Full guide: the Cross of Mount Samat.
3. Divine Mercy, Calbiga, Samar
A 120-foot Divine Mercy image built by the Franciscans of the Divine Mercy, founded by Fr. Buenaventure Valles. A national table lists it as finished in 2020; a 2022 press release in SunStar says the pilgrim site was dedicated on 9 April 2022. In November 2022 the grounds were overgrown and the order was asking for donations to tidy them. Suroy.ph has not been there and found nothing newer, so its condition now is unconfirmed. Calbiga had about 23,300 people in the 2024 census.
4. Sacred Heart of Jesus, Roxas City, Capiz
About 31 meters of statue on a 9-meter pedestal, about 40 meters in all, on Tumandok Hill in the Pueblo de Panay township, completed on 5 January 2015. Its developer donated it to the Archdiocese of Capiz on 7 June 2024, and the operator calls it the tallest monument of Jesus Christ in the Philippines. The earlier claim on this page that it is the country’s second-tallest religious statue was wrong; Bayambang’s 42-meter St. Vincent Ferrer is taller. Open daily 6 AM to 6 PM. Masses Monday to Friday at 5:15 PM; Saturday 11 AM and 5 PM; Sunday 9 AM, 11 AM and 5 PM; healing activities on Fridays, 9 AM to 3 PM (operator, August 2026). The stairs inside are closed to the public. Full guide: the Sacred Heart in Roxas.
5. Divine Mercy, Marilao, Bulacan
A 100-foot statue on a 50-foot building, 150 feet in all, at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy on M. Villarica Road, Barangay Santa Rosa I. The statue was the idea of Fr. Prospero Tenorio; it was unveiled on 19 January 2017 at about 70 percent complete, printed in sections from a digital sculpt and coated in fiberglass. The shrine is older: first Mass in 1992, declared a national shrine in 2002. Masses Monday to Saturday at 6:30 AM, 3:30 PM and 6 PM; Sunday at 5, 6, 7:30 and 9 AM, noon, 5 and 6:30 PM, with English Masses at 10:30 AM and 3:30 PM (August 2025 listing). Full guide: the Divine Mercy in Bulacan.
6. Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Agtalin Hill, Pilar, Capiz
On Agtalin Hill in Barangay Dulangan, built from 1991 by a local foundation and blessed on 21 July 1993. Sources give 70, 80 or 85 feet. Pilar is about 51 km and 45 minutes by road from Roxas City, so the two Capiz figures fit in one day. Suroy.ph has not photographed it, and the newest report found is from 2020; check locally.
7. Padre Pio Mountain of Healing, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
A 50-foot Padre Pio with open hands on private land in the hills of San Jose del Monte, built by a couple in 2018 per the PNA (a national table says completed 2019), reached by 150 steps. About 5,000 pilgrims came on Sundays for Mass in 2023, and more than 4,000 came on Good Friday, 3 April 2026. A healing Mass and relic display are held on the 23rd of each month, his death date; no published source gives the time, and an earlier version of this page borrowed one from a different Padre Pio shrine in Batangas. Full guide: the Padre Pio Mountain of Healing.
8. Divine Mercy Shrine, El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental
A 50-foot Divine Mercy, completed in 2008, on Divine Mercy Hills above Macajalar Bay, run by a foundation on about 11 hectares. There is no entrance fee, only a donation. It is in El Salvador City, not Cagayan de Oro; the airport that serves the region is Laguindingan, which opened in 2013 west of both cities, and the old habit of giving directions from Cagayan de Oro stuck. Suroy.ph’s own guide still sits at a Cagayan de Oro address: the Divine Mercy Shrine.
9. Our Virgin Mary, Q Park, Compostela, Cebu
The smallest of the measured figures, given as 41 or 44 feet depending on the source (this page once said 40, with no source), on the Marian hill of Q Park in Barangay Buluang, Compostela, about 35 km north of Cebu City. The park covers some 200 hectares owned by the Quisumbing family of the Norkis Group, and opened in the Lenten season of 2005. Entry is free; a 2020 guide gave 8 AM to 5 PM daily. Full guide: Q Park.
10. Birhen sa Simala, Sibonga, Cebu
Not a statue on a hill but a castle-like church on one, built from 1998 by the Marian Monks of Eucharistic Adoration in the hills of Sibonga, about 56 km south of Cebu City; sources name the barangay as Lindogon or Simala. The image of the Virgin is reported to have wept, first in 1998 and most recently in 2016, and pilgrims credit it with healings; the monks speak of intercession rather than miracles. The 13th of each month is the busiest day. Covered shoulders and knees are expected. For the current Mass schedule, see the Simala guide, and confirm with the shrine.
Simala is the one on this list that draws Cebu by the busload. The Simala tee carries its towers.
11. Divine Mercy Hill, Toledo City, Cebu
A hilltop Divine Mercy on the west coast of Cebu. The shrine’s own Facebook page is titled Awihao Divine Mercy Mountain, which puts it in Barangay Awihao; an earlier version of this page said Landahan with no source. Its height, operator, hours and Mass times are not published. Full guide: Divine Mercy Hill.
The one that was never a shrine
The Temple of Leah on the Transcentral Highway in Busay, Cebu City, is seven floors of columns and lions that Teodorico Adarna built for, or around, his wife Leah Albino-Adarna. It opened, unfinished, in 2012. The family tells two stories about it. In 2020 Leah’s children said it was built in her memory, and a bronze statue of her with a dedication from her husband stands inside. In 2023 her granddaughter, the actress Ellen Adarna, said it was built to store her grandmother’s things, and that it became a business because people kept coming for the view. Both can be true. It is not a church. Full story: the Temple of Leah.
Two that are off the list
An earlier version listed a 29.2-meter Sacred Heart in Carcar, Cebu. The only source is an unsourced national table placing it in a private garden in Barangay Can-asujan; no news, parish or tourism record confirms it, so it is out until someone stands under it. The same version mentioned a white hilltop cross above Buenavista in Guimaras; no source supports that either.
Planning a circuit
Marilao and San Jose del Monte fit in one day out of Manila, and Mount Samat is a day of its own in Bataan. Roxas and Agtalin share a day in Capiz. In Cebu, Q Park is north, Simala south and Toledo west, each a separate trip. Dress as you would for church, with covered shoulders and knees. Holy Week is busy at most of them, Divine Mercy Sunday at the Divine Mercy shrines, and the 13th of each month at Simala.
Suroy Wear · Island Series
Frequently asked questions
What is the tallest religious statue in the Philippines?
The Mother of All Asia, Tower of Peace, in Batangas City, 98.15 meters from the ground to the cross on her crown, completed in 2021.
Is the Roxas City Sacred Heart the second tallest statue in the Philippines?
No. The statue is about 31 meters on a 9-meter pedestal. Bayambang’s 42-meter St. Vincent Ferrer is taller, besides Montemaria.
Is the Divine Mercy Shrine in Cagayan de Oro?
No. It is in El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental, on Divine Mercy Hills above Macajalar Bay.
Where is Divine Mercy Hill in Toledo?
The shrine’s own page names Barangay Awihao, Toledo City, Cebu.
Is the Temple of Leah a religious site?
No. It is a private building in Busay that the family describes as a memorial to Leah Adarna and as storage for her belongings.
Heights, dates and schedules from the Montemaria operator; The Poor Traveler (updated May 2026); the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office via PTNI (March 2025); the Bataan provincial government (2021, April 2026); Pueblo de Panay (24 August 2026); SunStar (November 2022); the Inquirer (January 2017); Philippine Churches (August 2025); the PNA (April 2023); the Manila Bulletin (April 2026); MindaNews (April 2025); the Philstar (2010, 2014); Sugbo.ph (2020); Cebu Daily News (2017, 2020, 2023); Wikipedia. Checked 29 October 2026.
