On June 17, 2017, The NCCA (National Comission for Culture and the Arts), through the National Committee on Architecture and the Allied Arts, conferred upon Arch. Jose Pedro Recio, the Haligi ng Dangal Award for the Church of the Gesu, at the Ateneo De Manila University Campus, in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

This inaugural award is bestowed upon by the NCCA, on completed works of Architecture and its allied professions, and aims to demonstrate that:

“Good design is a major component of the positive influence on the human environment, and that the physical development of the built environment in the Philipines can be integrated with the cultural values, national identity or the natural environment of our nation.”

The concept is triangular in plan, the triangle being the most rigid and structurally stable shape. Liturgically it symbolizes the Holy Trinity. Derived from the Sacred Heart Statue, the head and two outstretched arms forming a triangle. The front facade beckons the passerby to come in as the churche's “outstretched arms” embrace all of Belarmine Field. The shape has a quality of rising up from the ground and soaring to the sky, such as the shape of a bird or an eagle in flight. It is also a modernized version of the bahay kubo, with its slopes and triangular transom.