THE city of Iloilo has just adopted the tag line, “the next big thing.” It sees itself as a premiere city of Asia by 2015. It strikes anyone who is not from Iloilo as a bold vision. The obvious question that others ask is: Can they realize it?
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What is so fascinating about an old house? Its architecture, its history? The story of the people who once lived in it? In the old district of Jaro in Iloilo stands a 200-year-old house where the wife of former vice-president Fernando Lopez Sr., Maria “Mariquit” Javellana-Lopez, once lived. The house was built by her banker grandfather Ramon Javellana, and it served both as a residence as well as a bank. Robert Lopez Puckett, a great-great-grandson who is now the owner of the house, removed a plank of the molave floor in the master bedroom and showed us where the bank’s money used to be kept. In 1910, a vault was installed there and it still exists today.
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The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines held on the fourth Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog In Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan. It is held both to honor the Santo Niño and to celebrate the arrival on Panay of Malay settlers and the subsequent selling of the island to them by the Atis.

Dinagyang began after Rev. Fr. Ambrosio Galindez of a local Roman Catholic parish introduced the devotion to Santo Niño in November 1967. In 1968, a replica of the original image of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought to Iloilo by Fr. Sulpicio Enderez as a gift to the Parish of San Jose. The faithful, led by members of Confradia del Santo Niño de Cebu, Iloilo Chapter, worked to give the image a fitting reception starting at the Iloilo Airport and parading down the streets of Iloilo.

In the beginning, the observance of the feast was confined to the parish. The Confradia patterned the celebration on the Ati-atihan of Ibajay, Aklan, where natives dance in the streets, their bodies covered with soot and ashes, to simulate the Atis dancing to celebrate the sale of Panay. It was these tribal groups who were the prototype of the present festival.

In 1977, the Marcos government ordered the various regions of the Philippines to come up with festivals or celebrations that could boost tourism and development. The City of Iloilo readily identified the Iloilo Ati-atihan as its project. At the same time the local parish could no longer handle the growing challenges of the festival.

The Dinagyang is divided into three Major events: Ati-Ati Street Dancing, Kasadyahan Street Dancing and Miss Dinagyang.

Today, the main part of the festival consists of a number of “tribes”, called “tribus”, who are supposed to be Ati tribe members dancing in celebration. There are a number of requirements, including that the performers must paint their skin brown and that only indigenous materials can be used for the costumes. All dances are performed to drum music. Many tribes are organized by the local high schools. Some tribes receive a subsidiary from the organizers and recruit private sponsors, with the best tribes receiving the most. The current Ati population of Iloilo is not involved with any of the tribes nor are they involved in the festival in any other way.

The man who coined the word “Dinagyang” is no longer in our midst.

But Pacifico S. Sudario is assured of a significant niche in the history of Iloilo City when he gave it’s annual pompous socio-religious and cultural festival a name-signifying merry-making-which has since became a byword in Ilonggo households.
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ILOILO prides itself on the title “Queen City of the South,” whatever that means. I don’t know where this title came from, who made it up, or how old it is but if Iloilo is the Queen, what is the “King City of the South?” Perhaps there was a time in the past when Iloilo was such a busy port it was second only to Manila in importance?
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The main building of the University of the Philippines - Iloilo City Campus (UPV - ILOILO) dates back to the 1930s. The structure was designed by Arch. Juan Arellano, in collaboration with Italian Painter, Francesco Riccardo Monti, who made the magnificent sculptures that adorn the building’s facade

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Also called as Iloilo’s “Aduana”, the Customs Building in Iloilo was built during the American colonial period. It is the second biggest Customs House after Manila’s. The architecture of the Iloilo Customs house is a copy of the Immigration building in Manila, which is characterized by a tall tower rising at the center of the building.
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An impressive collection of Iloilo’s cultural heritage which includes stone age native pottery; fossils; jewelry; burial sites; trade pottery from China, Annam and Siam; era photos. Mementos and war relics; a British sunken ship; Spanish-era Filipino sculpture; and modern art done by Ilonggo artists and craftmen.

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The Santa Barbara Centennial Museum and Information Center (left) is located beside the Santa Barbara Municipal Hall and the Santa Barbara Church.

La Paz, called Lobo, Llaunon or Ilawood, then Iznart after Gov. Manuel Iznart, was a newly established as a parish in 1868. In 1847, Fr. Candido Gonzales built a temporary church and convento of wood, bricks and tabique pampango. The present church was constructed from 1870-74. The church is a squat and less elegant version of the San Jose church in Iloilo. Neoclassic features, and rustication stand in sharp contrast to the bricks used in the church. Two engaged columns supporting a triangular pediment bear the date 1970, apparently recent additions.