Google Earth Series: Iloilo City Part 1

Now that hi-res images of Iloilo City can be accessed in Google Earth, let’s tour around the prominent and interesting landmarks around the city.

From well … space, Iloilo looks quite messy compared to other cities in the country. This could be owed to the fact that Iloilo is an old city and no careful urban planning was done during waves of urbanization over the decades. Urban development is densest in the city proper, which then stretches either inland or southwards. Although, quite dense there are still large spaces of land, mostly utilized for fishponds or saltbeds, in between or just beside the dense areas.

One such area is the area around the airport in Mandurriao, where majority of the land there is owned by a few individuals/families and development was limited because of proximity to the airport. Another is the area near the Jaro River, found at the northern and eastern portions, which has a low desirability for development because the area gets easily flooded whenever the river overspills during heavy rains.

Iloilo Seaports

The hive of Iloilo’s seaport operations in the Iloilo River Wharf, a natural harbor considered as one of the safest in the world. Docked at the river wharf are cargo ships and along it are ferry and RORO terminals servicing the Iloilo-Bacolod, Guimaras, Palawan Routes. Near the mouth of the River is the Domestic Port and further south is the Fort San Pedro. Iloilo’s International Port is located in La Paz District, at the northeastern part of the City.

Iloilo City Proper

This is a part of the Downtown of Iloilo City, the other parts are inconveniently covered by clouds. Dominating the cityscape of Iloilo are its malls, which reflects the city’s consumer driven economy. Robinsons Place is the largest mall in the city proper followed by Marymart Center, which is composed of three buildings connected by bridges. Near Marymart are: SM Delgado, Amigo, and The Atrium (not shown in picture). Calle Real is the old shopping district of Iloilo City and the hive of downtown Iloilo. It’s a great place to look for inexpensive buys.

This is one of the Provincial Gov’t lots in the city. At the far right is the Iloilo Provincial Capitol. Beside it is the Old Rehabilitation Center (Square-shaped building), Museo Iloilo (Green Roof), and the Department of Tourism (White Roof) regional Office. The large building at the left side is the Hall of Justice and the white building in front of it is Castle Hotel.

Diversion Road Area

The area surrounding Benigno Aquino Jr. Ave. (more commonly known as Diversion road) looks like its mostly composed of idle land, fishponds, and salt beds. It’s actually a prime space in Iloilo and will be the future Central Business District of the City. This satellite photo was shot in 2005 and you could still see a plane in the airport terminal. It’s closed now after the new airport in Santa Barbara was completed and the old airport lot was bought by Megaworld Corp, one of the country’s largest property developers. Other prominent places in the area is SM City, Iloilo’s largest mall and Smallville, a complex of restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, bars, and clubs.

In case you’re wondering low long SM City’s length is, well its 200 meters.

Molo District

This is Molo. The building shaped like a cross in the right side is ofcourse the Molo Church and infront of it is the Molo Public Plaza. The subdivision in the upper left with the swimming pools is Southville.

Jaro District

This is Jaro District, the most populous district of the city. The cross-shaped building is the Jaro Church and infront of it is, yes you’ve guessed it, the Jaro Plaza

La Paz District

This is La Paz District. I decided to post this picture instead of the plaza-church area. The big building is Gaisano Capital Mall.

During the next post, I’ll be posting the different schools and hospitals in Iloilo City.