Research Center of Iloilo: The History Of Iloilo Chapter 6 - 1850 - 1899

Chapter 6

1850-1899

* highlighted in violet is the timeline or date


The Bond between Spain and Iloilo

Economic condition of Iloilo becomes stronger in 1880’s and the Ilonggo people indebted it to the Spanish government. Commercial trade is marked by ships freely goes in and out of Iloilo port bringing millions of money. There was a rapid growth. International firms and banks invest in Iloilo especially for sugar financing and granting of loans. Several office outlets opened in Iloilo; American, Basque, Catalan, Danish, Portuguese, Swiss  and Filipino entrepreneurs. Calle Real (now J.M. Basa Street) situated in the heart of downtown Iloilo served as the main shopping center of the town. Sugar barons Lucio Lacson, de la Rama and Eulogia Lopez built mansions.

"The Calle Real or High Street is a winding road which leads through the  town into the country. The houses are indescribable—they are of all styles. Without any pretense at architectural adornment, some are high, others low; some  stand back with several feet of pavement before them, others come forward and oblige one to walk in the road."

Source: John Foreham The Philippine Islands September, 1905 Third Edition



" The liveliness of the Escolta (Calle Real) pleased me.” - Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal in Iloilo

August 4, 1896. Dr. Jose Rizal passing through Iloilo on his way from Dapitan to Manila was much impressed by the appearance of the city. He wrote: “…The entrance to Iloilo is beautiful. From afar can be seen the white city set in water, a  nymph of galvanized iron, a modern creation, poetic in spirit of its iron uniform. Rizal went to a bazaar that was located at present-day Regent Theater or Cine Palace 1928 (Angayen 1973). The bazaar owned by a Lebanese, occupied a wide space in a squat-looking building similar to the other neighboring stores. The Lebanese store was selling stamps, buri hats and other souvenir items. Rizal bought a presentable buri hat and took again a quiles for Molo or Parian. He went to the house of Don Raymundo Melliza, a magistrate in the Supreme Court  of Cuba and a close friend and classmate of Rizal in Manila and Madrid who have just arrived from Cuba due to an increasing tension of Cuban fight for independence from Spain.



1870's Calle Iznart was  born

Iloilo had narrow streets and many swampy areas but with the joint  efforts of the officials and the residents, Iloilo slowly became a town fit to be called a city.The government of Manila approved the project to widen and improve the town of Iloilo in accordance with the indicated recommendations of Junta Consultativa and sanitize the mangroves still existing within the town limits. Calle Real was widened. Iznart was named after the Spanish alcalde-mayor of Iloilo Manuel Iznart in 1860's. Calle Real the main and most beautiful street of Iloilo City day after day as reported by El Eco de Panay.


Calle Ortiz was born

Don Joaquin Ortiz Sr -  was a Spanish noble and wealthy family born in 1798 in Estepa, Sevilla, Spain and had the title of Marques de Luna. He traveled around the  Philippines looking for a better location for establishing a business (shipyard) and he found that Iloilo was situated in the center of the Philippines and had  ample supply of timber for his ships. Here he decided to invest in shipping business. Frigates, batels and bergantins were what to be found being built in  his shipyard. It was also said that he built a beautiful Bergantine which he gave as a gift to Queen Maria Cristina de Bourbon. He donated parts of his property for the widening of the roads and making new ones and so becoming one of the pioneers of in the development of  the city. Because of this in appreciation and acknowledgment for his selfless act, the officials then named Ortiz Street after him. His donations are now part of J.M. Basa Street, Ortiz Street, Iznart Street, Rizal Street and Gen. Luna Street and a piece of the Plazoleta Gay.

Valeria Street

A street from General Luna up to Rizal traversing Delgado and Ledesma was named after Valeria Lopez Ledesma (born on April  27, 1866). She is the daughter of Anastacio Lopez Ledesma and Clara Jalandoni Lopez who donated that piece of land.

Source:  Ilonggo Initiatives: The Changing Face of  Business in Iloilo.

A Livable Iloilo

First Department Store in Philippines - Hoskyn 1877 -

The Englishman Henry Hoskyn, nephew of Nicholas Loney, the first British vice-consul in Iloilo paid P17,000 for the house and lot at the  midpoint of  Calle Real which became the site of the town's renowned luxury Hoskyn  Department Store reputed to be the Philippines' first real department store. It was also claimed as the first to introduce the “fixed price” policy in merchandising in the country and was known to be “the store that sold everything from needle to anchor”. It offered groceries, hardware, stationery, toys, watches, jewelry, machinery, buttons, threads, etc.
(Source: Articulos que  ordinariamente reciben y venden Hoskyn y ca. del  comercio de Iloilo,   1895).


First bookstore in the whole Visayas & Mindanao
1871 - Libreria y Imprenta la Panayana was founded in Mandurriao, Iloilo by Mariano Perfecto. It is perhaps the oldest existing almanac in the Philippines.

First Dictionary about Old Ilongo of Iloilo and Spanish spoken in 1800's
1876 - Cursos de lengua Panayana was published by Dominican Fr. Raymundo Lorano in Universidad de Santo Tomas explaining about Ilongo diction, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, gerund, present, past future tense, sentence construction, etc.

1883 - First International Banks Opened in Iloilo

1883  - The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank was established in Iloilo on April 2, 1883 to facilitate the development of the sugar industry and other agricultural crops in the region. It gave financial assistance to Iloilo traders by extending import and export facilities and offering financial assistance for agricultural facilities, especially those related to the sugar industry.



1887 - Shops around Plazoleta Gay

Firms such as Ynchausti y cia. (Spanish), El Louvre (French),  Lizarraga Hermanos (Spanish) and Levy Hermanos & Co. (French) do business in Iloilo in the late 1880s. These establishments were noted merchants, capitalists and large commodities brokers. There were also other European and American firms dealing in maritime and fire insurance.

Alsoa number of  European specialty shops and retail stores were on hand selling hats, watches, naval supplies, etc. A piano studio, tailoring and  machine shops were moreover,  available. Furthermore, here was located Spanish and native establishments like Bazar Cosmopolitan, Cafe Colon, La Puerta del Sol, La  Espega de Oro, La  Zaragoza, and Tordecillas y ca. There was also  German-owned drugstore called Botica Antigua.

Source: Protocols 1601, Yloilo, March 31,  1887;  Contribuciones  industriales, Iloilo)


Telegraph in Iloilo
Under Spanish government there was a land telegraph service from Manila to all civilized parts of Luzon Island—also in Panay Island from Cápiz to Yloilo .

Source : John Foreham


Spanish Prohibition of Native Liquor
1855 - the Spaniards prohibited the sale of liquor except vino de estanco imported from Spain and sold only by the Spaniards. In pueblo of Dumangas, Mateo Dorilag revolted against this wine monopoly because they could not drink tuba – favorite native coconut wine.

Pueblo of Lucena. Fray Fernando Hernandez and Fray Mateo Serapio ordered the natives to speak Hiligaynon only and not Kinaray-a and those found violating will be met with the pain of severe punishment.

Electricity
The Panay Electric Co. started operating in 1921, although electricity was already available in Iloilo City as early as 1902 with the Iloilo Light Compony.

1863 - Spanish Reforms on Public Education

Through the education decree of December 20, 1863, Queen Isabella II of Spain decreed the establishment of a free public school system in Philippines using Spanish as the language of instruction increasing numbers of educated Ilonggos.
(Source: Nuevas Escuelas Publicas de Janiuay, Ilo-ilo, Recientemente Inauguradas, para niñas y niños. La Ilustracion Española Y Americana. 22 de  Setiembre de 1885)

Jaro Cathedral and  Plaza emerged

1865: Jaro became diocese - Pope Pius IX  in the Bull of Erection, “QUI AB INITIO”  on May 27,1865, of the  Diocese of Jaro insisted that the new bishop should found and organize a seminary as soon as possible.

1867 - The Archbishop of Manila, Most Rev. Gregorio Meliton Martinez carried out the decree into effect on October 10, 1867. "Decretum Executorium" was also signed by the Rev. Jose Burgos pro-secretary, a secular priest who became one of the outstanding martyr-heroes of the country.  At the time Most Rev. Mariano Cuartero, O.P., the appointed first bishop of  Jaro was still in Spain acting as General Procurator of the Dominican Order. He received episcopal ordination at the Dominican Seminary of Ocania, Spain on November 1867.

1868 - Saint Vincent Seminary in  Jaro - Father Gregorio Martinez officially became the first bishop of Jaro Diocese on April 25, 1868. The new bishop founded the Diocesan Seminary where he could train good pastors for the different parishes, which at that time were almost entirely under the spiritual administration of the Augustinians friars who were then regarded as the Fathers of Faith in  Panay.

Jaro was made separate from and independent of its mother  diocese of Cebu and became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Manila. Its territories comprised the islands of Panay (now composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Aklan, and Antique), Negros Island (now provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental), Romblon, Palawan and Jolo groups, and the  provinces of Cotabato, Zamboanga and Davao in Mindanao.

Lapaz - This district became an independent parish in  1868

Colegio de San  Jose
1872 – Colegio de San Jose  had its  humble beginning in 1872. Reverend Father Ildefonso Moral, C.M., Rector of Jaro  Archdiocesan Seminary and Don Recardo Mascuñana signed the contract of its  establishment on July 9, 1871.




Cabeza de Barangay - Honored in Jaro Cathedral

Don Manuel Javellana and Doña Gertrudis Lopez son is Don Cristino Javella y Lopez (photo above) became cabeza de barangay in Jaro. He was born in 1850 as devout Catholic, he was among those who helped build the Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Metropolitan  Cathedral (more popularly known today as the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral) which was started in 1864. His first wife Baldomera Ledesma bore him with a son Cirilo. His remains were interred in one of the 12 columns along the aisle of the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Metropolitan Cathedral in Jaro together with his son Cirilo. Carved in the gravestone were:

RESTOS MORTALES DE
D. CRISTINO Y CIRILO
JAVELLANA


1886 - Queen Regent made Jaro as City

Newly discovered technologies continue to arrive in Iloilo international port in 1880's. Various international stores and hotels are found in Calle Real. Several banks were opened to cater the bulk of money flow from countries of the world.

1886 – Queen of Spain made the town of Jaro as a city ( Ayuntamiento).  It covers Lapaz area. Eugenio Lopez was the last gobernadorcillo in 1876. He served as regidor or council. When news of revolution came to Jaro.

1889 -  By October 5, the Queen of Spain royal decree officially elevated Iloilo as a city.



En Edioma Espanol
"“A propuesta del Ministro de Ultramar, y teniendo en cuenta el creciente desarrollo que en la industria y el commercio ha alcanzado la cabecera de la provincia de IloIlo, la más importante de las islas de Filipinas, despues de la de Manila; En nombre de mi Augusto Hijo el Rey D. Alfonso XIII, y como Reina Regente del Reino, Vengo en conceder " el titulo de la Ciudad"  á la cabecera de IloIlo, en dichas islas. Dado en San Sebastian á cinco de Octubre de mil ochocientos ochenta y nueve. Maria Cristina”

English Translation
 " With the proposal of Foreign Minester , taking into account the increasing development in the industry and the commerce has reached the capital of the province of Ilo-Ilo, the most important  of the islands of the Philippines, after the Manila, on behalf of my August son Don King Alfonso XIII, and as Queen Regent of the Kingdom, I hereby grant the title of the City at the Capital of IloIlo, in these islands. Given in San Sebastian to October 5 of 1889. Mary Christene "

Iloilo Is Legally Founded As  A City - January 31, 1890

Old Iloilo City Presidencia and the Royal Seal of Iloilo City bearing the label which translates in English as Ever Royal and Noble City of Iloilo. 

By November 12, overseas minister Manuel Becerra promulgated a law in a Spanish Cortes (Court) establishing the City Hall. After the signing of a superior decree of 31 January 1890 was signed and Iloilo was granted the authority to have its own city council the right to organize Ayuntamiento (photo) similar to those of the municipalities of Spain. Iloilo City hall was established on February 7, 1890 with Don Tirso Lizarraga as alcalde mayor with Don Sabino Ordaz and Don Isidro de la Rama as tenientes de alcade, and nine councilors. Iloilo became a twin-city of Queen of Spain.

March 1897 - First Bank Outside Manila

Previously known as El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II, Banco de las Islas Filipinas the oldest bank in the Philippines and the first to print Philippine currency opened in Iloilo on March 15, 1897.



1897 - Tagalog Sedition was threat to Iloilo Economy

To A Cultured Society of Iloilo - Insurgencies is disrespect and ingratitude.

A great threat to the International trade of Iloilo.

Iloilo progress economically and socially at late 1800's. Through Spanish reforms on education and economics, the Philippines became the second country in the whole of Asia in economics, education and culture. Ilonggo society attributes these socio-economic progress to the Spanish government. The news of revolution have reached Iloilo to a cultured spirit of Iloilo its a sign of ingratitude to the Spanish government. Moreover, a threat to their economy and  international trade. A sign of progress was underscore by establishment of the first bank outside Manila in Iloilo.


A sense of debt of gratitude swept whole Iloilo

A few days after the Cry of Balintawak. The Ayuntamiento (municipal council) of Jaro was the first to condemn by way of a resolution in September 1, the revolution as "an unpatriotic act" that finds no echo in the hearts of the Jarenos". The Ayuntamiento of Iloilo followed suit and organized the Iloilo Battalion. Driven by  outpouring love and loyalty toward Spain. A volunteer infantry called "Voluntarios" were recruited. Five hundred native troops of strong and brave Ilonggos, Jaro and Iloilo and the adjoining prosperous towns of Molo, Arevalo, Oton and Sta. Barbara and the more distant northern and eastern pueblos.

Ilonggo Sentiments Governed Calle Real

Martin Delgado, Quintin Salas, Pedro Monteclaro and Adriano Hernandez were among the officers of the battalion gathered and plan to quell the revolutionaries in Manila.the Ilonggo Volunteers gathered at Plaza Alfonso XII (present-day Plaza Libertad) or blessings prior to their departure to Manila. A massive overflow of pro-Spanish patriotism marked the occasion that was attended, in full force, by local Spanish authorities and the Iloilo Ayuntamiento. Diario de Manila, the Ilongo Volunteers embarked on the ship Brutus as folk heroes, cheered by the people who sent them off en masse. Bishop Leandro Arrue and the city officials, led by Governor Ricardo Monet, joined the multitude that wished the Ilongo volunteers luck in their fight for the Mother Country.

Eugenio and Esteban - Ilongos United Leales

Fund-raising to fortify the Ilongo and Spanish battalion divided into two companies, the Volunteer battalion arrived in Manila on 16 January 1897. It easily became one of the largest native contingent to serve the government forces against the insurgent soldiers of General Emilio Aguinaldo in the battlegrounds of Cavite province. Regular financial contributions mainly from the families of the Ilonggo elite supported the Ilonggo Volunteers throughout their years of service. The first fund raising campaign in March 1897 generated some 1,615 pesos. Among the leading contributors were Felix de la Rama and Eugenio Lopez, as well as other urban elite families from both Iloilo and Jaro. Before this, as per the report of Diario de Manila, some 40,000 pesos had already been collected when the Ilonggo Battalion embarked for Manila, 'an amount at the time that would last them for four months.....'

Two Ilongo sugar barons wanted to stop the Tagalogs insurgency. One is Don Eugenio Lopez and Don Esteban De La Rama .

1898: La Muy Noble y Leal Ciudad de Iloilo

Research Center of Iloilo: The History Of Iloilo Chapter 5 - 1800's

Chapter 5
1800's

* highlighted in violet is the timeline or date

Spanish Economic Reform- Sugar Industry

Manila-Acapulco galleon trade was closed in 1815 due to low profitability. At the turn of century, sugar turned from being a luxury in Europe into a necessity. There was high demand for sugar prompting Spain to execute economic reforms by opening sugar industry to the world market and support the sugarcane farming in Philippines. Port of Manila opened to foreign trade in 1837 was followed by a period of rising industry and prosperity.

In Iloilo it exported tobacco leaf, sugar, sapan or dyewood (an industry long ago ruined), hemp (Lanot), and hides.This  motivated large scale near-enslavement by Ilongo Sugar Barons in Negros Occidental. 

The advent of Steam-Ships-  "saved the day"

Industrial Revolution hits America and Europe. Spain bought steam-propelled ships from Great Britain. As a result, the export increase exponentially because steamships are more speedy than sail-ships and Spanish easily captured pirates in the waters of Negros Occidental. International seaport opened in Iloilo forged  widespread construction of beautiful concrete churches and mansions in Iloilo. Increasing wealth allowed middle-class mestizo parents to send their sons to universities both at home and abroad.  Calle Real was vitalized as major  port next to Manila that sell sugar to Europe, Australia and America.



A Dangerous Land turned opportunity for Ilongos

The Spanish government neglect of Negros  Occidental made habitation in the area dangerous for the indigenous population and lacking in social and physical  amenities for foreign colonials. Most of the towns in Negros has no concrete church because they cannot afford to construct one. There’s also hostilities with the mountain folks, the ambaks and mundos. An apocrypha writings says,

“As  far as  could be determined, the earliest people in these localities were the  semisavage  Mondos and Ambaks. Traders in sailboats from Panay used to land at [Barrio] Talisay to replenish their food and water supply and brought back to  their home  island (Panay) stories of the potentialities of fishing and farming in the land  they had visited. Slowly but steadily Malay settlers from Panay  came and drove  the Mondos and Ambaks to the interior”


Brutal Life in Negros Occidental

Life in western Negros remained brutish and insecure. Local inhabitants are often defenseless from Moro pirates who plundered the coastal settlements in search of goods and slaves usually destroying what they could not carry away. Even the Spanish governor of Negros was held captive in 1771. Potentiating their
poverty.

Pirates inflict misery in Negros Occidental

In 1829, Moros captured a hundred or so natives from Bacolod, Talisay, and Silay as slaves. When Spain opened the sugar commerce to the world, Negros received attention from Spanish government fortifying defense to protect the laborers in sugarcane plantation through governors Luis Villasis (1833-40) and José Saenz y Vizmanos(1840-48) finally eliminated until the time of Governor Emilio Saravia that in 1857, he defeated them in the waters off Silay. Shortly after this engagement, the government stationed two steam gunboats to patrol the  Guimaras Strait, discouraging further pirate depredations.

Once Pirates cleared- Hacienderos in

Once the pirates has been cleared, large numbers of hacienderos from Jaro and Molo, Iloilo begun to purchase vast lands from Binalbagan to Bago up to Silay and Cadiz converting these deep jungle into sugarlandia. It was cheap due to its value. From 35,007 population in 1845 it soared 5 times fold in 1886 to 154, 408.

Arrival of Chinese, British and Swiss in Iloilo for Commerce

In 1834, the Spanish allowed both non-Spanish Westerners and Chinese immigrants to settle anywhere in the islands. Chinese arrived in Iloilo were Lopez, Lacson and Locsin. They interbred with the locals and adopted Hiligaynon dialect. These Chinese descent invested their money to purchase several lands in Negros. It was a lucrative business. At a span of a decade, they became prosperous and begun to build mansions in Iloilo. On the other island, an extreme exploitation of poor peasants  goes on to decades and century.


Ilonggo founded  the town of Eustacio Lopez ( Silay)

Eustacio Lopez of Jaro, whose famous first cousin is Graciano Lopez Jaena ( their fathers are brothers Fermin and Placido respectively) owned 18 Hacienda in Silay founded Hacienda Dalinson in Kabankalan Norte and changed it into his name E. Lopez because he owned 99% of the town. It is here where Don Eustacio hide his first cousin Graciano  Lopez due to fear of Spanish reprisal  of his famous anti-friar propaganda“ Fray Botod’. Don Eustacio offered money and send his close cousin to Spain. Another brother of Fermin is Claudio Lopez, an honorary associate consul of Portugal.

Don Bernardino Jalandoni & Dona Ysabel Lopez Ledesma of Jaro settled in Silay, Negros Occidental.  Jose Ledesma and his wife Magdalena Ledesma followed.



Ilonggo founded a new town, Pulupandan

Vicenta Yanzon Locsin from Molo with his husband, Don Agustin Montilla petitioned the Spanish governor for the official recognition of his new agricultural settlement (estancia) at the visita in Pulupandan, town of Bago, he assured the  government that he could adequately protect his laborers from the Moros who stopped at the nearby island of Inampulugan, with 118 laborers rice, coconuts, cotton, abaca, maize and mongo beans. Population grew that mantilla ask to erect a chapel because its tiresome for his 800 villagers to go to Bago to hear mass on Sunday. Isabela (Haciendas Bonifacio, Josefa, and Espana). Their  children are Lina, Julian, Bonifacio, Eustaquia, Domingo, Josefa, Petronila, and  Juana.
Founded 1898.

Ilonggos building Bago

1891 - Juan Araneta of Molo after loosing his Hacienda in Bago. He founded Hacienda Fermina in Dinapalan and Ma-ao, Bago. He has a very large family with 25 children. The house of General Juan Araneta in Bago City was built towards the end of the 19th century and stands today as the Araneta  Museum.Bago was founded as town.


Ilongos  founded  Pontevedra.

Basilio Lopez and Sabina Jalandoni purchased vast lands in  Hacienda Silay-Saravia and their child Eulogia acquired 2 haciendas in Victorias  of 125 hectares, their son Eugenio acquired 535 hectares in Casalagan, Pontevedra half of it given to his son Don Benito, who became a governor of  Iloilo.


Ilonggos Building Talisay

1840 - Lucio Lacson y Petronila and Clara Ledesma of Iloilo from Molo acquired a vast estate in Talisay and cultivated it for sugar plantation. He became the second richest planters in Negros. He built the beautiful mansion in Molo. His child is Mariano Lacson y Ledesma had built mansion. Another one of their 7 children,  Aniceto Lacson y Ledesma of Molo and married to Rosario Araneta with 11 children operated the vast hacienda Matabang in Talisay with his second wife, Magdalena Torres. He  had 10 children. He becomes one of the richest man in Negros and lead the freedom of the land from the Spanish regime and became its president. It was founded as town 1840-1850.


Ilonggos in Sagay

Eugenio Lopez y Jalandoni from Jaro had a child, Don Gil Lopez (born 1870) married Dona Albin Hofileña who at the time in the late 1890 was a pen-pal of the country's hero, Graciano Lopez- Jaena. During the revolution of 1898, it was Don Gil Lopez who led the revolutionary forces from the Sagay-Cadiz  area. He is also a famous violinist. Two of Albina aunt had married two Lopez brothers; Elena Hofilena married Vicente Lopez and Presentacion Hofilena married Benito Lopez. They are the  parents of tycoon Eugenio Lopez and former Vice-President Fernando Lopez.


Ilonggo  founded a new town of Manapla

In  1890, Catalino and Fortunato Valderrama, sons of a Chinese immigrant convert and his Ilonggo wife left their home in Molo in Iloilo at a youthful age when the cloth business that had sustained their parents no longer produced profits. He oversaw the clearing of some 300 hectares of frontier in Cadiz then opening up to settlement and established the  place called Manapla. During the following decade his younger brother  established Hacienda Nazareth on 400 hectares in newly established town of Manapla.
Founded 1886-1898.


Ilonggos of Binalbagan &  Isabela (MoisesPadilla included)

Don Ignacio Lacson-Arroyo (photo above) was a cabeza de barangay of Molo, Iloilo. He was the son of Pedro Arroyo of Molo and Apolonia Lacson. He owned vast hacienda in Isabela, Hinigaran and La Castellana. His son Mariano became governor of Iloilo in 1928, his daughter founded the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary in Molo, his son Jose Maria became senator in 1919, he had married Jesusa Araneta-Lacson.

Agapito Villavicencio Montero, a native of Mandurriao, Iloilo was born on August 18,1855 and at the tender age of 18 years married Maximiana Mesa Abeto and settled in Binalbagan. The couple acquired properties in Binalbagan which is now known as Hacienda Loreto and Hacienda Alimango. They bore 14 children many of whom died in their infancy and young  adulthood while nine children survived and eight of whom married. Their descendants
becomes prominent people of Himamaylan, Binalbagan and Isabela after the World War II. Some Yulos settled in Binalbagan.
1850-1886 founding years as a town


Ilongos of Hinigaran and Himamaylan

Hinigaran prominent people were the families of  Yulo, Mongcal, Dano-og, Curio, Sarrosa, David, Pido, Pabalinas, Saril Luntayao and Grijaldo. They came mostly from Miag-ao and Guimbal towns  in Iloilo Province. The demand for sugar by foreign firms stirred the interest of the people of Panay to acquire more lands for cultivation of sugar. The elite of Molo chose Hinigaran as the place for their haciendas. The Yulo’s of Hinigaran and Binalbagan produced Mariano Yulo, a former Senator from 1928 to 1931. Gatuslao from Guimbal settled in Himamaylan and begun to clear the vast jungle and converted it to sugarcane producing estates. The Yulo’s of Hinigaran Binalbagan produced Mariano Yulo a former Senator from 1928 to 1931.


1800-1850- Founding years

Sources: Gu ía de forasteros in las Islas Filipinas, para el año 1850 (Manila: Los Amigos del Pals, 1850pp. 284-91; Guía oficial de Filipinas . 1886 (Manila: Ramirez y Giraudier, 1885), pp. 661-62; Guía oficial de las Islas Filipinas para 1898 (Manila: Chofré, 1898)



Ilonggo founded a new town La Carlota

Don Felix Locsin-Melitante Araneta was born on March 18, 1840 in Molo, Iloilo, one of the pioneer hacienderos of Negros Occidental. He acquired a huge estate in Mangkas. He named it “Hacienda Paz”after his wife Paz Ditching Soriano from Molo also. Their fifth child, Marciano S. Araneta (photo above) led the  revolutionary that attacked the headquarters of the Spanish officials, their child a Surgeon Araneta in Molo leads comite in Iloilo and child in Manila active with Aguinaldo. 1850-1886 Founded as town.

Rodrigo Araneta Montinola of Jaro, Iloilo owned Hacienda Estela after his daughter with Felisa Jalandoni. They have built a house in Jaro called RAM.



Doña Matilde Jalandoni Montinola

Isabel Araneta, daughter of Don Felix Araneta married Roque Lacson Sanson having a son named Alfredo Araneta Sanson.
Alfredo married Dona Matilde Jalandoni Montinola of Jaro and built a mansion in Jaro called Sanson y Montinola Antillan House.
The house is given to their son Gregorio Montinola Sanson with her wife Marilou Lorca Tirol of Jaro.


1818 - Molo separated and became a town

1818  - When nearby Arevalo became the capital of the alcaldia de Ylong-ylong (Province  of Iloilo), Molo was its mere suburb and the capital was transferred to Iloilo until 1818 when it became a pueblo. Casa Real (municipal  hall) was constructed and is still standing beside the Molo church. During the American regime it became a mere part of the town of Iloilo  in 1903 and in  1937  became a  district of the City of Iloilo. Prominent families like Lacson, Locsin and Araneta emerged in this area. Sugar brought prosperity to these families that enable to send their children in Manila for education and instrumental in uprising both in Iloilo and Negros Occidental.

1831 - The church of Molo was constructed under the the office of   Rev. Fr. Pablo Montano as parish priest. It was completed during the time of Rev. Fr. Agapito Buenaflor. It is said to be one of the most beautiful churches in Western Visayas.


Spanish Towns of Iloilo 1834

9 new towns emerged such as Cabatuan, Santa Barbara and Maasin as distinct from Jaro, town of Camando is still on its old name, town of Angoy (now called San Miguel), Mandurriao appeared, Lambunao separated from Laglag , Janiuay and Tubungan appeared.

Previous 15 Spanish Towns are Jaro, Molo, Arevalo, Iloilo
Laglag now termed as Dingle, Guimbal, Tigbaun, Oton, Dumangas, Anilao, Banate, Barotac, Pase and Alimodian. However Ajuy disappeared and now Pili appeared.

A total of 24 towns were established in the province of Iloilo by 1834 after 100 years from 1874.

Jaro prospered

1840 - Gabriel Lafond de Lurcy a French drew this picture of Jaro society in his book

The vast sugar plantations and industry brought prosperity to many families of Jaro such as Jalandoni, Lopez, Ledesma, Javelona and Montinola. With sufficient profits, the Spanish government started building of schools and cathedral in Jaro. It became the center of faith in Iloilo and ecclesiastical instruction. Several families around Iloilo now have access to education. Other families were able to send their children to Manila to study in Letran and Santo Tomas and even in Spain.

1840 - Gabriel Lafond de Lurcy a French drew this picture of Jaro society in his book

“ Haro is much bigger in size than Iloilo; it is a rich town of mestizos who own great fortunes…the people of Haro are more civilized than those of the other neighboring towns (Molo and Iloilo). The color of their skin is whiter, consequence of a great mixture of European blood; and Spanish is spoken better there than in any place in the colony, the Capital excepted; the women are very beautiful and I can give assurance of this, having had the pleasure of being amongst them, that they have grace and figure and the features, which would call attention even in Europe. They show taste in their dress, which is rich and elegant and, like all mestizas, they show a lot of spirit.”

Source:  Quinze Ans de Voyage Autor de Monde Vol. II ( 1840)



Britishman offered Loan and technology

1855 - The  production of sugars in Negros Occidental increased tremendously. It prompted the Spanish government to open the port of Iloilo to international trade without passing Manila. Nicholas  Loney, a British merchant settled in Iloilo in the following year bringing machineries  and European technology that improves  yield and improved the quality of Iloilo sugar to world market standards. Many families of Jaro and Molo prospered and built historic mansions. During that time, sugar was already being  grown sporadically throughout Panay but not on a vast plantation-type scale. In 1855 before Loney arrived in Iloilo City, Panay produced an average of only 750 tons of sugar a year. By 1860 five years after he arrived in Iloilo City,  Philippine sugar exports rose tenfold to 7,500 tons!  Loney established his own export-import company in 1860 and with his brother Robert who had acquired a hacienda on Negros a year later.

"I could mention the names of half a dozen real-estate owners in Yloilo Province who having started with nothing somehow found themselves possessing comparatively large fortunes at the time of the liquidation."

1858  -  Sir John Bowring, a former British governor of Hong Kong visiting Iloilo in 1858 was so impressed by what he saw, that he wrote in his book, A Visit to the  Philippines (1859) the following:

"The province is not only one of the most numerously peopled, it is perhaps the most productive in agricultural and most active in manufacturing, industry and among the best instructed of the Philippines. It has extensive and cultivated plains and its roads are among the best seen in the archipelago.”

A Custom-house was established and port opened in Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) for direct communication with abroad in 1831; those of Sual (Pangasinán) and Yloilo (Panay Is.) in 1855, and that of Cebú in 1863

Source: John Foreham The Philippine Islands Septmber 1905 Third Edition

Ilongo Families migrated to Negros Occidental and their extinction in Iloilo

Inspired by good profits, several Ilongo families who have capital decided to move to Negros Occidental. Among the prominent families at the head of the Ilonggo migration to Negros in the 19th century were the Bellezas, Consings, Conlus, De la Ramas, Lacsons, Lazaros, Locsins, Magalonas, Mellizas and Montelibanos of Molo; the Benedictos, Gamboas, Hernaezes, Hilados, Hofilenas, Jaymes, Jisons, Ledesmas, Lopezes, and Severinos of Jaro; the Belmontes, Cuaycongs and Mondragons of Mandurriao; and the Navals and Vitos of Capiz (Varona 1938). These families generally settled in  the central and northern sections of the western side of Negros.

The earliest recorded direct foreign exportation from Iloilo port took place when the Brigantine, a Portuguese ship loaded some 500 piculs of sibucao (dye wood) for the colony of Macau

Robustiano Echaúz wrote in his published book in 1894 entitled “Apuntes de la  Isla de Negros” or “Sketches of the Island of Negros”:

“Los insulares de Jaro y Molo, van á Negros; Simeón Ledesma y Lucio Lacson, se dirigen á Minuluan, dan  trazado á sus propiedades, forma el primero con Cornelio Hilado, su portentosa hacienda Bagacay, el segundo, su grande y hermoso Matabang, y se abren las de Binonga y otras muchas”.

“Filipinos from Jaro and Molo came to Negros. Simeon Ledesma and Lucio Lacson settled in Minuluan where they laid out the boundaries of their properties. Ledesma and Cornelio Hilado created their wonderful Hacienda Bagacay. Lacson built the big and beautiful Hacienda Matabang. Haciendas at Binonga and many others were also established”. (Donn V. Hart in 1978)


Custom House in Iloilo

In order to evade the payment of the Manila Port Works Tax for which no value was given, large quantities of piece-goods for Manila were shipped from Europe to Yloilo passed through the custom house there and re-shipped in inter-island steamers to Manila. In 1890 some two-thirds of the Yloilo foreign imports were for re-shipment.

Between Yloilo and the adjoining Province of Antique, the district of Concepcion and the islands of Negros and Cebú, there were some half-dozen small steamers belonging to Filipinos and Spaniards running regularly with passengers and merchandise whilst in the sugar-producing season—from January to May—they were fully freighted with cargoes of this staple article.

The carrying-trade in sailing craft between the islands was chiefly in the hands of natives and half-castes. There were also a few Spanish sailing-ship owners and in the Port of Yloilo a few schooners (called lorchas) loading from 40 to 100 tons of sugar were the property of foreigners under the nominal ownership of Spanish subjects for the reasons mentioned in the preceding page.

Source : John Foreman The Philippine Islands Septmber 1905 Third Edition



1855 - Iloilo International Port opened

"In his early dealings, Loney took cash loans from the prominent American firm of Russell, Sturgis and Company which put up its own branch in Iloilo in 1863. Subsequently, the other American merchant house in the Philippines, Peele, Hubbell and Company and such British firms as Smith, Bell and Company and Warner, Barnes and Company entered the sugar business encouraging the growth of the industry on Negros. Together these houses dominated foreign export of sugar from Iloilo and became the chief suppliers of imported goods and machinery as well as a source of credit to  Negros planters. Iloilo opened to international commerce in 1855 making it  possible for exporters to bypass Manila as a transshipment point and thus to  reduce shipping costs. By the mid-1860s Iloilo became the chief port for Negros mat, a position it held throughout the remainder of the period."

It was such a noisy busy street of port of Iloilo which later called Muelle Loney to honor the British who contributed extensively for the sugar industry boom with direct commerce to Europe, America and Australia. Upon the discovery of lights, railways and other modern conveniences Iloilo take advantage of them.