In truth, I just came for the food. When the letter from former tourism secretary Narz Lim, now with the Iloilo Economic Development Foundation, arrived, inviting me to be part of a group of media folk to tour Iloilo City, in the back of my mind I was already savoring the flavors of Iloilo.
Just days before, I caught the show “Food Prints” of Sandy Daza on Ilonggo cuisine, and just watching Sandy and friends enjoy the chicken inasal, batchoy, seafood and fruits had me salivating.
So while ostensibly the object of the trip was to show us the site of the coming Independence Day celebrations in the town of Santa Barbara and the many tourism and real estate developments centered on Iloilo, my own private agenda had to do with imbibing as much of Iloilo cuisine as I could. Of course, to justify the gluttony, I told myself that to enjoy the food of a place is also to learn about the culture, history, mores and, dare I say, morals of the people.
True to my expectations, almost from the moment of our arrival food punctuated our hectic itinerary. From two kinds of batchoy breaks, to lunch “tabuan” style (that is, the food laid on banana leaves, albeit with centerpieces of fruits and blooms and served on porcelain plates) catered by Chef Rafael “Tibong” Jardeleza, an afternoon idyll at an ancestral home dedicated to hot thick chocolate served from iron chocolateras, to dinner of seafood on our first day at “Breakthrough” Restaurant by a beach, and a hearty predeparture late merienda of chicken inasal and more seafood at Tatoy’s, the food of Iloilo told us more about the agricultural riches of the province and the open, generous hearts and homes of Ilonggos than any number of slides or studies.
Iloilo, you left us filled and fulfilled, indeed!
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Come June 12, Independence Day, all eyes will be fixed on Santa Barbara, a town on the outskirts of Iloilo City, which played a key role in the struggle for independence from Spain.
The flag-raising commemorates the day, Nov. 17, 1898, when the Filipino flag, a replica of the one made in Hong Kong by Marcela Agoncillo and companions (based on a design by Emilio Aguinaldo), was first raised in the Visayas, marking the arrival of the revolution in central Philippines. Led by Gen. Martin Delgado, the Visayan revolutionaries expressed their loyalty to Aguinaldo, and in return, Aguinaldo sent them a flag and a saber.
The story of how the flag and saber arrived in Santa Barbara is itself quite a tale. The items made it through the checkpoints put up by the guardia civil (colonial constables) by being smuggled into town by Patrocinio Gamboa, then 33, a woman revolutionary (she remained single her whole life) who wrapped the flag around her body and under her clothes, riding a cart filled with grass (under which the saber was buried). When confronted by the constables, Gamboa pretended to berate her “husband” Lt. Honorio Solinap, distracting the soldiers who let them go on their way.
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There is an even more interesting story on the fate of General Delgado, who became the first governor of Iloilo when the Spanish authorities hightailed it to Manila. Local historians say that Delgado was soon embroiled in political intrigues (so what else is new?), and when he left for Hong Kong to seek relief for a skin condition, rumors were rife that the revolutionary leader was suffering from leprosy (or Hansen’s Disease, as it is now known).
When the ship he boarded was about to dock at the Iloilo port, it was driven back to sea on the excuse that Delgado could be bringing an “epidemic” of the disease with him. Instead, the ship was forced to unload Delgado in the Culion Leper Colony in Palawan, where he was exiled. He passed away in Culion, far from his family and friends. But in 2011, Delgado’s remains were dug up and returned to Santa Barbara, where they were buried beneath the flagpole (the highest in the Visayas) that will be the center of this year’s Independence Day celebrations.
The flag-raising will be followed by the vin d’honneur or ceremonial toast with the diplomatic community in attendance, in Iloilo City, at the Casa Real or old provincial capitol. The building, razed by fire in 1998, is undergoing feverish restoration work with an elegant checkerboard floor and huge, tall windows.
At the same time, the National Historical Institute and the Department of Tourism are working on the restoration of the Santa Barbara Church and town plaza, along with restoration work being carried out, with both public and private funding, on a number of heritage homes and buildings around the city.
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“Iloilo has always been a cosmopolitan city,” says Lim, who grew up and studied in Iloilo, and remembers visiting the many ancestral homes and churches that make many streets and town plazas showpieces of the genteel and elegant past.
A weaving and trading center not just of Western Visayas but of the entire country during the Spanish and American eras, Iloilo was blessed with a port that opened into the Iloilo River, bringing commerce and trade to the Chinese, Spanish and even British business houses. But unlike other parts of the country, Iloilo was an egalitarian province. Senate President Frank Drilon, who is the spark plug behind much of the development projects being undertaken in it, proudly declares that much of the landed estates are reasonably-sized, meaning the populace is for the most part middle-class.
Perhaps this is the reason Independence Day is to be celebrated in Iloilo, because in the future, as in the past, it shows us what a truly democratic, equitable and progressive society the whole country can be.