Under Philip II in 1565, Miguel L�pez de Legazpi, tasked with expanding Spanish dominion in the Philippines, sent his grandson Felipe de Salcedo, alongside Augustinian missionaries such as Mart�n de Rada, to explore the Visayas for resources. Landing on Panay, they established a temporary settlement in Araut, to secure food supplies amid scarcity in Cebu. By 1566, a more permanent foothold emerged between Ogtong (Oton) and La Villa Rica de Arevalo, formalized when Oton was established as a colonial outpost in 1572 under Legazpi�s command. This made Oton the second official Spanish settlement in the archipelago after Cebu. The city was founded by 80 pure Spaniards from Europe. In 1586, it welcomed another 20 European Spanish Households and the garrison was reinforced by 30 Spanish and Mexican soldiers.This was reinforced by a consecutive number of 66, 50, 169, and then another 169 Mexican soldiers from Latin America during the years 1603, 1636, 1670, and 1672. Later in the 1700s, Iloilo was home to 166 Spanish Filipino families and 29,723 native families. The people of Panay, unlike the neutral Cebuanos or the partially Islamized Tagalogs of Manila who resisted Spanish rule, embraced the Iberians as allies. At the time, Panay was embroiled in a struggle against Muslim forces from the Sultanate of Brunei and its vassals, the Sultanate of Sulu and the Kingdom of Maynila, which Spanish Governor-General Francisco de Sande described as kin to the locals. The alliance proved pivotal, as Panay natives supplied a significant portion of the mercenary forces used to subdue Manila�s rulers, who were tied to Brunei. The rapid adoption of Christianity among the Panaynons facilitated their integration into the Spanish colonial framework. Before Spanish contact, Visayan groups, including those from Panay, were notorious for their piracy and slave-raiding expeditions, known locally as panggubat. The raids, often launched after harvests or during specific months like February to A
Following the Spanish withdrawal, revolutionary forces entered Iloilo with fanfare, establishing a provisional government. On January 17, 1899, Raymundo Melliza, a prominent figure from Molo�s elite, was elected mayor. American forces arrived in 1900, downgrading Iloilo from a city to a township amid the transition to U.S. control. In 1903, Act No. 719 reorganized the region, incorporating the municipalities of Jaro, La Paz, Mandurriao, and Molo into the jurisdiction of Iloilo. Pavia joined briefly in 1905 under Act No. 1333 but was separated in 1907 alongside Jaro, which became an independent municipality in 1908 via Executive Order No. 64. La Paz regained its autonomy in 1920 through Executive Order No. 70, signed in 1919. American Protestant missionaries established some of the earliest Protestant institutions in the Philippines in Iloilo, including Jaro Evangelical Church (the first Baptist church in the country), Iloilo Mission Hospital (the first American and Protestant hospital in the country), and Central Philippine University (the first Baptist and second American and Protestant university in the country). Other early infrastructure projects by the American administration included the construction of Baluarte and Arroyo streets, the extension of Delgado Street to Valeria, and the development of Fuentes and Jalandoni streets, reaching what is now the University of the Philippines Visayas campus. Quezon and Mabini streets were paved and lined with sidewalks, and by 1921 the city was illuminated with streetlights. In 1926, authorities began widening key thoroughfares such as General Luna, J.M. Basa, and Ledesma. In 1927, the improved Valeria-Ledesma street, formerly Weyler, was inaugurated. Commonwealth Act No. 57, enacted in 1936, restored Iloilo�s city status, swiftly amended by Act No. 158 to annex La Paz and Arevalo. The re-established city was inaugurated on August 25, 1937. Jaro�s incorporation followed in 1941 under Commonwealth Act No. 604, with
The earliest written reference to Iloilo appears in Yuan Dynasty records from the 1300s, identifying Oton�west of Iloilo City�as in Hokkien Chinese: ??; Pe?h-?e-j?: A-t�n, a bustling trade outpost in the Visayas. Although, little is known historically about the region prior to the arrival of the Spanish, Jesuit missionary Francisco Ignacio Alcina, in his 1668 work Historia natural del sitio, fertilidad y calidad de las Islas e Indios de Bisayas, identifies the Hiligaynon people originated from Leyte, aligning with linguistic subgrouping of the Hiligaynon language. Local legends, notably the epic Maragtas by Pedro Monteclaro (published 1907), offer a different origin story. It describes how ten datus, led by Datu Puti, fled Borneo to escape the tyrant Sultan Makatunaw, arriving in Panay and purchasing its lowlands from the Ati king Marikudo with a golden salakot and a necklace for his queen, Maniwan-tiwan. The transaction, followed by a pact of friendship, is said to have inspired the Dinagyang Festival. Though once widely accepted and included in school textbooks, Maragtas (along with the Code of Kalantiaw) is now considered a 20th-century hoax, a view solidified by historian William Henry Scott�s 1968 critique,upheld by experts like Gregorio Zaide and Teodoro Agoncillo. A 2019 thesis by Talaguit cites an earlier version of the story by Augustinian Friar Rev. Fr. Tomas Santaren (1902), based on manuscripts he obtained in Iloilo after 1858. Though Santaren�s account supports Monteclaro�s, the manuscripts, written in romanized Hiligaynon during the colonial era, likely reflect oral folklore rather than pre-colonial history. Thus, while Maragtas may reflect elements of local folk history, it is unlikely to be a pre-colonial document and is not regarded as authentic history but rather a blend of tradition and invention.
By 1942, the Japanese had invaded Panay, and the economy came to a standstill. During World War II, Iloilo was controlled by several Japanese battalions. Japan's ultimate goal was to entrench itself deeply in the Philippines so that, at the close of the war, it could occupy the country just as the Spanish and the Americans had years before. The Japanese built "comfort stations" in Iloilo in 1942, where they imprisoned Filipino "comfort women" who were routinely gang-raped, brutalized, and murdered for entertainment. Nevertheless, during the Japanese occupation, Macario Peralta Jr. freed most of Panay (with few exceptions) from Japanese imperialism. As a result, allied guerrillas from other provinces, including Romblon, Palawan, Marinduque, and portions of Masbate and Mindoro, considered Panay, the "Primus inter pares" in their alliance network. When Iloilo was liberated by Filipino and American forces from Japanese military occupation on March 25, 1945, the remnants of these battalions were held in Jaro Plaza, which was used as a makeshift detention facility.
The late 1960s marked the beginning of a period of unrest in the Philippines, driven by the economic fallout from Ferdinand Marcos� debt-driven projects. The projects, aimed at securing his re-election in 1969, led to a balance of payments crisis and soaring inflation. By the time of his second inauguration on December 30, 1969, the peso had begun to crash, sparking widespread social unrest. While major protests erupted in Manila, Iloilo City also became a center of resistance. Students from Central Philippine University and the nearby Western Institute of Technology in La Paz played a pivotal role in organizing the protests. They formed the Federation of Ilonggo Students (FIST), with leaders like Vic Beloria, Renato Ganchero, Virgil Ortigas, and the brothers Napoleon and Rolando Lorca. These activists would later be forced into hiding after Marcos declared martial law in 1972. Many of them lost their lives resisting the dictatorship and were honored as martyrs, with their names inscribed on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani (Heroes� Memorial). Another prominent student activist, Edmundo Legislador of the University of the Philippines Iloilo, was similarly honored for his role in the resistance. The declaration of martial law in 1972 marked the beginning of a 14-year period of authoritarian rule characterized by widespread human rights abuses. According to documentation by Amnesty International and Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, the Marcos regime was responsible for 3,257 extrajudicial killings, 35,000 cases of torture, and 70,000 incarcerations. Iloilo was not spared from the repression, as it became home to one of the key detention centers for political prisoners, the Camp Delgado. Among the prominent figures detained at Camp Delgado was Rodolfo Lagoc, a labor lawyer who was held without charges for six months. Another detainee was Coronacion �Walingwaling� Chiva, a World War II heroine whose legendary status largely protected her from harm during her det
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