ILOILO City – Mayor Jerry Treñas is maintaining the ban on ukay-ukay from the city’s district plazas. But he is taking the policy to a whole new level. Beginning January 2020, district plazas would be off-limits, too, to all kinds of trade fairs and fiesta activities.
This policy is in keeping with Presidential Decree 1216 which provides that parks are for public use and therefore “beyond the commerce of men.”
“This would be the last time nga pag usar,” said Treñas yesterday, referring to activities scheduled to be held in district plazas this year.
He was referring to, among others, the district fiesta of Mandurriao this November and the annual “December Affair” trade fair at Jaro plaza.
Beginning next year, said Treñas, district plazas would be purely for rest and recreation.
The fiesta of Mandurriao would be held at its district plaza for the last time this November, he stressed.
On the other hand, the “December Affair” organized by the Liga ng mga Barangay of Jaro district will run for only nine days this December, according to the mayor,
In previous years, the “December Affair” would stretch for five months from October to February.
What will happen to the annual Feb. 2 Jaro fiesta, one of the biggest and oldest fiesta celebrations in the country?
Treñas said the Jaro fiesta carnival will only be for nine days, from Jan. 25 to Feb. 2.
Activities at the Jaro plaza would be strictly regulated. Vendors would be allowed to do business but only in limited designated areas within the plaza.
There would be no carnival rides at Jaro plaza, added Treñas.
The city’s chief executive said all district plazas would be rehabilitated beginning next year.
Ilonggo senator Franklin Drilon lobbied with Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) the rehabilitation.
“Ang Mandurriao (plaza) obrahon na between P30 million to P40 million budget, then ang tanan nga plaza,” he said.
In July, Treñas announced that the plan for the rehabilitation of the Jaro plaza had been submitted to TIEZA for possible funding. The rehabilitation needed around P40 million, he said.
The original Jaro plaza is believed to have been constructed in the late 1580s when it was the standard practice of the Spanish government to establish a plaza in their domain in order to bring the natives closer to Roman Catholicism and to achieve effective administrative control over the people.
Presumably, Iloilo’s two great heroes, Graciano Lopez Jaena and General Martin Delgado, were frequent strollers at the plaza in the 1870s or 1880s; they were students of the nearby San Vicente de Ferrer Seminary.
A statue of Lopez Jaena now stands at the west side of the park near the belfry. On the east side is the large gazebo with his name inscribed on top. The park is surrounded by awesome old buildings, including the Jaro Cathedral, the Jaro Archbishop’s Palace, and several old Spanish-style mansions.
The Jaro plaza restoration is just half of the Jaro Plaza Complex. The other half, already fully restored, was Jaro’s old municipal hall that now houses a regional museum under the auspices of the National Historical Commission and the National Museum. The Iloilo City Sangguniang Panlungsod passed an ordinance donating the structure to the National Museum.
The Jaro Plaza Complex is one of the seven heritage sites covered by Republic Act 10555 as conceived by its author, then congressman Treñas. The rest are the Jaro Cathedral, Molo Church, Molo Plaza Complex, Iloilo City Central Business District, Fort San Pedro, and the Plaza Libertad Complex.
The law mandates the Department of Tourism, TIEZA and the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council to preserve the aforesaid heritage sites./PN
