ILOILO City – The month-long celebration of Iloilo City’s 85th Charter Day has been launched.
The highlight is on Aug. 25.
This year’s theme is “Forging Stronger Ties in the Community.”
The celebration will be modest due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), said Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Activities include tourism-related contests, Iloilo River cleanup, tree planting, sports tournaments, urban gardening, anti-tobacco advocacy, tax campaign, fun run, discounts when shopping and dining and on accommodations, business forums and expo, blood-letting, storytelling party, and job fair, among others.
There won’t be a Mayor’s Ball but there would be a simple dinner to recognize the city’s top taxpayers.
There won’t be a grand Charter Day parade, too.
Iloilo was formally inaugurated as a chartered city on Aug. 25, 1937.
According to former Iloilo City tourism officer Ben Jimena, the inauguration was initially scheduled on July 16, 1937 but was moved to Aug. 25, 1937 because of the pending appointment of a permanent mayor.
That time, the interim mayor was Angel Tadeo, former provincial treasurer, and there were 24 persons interested to become alcalde. Eventually, it was Dr. Ramon J. Campos who was sworn in as mayor of Iloilo City.
A review of the past with some help from historians and museum owners pointed to July 16, 1937 as the date when Commonwealth Act No. 57 became a law converting Iloilo to a city.
The condition for the conversion was its consolidation with the towns of La Paz and Arevalo to meet the population requirement. Prior to this, the towns of Molo and Mandurriao were already made part of the Municipality of Iloilo. With the consolidation, the total city population increased to 53,353 enough to meet the needed number.
At that time, Jaro was still a separate municipality that had both Leganes and Pavia areas attached to it. Several years later, when Jaro was also made part of Iloilo City, the two adjoining towns were declared independent./PN
