One hundred and eight years ago this month of April, the present four provinces in West Visayas were established under the American regime.
To begin with, on February 6, 1901, the Philippine Commission (the legislative body then) passed Act 83 (A General Act for the Organization; of Provincial Governments in the Philippine Islands) otherwise known as [...]

LT. COL. CARLOS P. Romulo – the last man off Bataan, was at the Manduriao airport of Iloilo City when Bataan fell to the Japanese on April 19, 1942.
He left Cabcaben Airport in Bataan under heavy Japanese shelling around 1 a.m. of April 9, 1942 and landed in Mindanao at dawn.
After taking his breakfast at the [...]

IN 1805, SIXTY bandits from Alimodian, Iloilo led by Magua-ay attacked the pueblo of Anggoy.
Some inhabitants through prior notice of the coming of the bandits gathered at the convent to help parish priest Padre Nicolas Concepcion defend the church.
When the bandits arrived at night they forced open the church door. Then a strange, very bright light [...]

IN WESTERN VISAYAS, there are some towns named after animals:
Libacao – This place was formerly called Aglangka – from langka (jackfruit). It was said to be ruled by a woman named Abo-ab who spent her fortune on building roads and clearing the forest.

ON MARCH, the relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus will again visit Iloilo. This will be its second time in Iloilo thru the sponsorship of the Carmelite sisters of Jaro, the saint being a Carmelite nun. It first time was during the Great Jubilee year 2000. The relics consists of a piece of [...]

TWO TOWNS in Negros Occidental were named after a legend of one snake. When Mt. Kanlaon erupted, a large snake came out of its crater and swam down the river to the sea.

TWO towns in Iloilo are named after sand – Igbaras and Balasan. Igbaras was named by the Atis even before the Spaniards came. They prefix “ig” means “there is.” Hence, Igbaras means “there is sand” or baras.
Igbaras is on the bank of the Tangyan river which is abundant in sand.

ONCE AGAIN, on February 2, thousands of pilgrims from all over the land will troop to Jaro Cathedral for the feast of Our Lady of the Candles, the Patroness of West Visayas.
The Cathedral which is undergoing restoration at present was constructed starting 1869 almost immediately after the erection of the Diocese of Jaro on May [...]

WITH THE coming of the Americans and their new political doctrine of separation of Church and State, there was no more state church like during the Spanish time. The first Protestant sect to arrive in Western Visayas was the Baptists.
In 1900, Dr. Eric Lunda and Braulio Manikan of the American Baptist Missionary Union arrived in Iloilo [...]