ON OCTOBER 28, 1898, the general uprising against the Spaniards in Iloilo Province began. Two months after, on December 25, the Ilonggo revolutionary troops marched in military formation and in full regalia from Jaro, a suburb of Iloilo City, and converged in Plaza Alfonzo (now Plaza Libertad) in the downtown area. There they received the formal […]

THE ILONGGO-BISAYANS are among the principal ethno-linguistic groups of people in the Philippines. They are interchangeably referred to as Ilonggo or Bisaya and inhabit the islands of Panay and Guimaras, and the Province of Negros Occidental.

THE BISAYANS, like the rest of the Filipinos, did not take the Spanish colonization of their country sitting down. From the moment the Spaniards settled down permanently in the country in 1565, the natives fought back and continued their resistance in the form of revolts up to the end of the Spanish rule in 1898. […]

TIBIAO is one of the eighteen municipalities comprising the Province of Antique. It is located in the northern section of the Province and is about seventy-five kilometers north of the capital town of San Jose de Buenavista. Its neighboring towns are Barbaza and Culasi. It is composed of twenty barangays and the inhabitants are known as […]

Since early times, the Ilonggo-Bisaya have been noted to be pre-occupied with merry-making and in eating festive foods. They celebrated practically every family and community occasion. Every celebration was an excuse for gathering, feasting, singing and drinking.
Early Ilonggo food consisted of rice, boiled bananas and tubers, roasted meat and fish, and vegetables usually mixed with […]

TEXTILE WEAVING is a traditional industry that still exists today in Miag-ao, Iloilo. It has survived throughout the years and is being kept alive by the Indag-an Primary Multi-Purpose Cooperative which has become a key player in the weaving industry in the municipality.
Barangay Indag-an is an inland community that is almost four kilometer distance from the […]

IN THE PREVIOUS article, it was pointed out that two of the traits of the early Ilonggo-Bisaya written about by the early Spanish and other foreign writers were their being “maisog” (brave or courageous) and their being “mapisan” (industrious or hardworking). Other prominent traits of the Ilonggos that caught the attention of the colonizers were their […]

AMONG THE traits of the Ilonggo-Bisaya that the Spaniards had high regards was their being “mapisan” or industrious. Casimiro Diaz, for example, in a detailed account on ecclesiastical and Augustinian affairs, 1630-1640, described the people of Panay as “naturally docile than any other of the pintados, very industrious in their rice farms” (Diaz 1890). A French […]