Iloilo’s quiet education boom

By Herman M. Lagon

After hearing young writers tackle big topics with brave, simple words, you begin to notice how a city speaks about learning in its quiet moments. In Iloilo lately, the chatter has shifted from “diin ka nag-eskwela?” to “diin sila mapatindog?” Of course, there’s excitement, but there’s also the usual criticism: another “hulat lang” post, another blurred site plan, another cousin’s friend who “knows someone” in a developer’s office. Even if half the chatter is smoke, it points to something real: Iloilo is no longer just a place that sends students to Manila. More schools and programs are starting to choose Iloilo because it is stable, livable and serious about education.

What makes the rumor mill interesting is not the rumor itself. It is the pattern underneath it. Iloilo already behaves like an education hub, even without needing to borrow prestige from the capital. On one side you have long-standing private universities and board-heavy programs: CPU, USA, SPUI, JBLFMU, UI-Phinma, IDC and WIT, among others. On another you have a dense cluster of state universities and colleges that quietly keep the region’s teaching, health, fisheries, agriculture, engineering and public service pipelines alive: UP Visayas, WVSU, ISATU, NISU, ISUFST, PCC and ICCC, among others. Add the strong basic education ecosystem — sectarian and nonsectarian schools, science-oriented campuses, Chinese-Filipino educational institutions, SPED learning hubs, “international” schools, and no shortage of hardworking public school districts and divisions — and you get a place where education is not a tagline; it is a daily habit. That matters more now. EDCOM II has been blunt about the country’s learning gaps and the urgency of improving foundational skills and critical thinking, not just enrollment statistics. If a city is serious about fixing learning, you can feel it in how families talk about teachers, how students talk about reading, and how local leaders treat education as infrastructure, not decoration.

Now, let’s discuss the developments that people keep circling back to, as they are not mere whispers. One is the planned University of St. La Salle–Iloilo in Pavia, which USLS itself has publicly framed as an expansion of its Lasallian mission to Iloilo. Another is National University’s Iloilo campus at the SM City Iloilo complex in Mandurriao, which has been reported in the context of SM Prime’s redevelopment plan that explicitly mentions NU’s campus component. Those two are the kind of stories that survive because they have names attached, a location people can point to, and an institutional logic behind them. A Lasallian university building in a fast-growing municipality like Pavia makes sense; a university anchored in a mall-led ecosystem also makes sense, especially given how Philippine higher education has increasingly followed population density, transport access and mixed-use development. What should stay tentative are the details people love to treat as “final already” — opening dates, course lists, tuition ranges, scholarship promises — because those are exactly the parts that change last-minute when permits, staffing and market realities catch up.

The truth is that “Ivy schools from Manila” is a catchy phrase, but Iloilo does not need to cosplay as a University Belt extension to matter. The smarter framing is this: Iloilo is becoming a place where options abound. When options widen, two things happen. More students can stay home, saving families from rent, fares and the cost of distance. Schools, in turn, must compete through real results, not ads. If Mapúa, UST, Ateneo (college), or other Manila schools are eyeing Iloilo, too, take it as a possibility. Listen, but verify. An official school announcement, a CHED permit, or a regulatory-facing filing typically provides a documented record. Anything less is, at best, hopeful talk and, at worst, real estate bait dressed as education advocacy.

Meanwhile, Iloilo’s education story is also expanding in quieter, program-level ways that do not require a new campus gate to feel significant. UP’s presence in Iloilo (City and Miag-ao) has long been more than a nameplate, and the UP system has already been involved in bringing legal education to Iloilo through the UP College of Law’s Iloilo offerings, reflecting a serious attempt to serve the region without forcing every aspiring lawyer to uproot to Diliman. WVSU has also continued building its law ecosystem and facilities in ways that signal long-term intent, not just short-term enrollment. Add established law programs in CPU and USA, and you begin to see why talk about “new law competition” keeps resurfacing: Iloilo is one of the few places outside Metro Manila where legal education can grow without feeling like it is borrowing legitimacy. In health sciences, schools like WVSU, USA, SPUI and IDC have been actively developing allied health programs over the years, which fits the region’s demand patterns and the country’s workforce realities. ISUFST is even preparing to offer nursing and maritime courses in the near future. Many schools are also constructing new buildings, laboratories and programs all over. These developments matter because they show an education hub does not rise only through new logos; it rises through credible programs, licensure performance and faculty depth.

A third reason Iloilo’s “education boom” feels believable is the city’s broader quality-of-life equation. Students and teachers do not choose a place only for classrooms. They choose it for what happens after class: commute times, safety, rental prices, food that does not punish your allowance, and a weekend culture or nightlife that lets you breathe. Iloilo’s advantage has always been that it offers modernity without swallowing your whole day. A short forum in the city and fieldwork in Miagao can now fit into the same day without the usual travel headache. The internet is decent enough for hybrid learning and urgent uploads. Roads and new developments also show a place preparing to welcome more people, not lose them. That is exactly the kind of “boring stability” schools look for when they expand.

Still, if Iloilo wants to be more than a magnet for campuses, it has to remain a magnet for critical minds. Here is where the city’s educational identity gets intriguing: education is not only about employability; it is also about citizenship. Iloilo has been taking steps to focus on teaching values and civic knowledge in practical ways, like the province deciding to include “I Love West Philippine Sea” lessons in basic education through a local law that follows DepEd guidelines, clearly presenting it as a matter of patriotism, national awareness and understanding legal decisions like the 2016 arbitral ruling. Whether one agrees with every policy detail, the bigger point is that Iloilo is willing to treat schooling as preparation for public reasoning, not just private success. If more “big-name” schools arrive, Iloilo should not trade this identity for mere prestige. The city’s challenge is to keep producing graduates who can read a claim, check a source, question a promise, and vote like their future is on the ballot — because it is.

So yes, invite people to enroll and teach here, but do it with honesty. Tell families the advantages: strong school choices, a livable city, a culture that respects education, and an academic ecosystem that is beginning to widen rather than concentrate. Tell young teachers that Iloilo is not only a place to “settle”; it is a place to build craft because the competition in research, extension, innovation and governance is rising and the students are increasingly exposed to serious world-class learning environments. Tell administrators and policymakers that new campuses should not become trophy projects; they should come with scholarship pathways, decent faculty development and partnerships that do not weaken local institutions. And for readers who enjoy the “new school in town” chismis: enjoy it, but do not be trapped by it. The healthiest “grapevine” culture is one that ends in verification, not viral certainty.

Iloilo’s most compelling pitch is not that it might host more Manila brands. It is that it has learned how to hold together history and modernity without losing its sense of measure. You see it in how heritage streets coexist with new districts, how serious students still line up for affordable meals, how teachers still trade lesson ideas over coffee, and how civic conversations can still happen in ordinary places. If more campuses rise in Pavia and Mandurriao, that will be a headline. The deeper story is what Iloilo does with that growth: whether it becomes a louder city or a wiser one. A true education hub is not the place with the most banners; it is the place where learning makes people harder to fool.

***

Doc H fondly describes himself as a “student of and for life” who, like many others, aspires to a life-giving and why-driven world grounded in social justice and the pursuit of happiness. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the institutions he is employed by or connected with.