October 5 is Iloilo City Day

October 5 has been declared Iloilo City Day.

This is provided under Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-097 Declaring October 5 as “Adlaw sang Ciudad de Iloilo,” the Spanish translation of “Dakbanwa sang Iloilo” and was the name given to Iloilo City when it was created.

Vice Mayor Jeffrey Ganzon authored the ordinance which was unanimously co-sponsored by all city councilors.

As documented in “Gaceta de Manila,” the official publication of the Spanish Colonial Government of the Philippines, it was stated that on October 5, 1889, by virtue of a Royal Decree, Queen Regent Maria Cristina of Spain bestowed upon the then Municipality of Iloilo the title of “City,” the ordinance read.

Thereafter, on November 12, 1889, the Ministry of Overseas Colonies in Madrid, approved the Becera Law of 1889, promulgating the cityhood of Iloilo, it added.

“Categorically, it is an established historical practice to reckon the birth of a government unit on the date it was first created, which in the case of Iloilo City, was on October 5, 1889, by virtue of a Royal Decree and a subsequent legal declaration through the enactment of a law,” the ordinance stated.

“In consultation with the former Vice Governor of Iloilo, Demetrio ‘Demy’ Sonza, who is a member of the Philippine Historical Organization, a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine National Historical Society, an Outstanding Ilonggo in Historical Writing from the Province of Iloilo, a published historical writer, and an esteemed member of the media, the above-stated information has been cleared as historically true and authentic,” it added.

The ordinance was enacted September 15, 2020 and published in newspaper October 5, 2020. (Alexandra Jover/Iloilo City PIO/Photo by Mikee Roa)