How the reborn Philippine city of Iloilo is celebrating its local culture and language as it opens its arms to visitors
- Iloilo, on the Philippines’ Panay Island, has put much effort into celebrating its local identity in going from rundown city to modern, cleaned-up metropolis
- Most notable is its focus on the local Hiligaynon language, long eroded by Tagalog and English, and there’s no better place to eat batchoy and Pancit Molo
The birds have returned to Iloilo.
Walking down the esplanade that skirts the Iloilo River, I hear them everywhere. Their beaks peek out from behind hibiscus blossoms and their fidgeting sets flame trees flickering.
It’s a sight I never thought I’d see, given that Ilonggos – men in Iloilo, a city on the island of Panay, in the central Philippines – used to shoot them out of the sky for sport. I include my own uncles in this. It was the 1980s, after all.
The Iloilo Esplanade, however, is very much in 2023. It’s barely 6am, yet there are joggers out and the distant thump of a Zumba class lends a bassline to the birds’ treble.
My cousin Lou Rinette “Bonbon” Araneta is pointing out the most popular skating and dating spots. The latter are ringed by ylang-ylang trees, dousing the air with their waxy perfume.
My mother was born in Iloilo – a modest, quiet town until 1855, when Spanish colonists started exporting sugar cane from the port and it became one of the Philippines’ richest cities.
