Bridging the gap
By Henry Funtecha

The role of the Iloilo River in early times

Long before the coming fo the Spaniards to the Philippines, Iloilo River was already noted to be a busy artery of commerce to the towns of Molo and Jaro. This will explain why when the colonizers came to Iloilo, they already found a considerable number of Chinese residing in Molo and a thriving settlement in Jaro which, in early times, was known as Salog. The river was also a rich fishing ground for fishermen who had started putting up huts along its banks.

Upon the establishment of the Spanish rule in Panay, the Chinese who were staying out of Molo were required by the Spaniards to move into it. This was a step to confine the Chinese were allowed to go on with their trading activities and, therefore, the Iloilo River continued to be instrumental in the economic life of Molo and Haro. In fact, Jagor (1875) noted that for centuries between the coming of the Spaniards and the opening of its port to foreign trade in 1855, Iloilo had been active in coastwise shipping and commerce because of its safe harbor provided by the Iloilo River.

With the transfer of the capital of the Spanish administration in Western Visayas from Arevalo to the small village of Iloilo in the early 17 th century, more and more communities began to sprout along the riverbanks.This was especially true between Molo and Iloilo or Irong-irong in the north and between Arevalo and Baluarte in the south. What could be observed in the 18 th century were clumps of houses here and there because the expanse of land in the area was essentially swampy. Population date for 1760 indicate that the village of Iloilo at that time had only 835 residents (Mallat, 1846).

The opening of the Port of Iloilo in 1855 to international trade spurred more communities to emerge in the vicinity of Irong-irong, eventually assuming a continuous line of connection with the towns of Molo and Jaro. The growing concentration of population, however, was in that piece of land jutting into the Iloilo Strait known as Punta, attracted by the prospect of working at the port.

By the late 1850s, the town of Iloilo's population was estimated at 71,060, making it an urban center of the same proportions as Buenos Ares, 91,000, Chicago, 84,000 in 1856, or Sydney, 54,000 in 1851 (McCoy & De Jesus, 1992). From a map of the town of Iloilo drawn in 1859 found in the book, 'A Visit to the Philippine Islands' by John Bowring, it can be seen that the concentration of houses at this time was from the present-day San Jose Church in Plaza Libertad going to Arsenal Street, then to the Provincial Capitol, and from there to Molo.

Significantly, the population census of the Philippine Islands published in 1864 showed the province of Iloilo, leading other provinces, including Manila, in population. While Manila only had 323,683 inhabitants at that time, Iloilo had 565,500, or a difference of 141,817 (Barrantes, 1869).

Iloilo River was also instrumental in the development of the sugar industry. It provided for a safe entry point for the Negros and Panay sugar which subsequently were loaded on ocean-going vessels bound for other countries. As the volumes of Negros sugar landing in the Iloilo port grew with each successive cutting season, from 12,000 piculs in 1855 to 2,470,400 in 1898 (McCoy, 1982), British and spanish firms began to crowd the marshy area along the Iloilo River's banks. During the 1850s and 1860s, they constructed stone warehouses fronting the Iloilo River. From the 1870s onward, more foreign firms built permanent offices, retail shops and residential houses along the streets parallel to the river.