ILOILO Dinagyang Festival Theme Song!

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Metropolitan ILOILO

Metro Iloilo-Guimaras or MIG is a metropolitan area encompassing the highly urbanized city of Iloilo City, the Regional Agro-Industrial Center of Pavia, Iloilo, the towns of Oton, Iloilo, Leganes, Iloilo, Santa Barbara, Iloilo and San Miguel, Iloilo and the neighboring island of Guimaras with its five municipalities of Jordan, Guimaras, Buenavista, Guimaras, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, San Lorenzo, Guimaras and Sibunag, Guimaras.

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Guimaras Province assumes the role of agri-eco-tourism center; Pavia as the agro­-industrial center, Leganes as the center for light industries, San Miguel as the agricultural basket, Oton as the dormitory and Sta. Barbara as the international air travel gateway.

Iloilo City will remain as the residential, financial, commercial, governance and educational hub not only for Guimaras Island and the five “satellite” municipalities but also for the entire Region VI.

Iloilo City Streets at Night

The Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Economic Development Council or MIGEDC was formally established by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo through Executive Order No. 559 signed on August 28, 2006 and was designed to help address the area’s emerging problems brought about by rapid urbanization and the spatial development challenges of tourism and economic development.

The MIGEDC evolved from the Metro Iloilo Development Council (MIDC) that was earlier established by the City of Iloilo and four neighboring municipalities on February 9, 2001 and the Guimaras-Iloilo City Alliance that was similarly established in May 22, 2005. Through Executive Order No. 559 the Municipality of Sta. Barbara became an addition together with the Province of Guimaras

As a strengthened task group, the MIGEDC formulates, implements, coordinates and monitors programs, projects and activities that support the Mega-Region Economic Development Strategic Framework of the National Government.

 

OPEN DOORS: Brief Irong-Irong (now ILOILO) Background

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Airial View of One Side of the City

ILOILO is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Located on the southeast portion of Panay Island, it is bordered by Antique to the west and Capiz to the north. Just off Iloilo’s southeast coast is the island of Guimaras, which used to be part of Iloilo but is now its own province. Across the Panay Gulf and Guimaras Strait is Negros Occidental.

Click through to get an online tour in Iloilo City and Province.

The City of Iloilo is the capital city of the province of Iloilo in the Philippines. It is the regional center and the main economic hub of the Western Visayas region.

Iloilo is historically one of the major agricultural centers of the country, and began exporting sugar, copra, bananas, mangoes, and other natural resources during the Spanish and American colonial periods.

In the 2007 census, Iloilo City had a population of 418,710 households with a 2.0% annual growth rate. It is the ninth most populous city in the Philippines. Average population density is 5981 people per square kilometer, one of the most dense in the country.

Even before the Spanish colonizers came, Iloilo had a flourishing economy. In the 13th century, ten Bornean datus came to the island of Panay and bartered a gold hat (salakot) for the plains and valleys of the island from a local Ati chieftain. One datu, named Paiburong, was given the territory of Irong-Irong.

The waning textile industry was replaced however by the opening of Iloilo’s port to world market in 1855. Because of this, Iloilo’s industry and agriculture was put on direct access to foreign markets. But what triggered the economic boom of Iloilo in the 19th century was the development of sugar industry in Iloilo and its neighboring island of Negros. Sugar during the 19th century was of high demand. Nicholas Loney, the British vice-consul in Iloilo developed the industry by giving loans, constructing warehouses in the port and introduced new technologies in sugar farming. The rich families of Iloilo developed large areas of Negros, which later called haciendas because of the sugar’s high demand in the world market. Because of the increase in commercial activity, infrastructures, recreational facilities, educational institutions, banks, foreign consulates, commercial firms and much more sprouted in Iloilo. Due to the economic development that was happening in Iloilo, the Queen Regent of Spain raised the status of the town into a city, honored it with the title La muy leal y noble ciudad de Iloilo, and in 1890, the city government was established.

By the 1960s towards 1990s, Iloilo’s economy progressed in a moderate pace. The construction of the fish port, international seaport and other commercial firms that invested in Iloilo marked the movement of the city making it as the regional center of Western Visayas.