Directory_and_Chronicle_1918 — Page 1459

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

ILOILO

This port, which is the chief town of the populous province of the same name in the island of Panay, is situated in about lat. 11 deg. N., and long. 123 E., near the south-eastern extremity of the island, close to the sea, on the border of the narrow channel, some three and a half miles wide, formed by the opposite island of Guimaras. Iloilo is the largest town on the island of Panay and is considered the second city of the Philippine Islands. The harbour is well protected and has good anchorage for steamers of any size. The river is dredged to 24 ft. low water with a rise of 6 ft., and steamers can now enter and load full cargoes alongside the wharves. The high ground of Guimaras forms a kind of funnel with the Panay shore and the result is that a calm is of rare occurrence, there being almost always a breeze. In the old Spanish days it was one of the health resorts of the Islands. The population is about 48,000. The better class houses are built of reinforced concrete, while the poorer classes live in flimsy structures of cane and nipa. The means of communication arc excellent, there being a station of the Eastern Extension Cable Co., while for communication with the interior it is possible to communicate over the line operated by the Bureau of Posts to practically all the towns in Panay, while the Cable Co. have a branch line to Bacolod, the principal town on the cast coast of Negros. As regards shipping there is a weekly service to and from Manila, which is some 350 miles distant. The town is lit up by electricity and a telephone system exists.

Iloilo is the centre for the sugar industry which for the most part comes from the island of Negros, and an average of about 3,000,000 piculs pass through the port each year; owing to the facilities granted by the United States, whereby it is allowed in free of duty, the greater part of it is shipped there. Rice is grown on a fairly large scale, but enough is not raised for consumption, and large importations are

necessary from Saigon and Hongkong. There is a weekly service between Hongkong and Iloilo via Manila.

On the 23rd December, 1898, the Spanish Governor-General resident in Iloilo resigned, giving over the care of the town to the Mayor, or Alcalde, of Iloilo, preparing with his troops and Government officials, naval, military and civil, to evacuate the place, which on the 25th December was accomplished. On the 26th December, 1898, the town of Iloilo, which for over a month had been entirely surrounded on the land side by Revolutionary forces, was delivered over to them by the Spanish Alcalde, and the Philippine Republic flag was hoisted on all the public buildings. On the 28th December, 1898, the United States forces, composed of the U.S.S. Baltimore and three transports with 3,800 troops, under the command of Brigadier- General Miller, arrived in front of Iloilo, but did not land, as the Revolutionary forces declined to give up the town unless under orders from Aguinaldo, their chief. Affairs in Luzon having come to an open rupture between the United States and the Revolutionary forces, the General commanding the United States expedition advised the foreign Consulates that hostilities would commence after 5 a.m. on the 12th February. The Revolutionary forces set fire to the city, leaving it almost in ruins, and retired outside the city limits. Iloilo was immediately occupied by the Americans.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1918 — Page 1459

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