The old Elizalde building is now the first Museum of Philippine Economic History. It will have its opening on February 11 with Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon as the guest of honor.
The impressive transformation of the Elizalde
building, formerly known as the Commission on Audit building, into a museum is
the latest in a slew of restoration of key heritage and culture sites that began
five years when the Ilonggo senator launched the Iloilo Heritage and Urban
Renewal Project that aims to protect and preserve Iloilo’s rich heritage and
culture.
The new museum, the first of its kind in
the country, according to Drilon, will feature the economic history of the
country and the local history of the Iloilo and industries of Western Visayas.
“This new and first-of-its-kind museum will
offer a window to the past – to the country’s colorful economic history and how
Iloilo earned the title the ‘Queen City of the South,’” Drilon said.
The new museum, a project of Drilon, will
be administered by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).
The Elizalde building is a hundred-year-old
complex whose architecture depicts the age of progressive commerce and trade in
Iloilo during the 18th to early 20th century. It was formerly owned by one of
the country’s biggest trading firms during the 18th century, the Ynchausti y
Compania, of the Ynchausti family. The firm’s name was synonymous with its
products like Yco Floor Wax, Yco Paints, Tanduay Rum, and Rizal Cement.
By the late 1920s, Ynchausti y Compañia
came under the management of the Elizalde family, who eventually acquired the
firm and renamed it Elizalde y Compañia in 1936, until the COA bought the
building.
Now, the Museum of Philippine Economic
History boasts hundred decades-old artifacts and items on display, including
old San Miguel beer bottles from the Ynchausti clan; molino de sangre, which was
a very important tool in the Western Visayas region’s sugar industry;
decades-old gold, necklace and other accessories from Pampanga; looms from the
oldest weavers of Miagao in Iloilo, then known as the Textile Capital of the
Philippines; t’nalak from Mindanao; old photographs, maps, train wheels, plates;
and many others.
Photo by Edgardo Siscar |
The new museum is just one of the
must-visit museums in the province that was recently opened, Drilon noted. The
Megaworld Corporation opened in 2018 the Iloilo Museum of Contemporary Arts and
the National Museum opened its Western Visayas Regional Museum in the old
Iloilo Provincial Jail last year.
Besides the three newly opened museums, the
other must-visit museums are the Museo Iloilo, Rosendo Mejica Museum, John B.
Lacson Museum, and Archdiocesan Museum.
Drilon’s Iloilo Heritage and Urban Renewal
Project also restored the old Iloilo Customs House, called Aduana; the Sunburst
Park; and the Ker and Co. Building.
The Sunburst Park, which was originally
known as “Plaza de Aduana,” a description of the park fronting the Iloilo
Custom House or Aduana, was developed following the inauguration of the Iloilo
Customs House in 1916. It was in the plaza where the US Army 40th Infantry
“Sunburst” Division helped liberate Panay from the Japanese at the end of World
War II.
Today, the newly renovated park boasts wide
public space and features such as a walkway, a chess playground, park benches,
parking area, the existing Peralta Statue, and the Sunburst area.
The new park compliments the Iloilo River Esplanade,
a project of Drilon which won the Best Landscape Architecture Award in 2018, in
terms of providing the public open spaces where they can leisurely walk,
exercise, and enjoy the beauty of the environment, thus promoting a healthy and
an active lifestyle for Ilonggos.
Also restored was the century-old Iloilo
Customs House, which now houses a government agency and a gallery on the
history of the port of Iloilo.
The Provincial Government led by Gov.
Arthur Defensor has also initiated major heritage conservation projects,
including the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Casa Real de Iloilo and the
Prison of Iloilo.
The original Casa Real de Iloilo structure
was built in 1873 but was renovated and redesigned by the Americans following
the inauguration of the civil government of Iloilo in 1901. It became the seat
of the provincial government and was used as headquarters of the Japanese
Imperial Army during World War II. The Prison of Iloilo, built in 1911, now
houses the National Museum Western Visayas Regional Museum and Satellite Office,
which opened in April 2018.
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