Chapter 11 "Roaring 20's"
The world was thrilled of Cinema's , Aviation , Art Deco , Automobiles etc . The excitement have reached Iloilo too . First car was in Iloilo , Iloilo was the birthplace of Civil Aviation in the Philippines. First regular air services were launched in Iloilo . Jose “Peping “ Tinsay, an aviator from Jaro , Iloilo, was the first to fly the Curtiss Oriole bi-plane, the first passenger plane on 43-kilometer Guimaras Strait between Iloilo and Bacolod . Iloilo-Negros Air Express Company (or INAEC) was the first commercial airline in the Philippine and Asia predating [[Japan Airlines]] and [[Singapore Airlines]] with flights from Iloilo to Manila , Bacolod , Cebu , Davao and Zamboanga in 1932 then to Hong Kong , Bangkok San Francisco, Shanghai and India in 1946
Lux Theater Cine Palace Cine Prince
The American Cinema is emerging in 1920's . Short films are shown in Hollywood. Iloilo wanted to enjoy the entertainment too . On 1928 , Three Theaters were built in Iloilo to accommodate the Ilongos . Cine Palace , Cine Eagle and Lux Theater , patterned to Hollywood Boulevard smokehouses in Los Angeles with Architectural Design of Art Deco Facade and columns typical of 1920's . They are stood side by side. it shows theatrical plays and movies from America. One of the most modern cinemas outside Manila .
Lux Theater was opened on 7 May 1922 on Guanco Street, Iloilo City by Don Julio Q. Javellana (1858-1924) and William Henry Horstmann (1873-1969).
Prince Theater - built by Don Teodoro "Tio Iyo" Benedicto as "Cine Eagle", this was latter renamed Prince Theater. The moviehouse showed Walt Disney creation such as Mickey Mouse and Woody Woodpecker . Charles Chaplain , Errol Flynn , like “Robin Hood,” plus musicals starring the likes of Rooney and Judy Garland, as well as the “Tarzan” series and Esther Williams’ aquatic spectacles.
Palace Theater - It played Gone with the Wind and Sound of Music . It became Regent theater . It then showed erotic tagalog films.
Lux Theater was opened on 7 May 1922 on Guanco Street, Iloilo City by Don Julio Q. Javellana (1858-1924) and William Henry Horstmann (1873-1969).
Prince Theater - built by Don Teodoro "Tio Iyo" Benedicto as "Cine Eagle", this was latter renamed Prince Theater. The moviehouse showed Walt Disney creation such as Mickey Mouse and Woody Woodpecker . Charles Chaplain , Errol Flynn , like “Robin Hood,” plus musicals starring the likes of Rooney and Judy Garland, as well as the “Tarzan” series and Esther Williams’ aquatic spectacles.
Palace Theater - It played Gone with the Wind and Sound of Music . It became Regent theater . It then showed erotic tagalog films.
Iloilo Airlines - First in Philippines and Asia
1925– Airplane is being developed in Europe and America by the group of Engeneers and physicsist. Iloilo is the birthplace of Filipino commercial air transportation . The first regular air services were launched in Iloilo . Jose “Peping “ Tinsay, an aviator from Jaro , Iloilo, was the first to fly the Curtiss Oriole bi-plane, the first passenger plane on 43-kilometer Guimaras Strait between Iloilo and Bacolod. Bangus, crabs, talaba, and other assorted products from Iloilo to sell to Manila and on his return flights would bring back “scarce” items like canned goods, flour, shoes, etc. to sell in Iloilo . The photo reveals a swampy areas of Iloilo especially on the nabitasan area , around Bolilao to San Rafael and apparently theres no houses.
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A large part of Iloilo , Lapaz , Jaro , Molo and Mandurriao are within terrestrial wetland of swamp and marsh in Upland and lowland|lowland plain . It took another 50 years of dredging embankment and Land reclamation for creation of La Paza Market , hotels , ( Hotel Del Rio , Sarabia Manor Hotel ) Schools ( Assumption) , Hospitals ( Saint Pauls) and habitable villages.( Nabisatan , Bakhaw , Bolilao , Magsaysay )
Iloilo-Negros Air Express Company (or INAEC) was the first commercial airline in the Philippine and Asia predating Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines with flights from Iloilo to Manila , Bacolod , Cebu , Davao and Zamboanga in 1932 then to Hong Kong , Bangkok San Francisco, Shanghai and India in 1946 . Due to Political Interventions of 1974 , it was forced to sell to Andrés Soriano to build Philippine Airlines (PAL)
Iloilo-Negros Air Express Company (or INAEC) was the first commercial airline in the Philippine and Asia predating Japan Airlines and Singapore Airlines with flights from Iloilo to Manila , Bacolod , Cebu , Davao and Zamboanga in 1932 then to Hong Kong , Bangkok San Francisco, Shanghai and India in 1946 . Due to Political Interventions of 1974 , it was forced to sell to Andrés Soriano to build Philippine Airlines (PAL)
1926 - Iloilo Metropolitan Waterworks
Iloilo acquired Water System- 2nd to Manila.
Between 1910 and 1920, the Philippine government started negotiating to buy the land inside the 6,1506 ha headwater of the Tigum River, known today as the Maasin Watershed. The government planned to supply water for towns in Iloilo .The owners of sugar land and mascovado sugar mill agreed to sell their lands. Two schools in Sitio Layagon and Sitio Tinayak were also closed. Other landowners willingly relinquished their landsugar cane plantations and Four sugar mills were closed, Macario Cartagena owned the sugar mill located in Sitio Bugtason, Zacarias Billena owned one in Sitio Jagna, the mill in Sitio Layagon was owned by Vicente Sabido and one in Bolo owned by a certain Monero.
Between 1910 and 1920, the Philippine government started negotiating to buy the land inside the 6,1506 ha headwater of the Tigum River, known today as the Maasin Watershed. The government planned to supply water for towns in Iloilo .The owners of sugar land and mascovado sugar mill agreed to sell their lands. Two schools in Sitio Layagon and Sitio Tinayak were also closed. Other landowners willingly relinquished their landsugar cane plantations and Four sugar mills were closed, Macario Cartagena owned the sugar mill located in Sitio Bugtason, Zacarias Billena owned one in Sitio Jagna, the mill in Sitio Layagon was owned by Vicente Sabido and one in Bolo owned by a certain Monero.
In 1923, negotiation was completed and the 6,150 ha of headwaters of the Tigum River was declared as a
Reserved Watershed by Proclamation No. 16 series 1923 by Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood. The land was purchased with funds from the central government to be disbursed by the local government through the Municipal Treasurer, Mr. Felipe Olivares , and later he was terminated due to was unable to pay all the landowners or holders of land titles and tax declaration certificates. The government started constructing dam and sedimentation basin and laborious installation of massive pipes that’s stretched more than 30 Kms long from the water source in Maasin to the City of Iloilo.
Reserved Watershed by Proclamation No. 16 series 1923 by Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood. The land was purchased with funds from the central government to be disbursed by the local government through the Municipal Treasurer, Mr. Felipe Olivares , and later he was terminated due to was unable to pay all the landowners or holders of land titles and tax declaration certificates. The government started constructing dam and sedimentation basin and laborious installation of massive pipes that’s stretched more than 30 Kms long from the water source in Maasin to the City of Iloilo.
Governor of Iloilo , Jose B. Ledesma together with Board Members Mabunay and Engracio Padilla, District Engineer Alejo Aquino and
Treasurer R.S. Van Valkeburgh built a project , " Arroyo Fountain" in front of the old Provincial Capitol in 1927 to honor Senator Jose Ma. Arroyo of Molo , who authored Republic Act 3222 in the Philippine Legislature establishing the Iloilo Metropolitan Waterworks in 1925.
It has mythological caryatids in their naked glory , carrying a basin. Themselves are standing upon the fish gargoyles that spits water on direction . Around are encircled with bushes in a platform. It is the Kilometer 0 of Iloilo or a starting point in measuring the distance to any part. Jose Arroyo younger brother , Mariano Arroyo, Governor of Iloilo province ( married to Jesusa Lacson) .
Treasurer R.S. Van Valkeburgh built a project , " Arroyo Fountain" in front of the old Provincial Capitol in 1927 to honor Senator Jose Ma. Arroyo of Molo , who authored Republic Act 3222 in the Philippine Legislature establishing the Iloilo Metropolitan Waterworks in 1925.
It has mythological caryatids in their naked glory , carrying a basin. Themselves are standing upon the fish gargoyles that spits water on direction . Around are encircled with bushes in a platform. It is the Kilometer 0 of Iloilo or a starting point in measuring the distance to any part. Jose Arroyo younger brother , Mariano Arroyo, Governor of Iloilo province ( married to Jesusa Lacson) .
1927 - Jaro Plaza
First Car and Car Assembly in the Philippines
Three brothers brothers Adolf, Charles and Rafael Levy, founders of La Estrella del Norte, a shop selling luxury items like Swiss wristwatches, gramophones, jewelries, perfumes, and imported clothing that opened on Calle Real in Iloilo City in 1873. In 1904, long before Manila , Cebu or Bacolod , the first car to ever travel on the streets of Philippines was in Iloilo – a 9-horsepower, 2-cylinder 1904 Richard Brasier roadster.
The first car assembly plant in the Philippines was Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray in Calle Progreso (now De La Rama Street), Iloilo City which assembled the Daimler Benz in the late 1920s.
The machine and foundry shop was founded as Taller Bisayas in 1885 by Allan Strachan, a Scottish engineer and iron founder.
Strachan came to the Philippines as a mechanic to supervise the installation and assembly of muscovado mills imported from Scotland by Ker and Co.
He and William MacMurray then established Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray, Ltd., incorporated in 1919, primarily to engage in the repair and maintenance of sugar mills.
MacMurray, a Scottish civil and mechanical engineer, arrived in the Philippines around the 1890s.
Both Strachan and MacMurray were members of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
The German firm Daimler Benz started manufacturing automobiles, motor vehicles and internal combustion engines in 1926.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray assembled Daimler Benz automobiles for sale in the Philippines.
Daimler Benz was the merger of Benz and Cie of Karl Benz, and of Daimler Motoren Gessellschaft (DMG) of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach.
It became known for its Mercedes Benz automobile brand, named after the daughter of industrialist Emil Jellinek, a director of DMG.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray also repaired railroad cars and truck turn-tables for the Philippine National Railways, Inc.
It earned a very good reputation as a machine and foundry shop that the Bureau of Public Works (Engineering Record, 6 January 1917) praised it for a steel signal tower that it built in Iloilo in 1905.
"The locality in which this tower was erected is unsual. Due to the salt breezes which prevail, and to the uniform high temperature, corrosion of iron or steel is very rapid," wrote Manila District Engineer J. L. Harrison.
"Notwithstanding these severe conditions, this galvanized steel tower apparently has not a spot of rust on it... In fact, today it is in practically the same state that it was at the time of its erection twelve years ago," he added.
The 1937 Panay Directory and Souvenir Book listed Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray as also a supplier of motors, machineries and electrical supplies.
Other incorporators joined the company later, which included businessmen John Young and William Powell, an American.
In 1975, during the 120th anniversary of the Port of Iloilo, the Iloilo provincial government cited it with the Service Award for having contributed to the growth of the Iloilo port.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray became a subsidiary of Macondray and Company of California. It ceased operations in the late 1980s but its building still stands there at De La Rama Street.
The first car assembly plant in the Philippines was Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray in Calle Progreso (now De La Rama Street), Iloilo City which assembled the Daimler Benz in the late 1920s.
The machine and foundry shop was founded as Taller Bisayas in 1885 by Allan Strachan, a Scottish engineer and iron founder.
Strachan came to the Philippines as a mechanic to supervise the installation and assembly of muscovado mills imported from Scotland by Ker and Co.
He and William MacMurray then established Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray, Ltd., incorporated in 1919, primarily to engage in the repair and maintenance of sugar mills.
MacMurray, a Scottish civil and mechanical engineer, arrived in the Philippines around the 1890s.
Both Strachan and MacMurray were members of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.
The German firm Daimler Benz started manufacturing automobiles, motor vehicles and internal combustion engines in 1926.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray assembled Daimler Benz automobiles for sale in the Philippines.
Daimler Benz was the merger of Benz and Cie of Karl Benz, and of Daimler Motoren Gessellschaft (DMG) of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach.
It became known for its Mercedes Benz automobile brand, named after the daughter of industrialist Emil Jellinek, a director of DMG.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray also repaired railroad cars and truck turn-tables for the Philippine National Railways, Inc.
It earned a very good reputation as a machine and foundry shop that the Bureau of Public Works (Engineering Record, 6 January 1917) praised it for a steel signal tower that it built in Iloilo in 1905.
"The locality in which this tower was erected is unsual. Due to the salt breezes which prevail, and to the uniform high temperature, corrosion of iron or steel is very rapid," wrote Manila District Engineer J. L. Harrison.
"Notwithstanding these severe conditions, this galvanized steel tower apparently has not a spot of rust on it... In fact, today it is in practically the same state that it was at the time of its erection twelve years ago," he added.
The 1937 Panay Directory and Souvenir Book listed Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray as also a supplier of motors, machineries and electrical supplies.
Other incorporators joined the company later, which included businessmen John Young and William Powell, an American.
In 1975, during the 120th anniversary of the Port of Iloilo, the Iloilo provincial government cited it with the Service Award for having contributed to the growth of the Iloilo port.
Taller Bisayas de Strachan and MacMurray became a subsidiary of Macondray and Company of California. It ceased operations in the late 1980s but its building still stands there at De La Rama Street.
Iloilo was the first city in the Philippines to have double-decker buses The first fleet of double-decker buses was introduced in the country in 1934 by the Iloilo Transportation Company owned by brothers Eugenio and Fernando Lopez. "Land transportation in Iloilo is the most modern in the Philippines," the 1937 Panay Directory and Souvenir Book (Transportation, page 49) noted then.
"Double-deck cars with deep-cushioned seats, the only cars of their kind in the Philippines, run between Jaro and Iloilo," the book added. The Iloilo Transportation Company introduced the double-decker to eliminate its competitor — the Jaro Express, which was then owned by Manuel Hechanova.
"The Lopezes' company introduced a fleet of double-decker buses, which drew traffic away from Jaro Express," wrote Alfred McCoy in the book Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines (Page 462).
"After two years of relentless competition, losses at Jaro Express amounted to P75,000. In July 1936, Hechanova agreed to sell his company to the Lopezes for P80,000," McCoy wrote further.
The Iloilo Transportation Company had two other affiliates — the Filipino Transit and the People's Bus Company.
In 1938, the Lopezes also succeeded in acquiring the Panay Autobus, then the largest of the bus companies operating in Iloilo and the rest of Panay Island.
Panay Autobus was launched in August 1930 by American entrepreneur William C. Ogan with an initial 50 vehicles and a capitalization of P300,000.
Its fleet of vehicles grew to 316 by 1937 after it merged in 1934 with the Capiz Motor Bus Company, owned by Miguel Borja who became Panay Autobus' majority stockholder.
After a series of legal battles and business maneuvers, the Lopezes acquired Borja's shares in the Panay Autobus and eventually took control of the company.
There were two other smaller transportation companies operating in the mid-1930s — the Aleosan Transportation Company and the Eagle Express. Established in 1929, the Aleosan Transportation Company was owned by Rafael Zulueta and had 15 cars going to Leon via San Miguel, Oton and Tigbauan, and to Alimodian via San Miguel and Oton.
The Eagle Express, owned by Gil Hedianoon, operated units inside and outside of the city, and covered Lapuz, La Paz and the Jaro district routes.
The population is slowly growing . There was a need for effecient travel of Ilongos from towns to the Cities . The demand was answered when the Panay Autobus Co. ( left) starting its operation with office and terminal in Rizal Street, Iloilo City. It is largest of the bus companies operating in Iloilo and the rest of the island of Panay . it's capital investment of P365,000, was the most successful land transportation venture in Panay at that time.
The other major bus company was the Iloilo Transportation Co. whose office and terminal were situated in Blumentritt Street, Iloilo City. It advertised itself as having double-deck buses with radio music. Its double and single-deck steel blue buses maintained regular schedules covering the areas of Jaro, Iloilo City, Molo, Mandurriao, and Arevalo. In 1937, it operated 316 commodious, clean and comfortable autobuses, at least in the standards of that time. These autobuses plied many accessible roads in the island, reaching even farflung barangays. To maintain its reputation, only experienced and well-trained drivers and conductors were employed by the company.
"Double-deck cars with deep-cushioned seats, the only cars of their kind in the Philippines, run between Jaro and Iloilo," the book added. The Iloilo Transportation Company introduced the double-decker to eliminate its competitor — the Jaro Express, which was then owned by Manuel Hechanova.
"The Lopezes' company introduced a fleet of double-decker buses, which drew traffic away from Jaro Express," wrote Alfred McCoy in the book Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines (Page 462).
"After two years of relentless competition, losses at Jaro Express amounted to P75,000. In July 1936, Hechanova agreed to sell his company to the Lopezes for P80,000," McCoy wrote further.
The Iloilo Transportation Company had two other affiliates — the Filipino Transit and the People's Bus Company.
In 1938, the Lopezes also succeeded in acquiring the Panay Autobus, then the largest of the bus companies operating in Iloilo and the rest of Panay Island.
Panay Autobus was launched in August 1930 by American entrepreneur William C. Ogan with an initial 50 vehicles and a capitalization of P300,000.
Its fleet of vehicles grew to 316 by 1937 after it merged in 1934 with the Capiz Motor Bus Company, owned by Miguel Borja who became Panay Autobus' majority stockholder.
After a series of legal battles and business maneuvers, the Lopezes acquired Borja's shares in the Panay Autobus and eventually took control of the company.
There were two other smaller transportation companies operating in the mid-1930s — the Aleosan Transportation Company and the Eagle Express. Established in 1929, the Aleosan Transportation Company was owned by Rafael Zulueta and had 15 cars going to Leon via San Miguel, Oton and Tigbauan, and to Alimodian via San Miguel and Oton.
The Eagle Express, owned by Gil Hedianoon, operated units inside and outside of the city, and covered Lapuz, La Paz and the Jaro district routes.
The population is slowly growing . There was a need for effecient travel of Ilongos from towns to the Cities . The demand was answered when the Panay Autobus Co. ( left) starting its operation with office and terminal in Rizal Street, Iloilo City. It is largest of the bus companies operating in Iloilo and the rest of the island of Panay . it's capital investment of P365,000, was the most successful land transportation venture in Panay at that time.
The other major bus company was the Iloilo Transportation Co. whose office and terminal were situated in Blumentritt Street, Iloilo City. It advertised itself as having double-deck buses with radio music. Its double and single-deck steel blue buses maintained regular schedules covering the areas of Jaro, Iloilo City, Molo, Mandurriao, and Arevalo. In 1937, it operated 316 commodious, clean and comfortable autobuses, at least in the standards of that time. These autobuses plied many accessible roads in the island, reaching even farflung barangays. To maintain its reputation, only experienced and well-trained drivers and conductors were employed by the company.
Medicine
Leonard Wood , is graduate of Medicine in Harvard Medical School. He became Governor- general in Cuba who played larged part in eradication of yellow fever and other diseases in Cuba. He was intensely interested in medical questions about leprosy. When He came to the Philippines in 1902 .
Management of leprosy is Segregation . By Act 1711 of the Philippine Commission, passed September 12, 1907, the Leper Act, it authorized the Bureau of Health to apprehend, isolate, detain, confine, segregate, and treat all lepers at the leper colony in Culion, PalawanVictor G. Heiser was given full responsibility of the segregation program. Lepers are identified and shipped to Culion Island , Palawan.
The Sanitarium was established in 1927 for Lepers, then collected and confined in the Iloilo Provincial Jail.By that time it only occupies more than a hectare donated by benevolent Grand Lady, Mrs. Rosario Gonzaga de Jesena of Jaro, Iloilo City.The patients were sheltered in small nipa huts.Five years later, Mrs. Gonzaga de Jesena donated more lands and more were purchased by the government which now comprise the approximate area of twenty two hectares.
Dr. Goitia and Mr. Gil Leonides were the first members of the Medical Staff.In 1929, Mr. Adriano A. Soliva, a nurse from Culion arrived to take the place of the first nurse, Mr. Leonides.More and more patients were coming due to the strict Segregation Law of Lepers.
The station was opened following a notable increase in the number of leprosy sufferers from Iloilo at the Culion leper colony from 1906 to the 1920s.
Thus, in 1924, the Philippine Legislature was urged to support the establishment of a hospital for leprosy patients in Iloilo, according to the book "Hidden Lives, Concealed Narratives: A History of Leprosy in the Philippines (2016)."
"In 1926, (Governor General) Leonard Wood visited the province and appointed a committee to obtain funds to purchase a site for a local treatment station," the book said.
"Most of the early patients admitted to the institution were patients who had been formerly confined in the Iloilo Provincial Jail," it added.
In 1932, Jesena donated more lands while the government also purchased additional parcel of lands in Barrios Inangayan and Bolong Oeste until the station occupied a total fo 22 hectares.
Initially, the treatment had a small medical staff, some of whom came from Culion, to care for patients from Iloilo and the neighboring provinces of Panay Island.
By 1935, it admitted 216 leprosy patients, the third largest admission among the seven treatment stations in the country, according to the "Report of the Philippine Leprosy Commission (1935)."
From 1937 onwards, major construction work commenced. Small hills were levelled and roads were constructed. A plaza was laid out which included not just an open space but a playground as well.
"Separate quarters for male and female patients were added to the existing ones," the book said.
"A school was also opened, which came under the direct supervision of Pastor Alberto Franco, a Baptist minister," it added.
The Santa Barbara station was found to have fertile soil, allowing physically fit patients to plant rice and vegetables, and raise poultry.
"The health authorities praised these activities as good examples of how to gradually train the patients to be self-sufficient," the book noted.
When World War II erupted in 1942, employees and leprosy patients evacuated to Barrio Tinago in Alimodian, but some of them returned to the station in late 1943.
It became fully operational again after the Liberation in 1945, and new dormitories were built up to Purok Milagrosa, which was a kilometer away from the station.
In May 2005, the treatment station was expanded to become a general hospital and a 50-bed facility was inaugurated in January 2010.
Now known as the Western Visayas Sanitarium, it remains a referral hospital under the Department of Health for leprosy patients in the region.