page_title: Jaro, Iloilo City
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Jaro, Iloilo City / History
caption_attribution_description: English: CPU Aerial View 196. From Centralite 1960 (Central Philippine University Official Yearbook)
context_page_description: Jaro, officially District of Jaro, is one of the seven districts of Iloilo City, in the province of Iloilo, on the island of Panay, in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Once a separate city, it merged when Iloilo City was re-incorporated in the 1940s during the American administration in the Philippines. Jaro is the largest of all districts of Iloilo City. The Iloilo City district of La Paz was once a former part of Jaro before it became separated, same with the present Iloilo Province's towns of Leganes and Pavia, which adjoined as historical parts of Jaro before becoming as separate municipalities during the Spanish and American colonial periods of the Philippines.
  Jaro lends its name to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro, the metropolitan see which covers the provinces of Antique, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental.
  The Jaro annual Catholic Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, the Roman Catholic patron of the whole Western Visayas and Romblon, held every February 2, is well known in the Philippines for its pomp and pageantry.
context_section_description: Its original name was Salog or Saro. It was also referred to as "Ilaya" or "mountain/dry land" together with La Paz which was referred to as "Ilawod" or "sea/wet land". It had been one of the richer areas of Iloilo City even during the Spanish colonial period (1521-1898) and probably the richest town of the entire colony. Historical artifacts indicate that it had once conducted trade with China and Siam (Thailand) due to its port along the navigable river that ran through the town. It was also the center of religious and economic power in the Visayas during the Spanish rule.
  Jaro officially became a city in 1886. La Paz, which was a former part of Jaro, became independent. Jaro, along with the neighboring towns of La Paz, Mandurriao, and Molo, was incorporated into the then-municipality of Iloilo by virtue of Act No. 719 of 1903. By Executive Order 
  No. 64 of December 24, 1907, the former municipalities of Jaro and Pavia (which was incorporated into Iloilo municipality by virtue of Act No. 1333 of April 19, 1905) were separated from the municipality of Iloilo and constituted as its own municipality of Jaro with effect on February 15, 1908. By Executive Order No. 1 of 1921, Pavia was separated from Jaro and made its own municipality.
  By Executive Order No. 97 of December 6, 1915, Leganes was removed from the municipality of Santa Barbara and made a part of Jaro with effect on January 1, 1916. Leganes was separated from the municipality of Jaro and made its own municipality with effect on January 1, 1940, by virtue of Executive Order No. 241 of December 23, 1939.
  In the 1930s, the neighboring towns of La Paz and Villa de Arevalo were incorporated into Iloilo City, at a time when all economic activities shifted to the port of Iloilo; and Jaro, on the other hand, followed suit to be absorbed into Iloilo City in 1941.
  The present independent Iloilo municipalities of Leganes and Pavia were also formerly under the jurisdiction of Jaro at some points in their history.
  Jaro's location between Dungon Creek and the Tigum River fulfills an ideal design for establishing communities during the Spanish colonial era: a site between two rivers, with a church and plaza in the center, and homes of affluent families in the vicinity.  The church is the famous Parish of Our Lady of Candles, also known as the Jaro Metropolitan Cathedral, the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro and the site of a believed to be miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary, which is a statue that has supposedly been growing in size ever since its discovery. Legends also state that among misty days, the Virgin Mary had disappeared from its original nook near the apex of the cathedral and bathed her child in the stream that used to well-forth from Jaro Plaza or that in Moro incursions, the Virgin had assisted in frightening off the raiders. The Marian image perched atop the facade of the cathedral was canonically crowned by  Pope John Paul II during his visit on 21 February 1981 (the first Marian image or statue in the Philippines crowned by a Pope and Saint).
  The coming of the Americans in the early 20th century when the Philippines was ceded by Spain to the United States through the 1898 Treaty of Paris brought with them the Protestant religion and Iloilo is one of the first places where they came and started a mission in the Philippines. During the American occupation, the Philippine islands were divided into different Protestant missions and Western Visayas came to the jurisdiction of the Baptists. Baptist missionaries came although other Protestant sects came also especially the Presbyterians and they established numerous institutions. The Presbyterians established the Iloilo Mission Hospital in 1901, the first Protestant and American founded hospital in the country while the Baptists established the Jaro Evangelical Church, the first Baptist church in the islands, and the Central Philippine University in 1905, which was founded by  William Valentine through a grant given by the American industrialist, oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefel
caption: Aerial view Central Philippine University in the 1960s. The university's main campus was heavily destroyed during World War II. Post war reconstruction resulted to a well laid and organized campus plan.
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