Address
San Jose Parish – Placer
5000 Calasanz St, Iloilo City Proper, Iloilo City,
Iloilo, Philippines
E-mail: sanjoseparishplacer@gmail.com
Contact No.: +63 33 336 4802
Facebook Page: San Jose Parish Placer
Website: https://sanjosedeiloilo.info-aid.net/
About the Parish
The first Spaniards set foot in Panay in 1566 while looking for supplies badly needed in Cebu. In the same year, a second expedition came to Panay, this time with Fr. Martin de Rada. He preached the gospel to the natives along the Arout River. Assigned to Panay in 1569, Fr Juan de Alva built the first wooden-chapel in what is today’s Dumangas.
The three-year stint in Cebu, the original base, proved precarious to Miguel Lopez de Leazpi and his men. Hampered by serious food shortage and harassed by Portuguese incursions, the expedition transferred to Panay Island and settled at the mouth of the Banica River, near the town of Pan-ay, Capiz. In 1571, Legazpi moved to Manila, leaving in Pan-ay some people to build a gallery and some soldiers to look after the artillery and supplies left there. From Pan-ay they moved to the Oton-Arevalo area. The Augustinians established their chief mission at Oton, being the first house officially accepted by the pioneering Religious Order in 1572. The nearby estuaries became shipyards and provision posts for later Spanish expeditions to the Moluccas and Mindanao. Gonzalo Ronuillo de Peñalosa decided in 1581 to establish a larger Spanish settlement at Arevalo which he described as an area “where the land is very fertile and the inhabitants are rich.”
Naming it as La Villa de Arevalo, after his hometown in Spain, Ronquillo instituted a Spanish municipal government and designated it as the administrative capital of Panay and Negros. It was the official residence of the alcalde mayor, who was in charge of the government of the province and the overseer-general of the Spanish garrison in the Moluccas.
Inhabitants flocked to the Villa Rica de Arevalo to build their houses. The place soon became one of the best provisioned districts of all the islands. Oton-Arevalo kept growing.
1602, returning from the Southern outposts, Pedro Bravo de Acuña stayed in Iloilo and ordered a wooden fortress to be built at Punta. Two companies of soldiers were stationed there to protect the people of the neighboring towns against the frequent maraudings of pirates and foreign elements. The population of Iloilo at that time was composed of the said soldiers and some families of fishermen in what is today’s Estanzuela. The “town” was under the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Arevalo. In 1637, there was a sudden influx of people due to the order of Governor Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera. While passing through Arevalo in his expedition against Sultan Kudarat, Corcuera issues an order on the second of February asking the people of Arevalo and the Chinese of Parian (Molo) to move to Punta.
Knowing that Punta was an unhabitable place, that they would lose their houses and lands, and thinking of the privileges accorded to them by its founder Ronquillo, the people of Arevalo refused to follow the order. Likewise, its Alcalde Mayor Andres Briones, who at that time was in charge of the province of Oton, so called until 1790 when the name was changed to Iloilo Province, did nothing to comply with the order. Back from expedition, Corcuera reiterated the order. This time Dionisio Sarria, the new Alcalde Mayor, followed the order to the letter. As the people were hesitant to move, Sarria, followed by a group of workers with the necessary tools, started demolishing the houses. Thus, many citizens were forced to abandon their beloved town, though some settled not in Punta but in Jaro and neighboring towns. The few Spaniards who remained in Arevalo were asked in 1647 by General Diego de Fajardo to move to Iloilo.
From the beginning there was a chaplaincy in the Fortress under the care of the secular clergy. Governor Niño de Tavora gave to the Jesuits in 1626, who built a wooden church in Estanzuela. In 1678, they started ministering the Parish (Molo). When in 1768, they were expelled from the Philippines by order of Charles III, the Dominicans took over, and administered only Iloilo. This date, 1768, could be considered as the establishment of Iloilo as an independent town and parish. In 1775, once more Iloilo passed under the care of the secular clergy until 1868.
The Augustinian Bishop of Cebu Santos Gomez Marañon (1829-1840), asked in 1831 to limit the too widely spread territory of his diocese and created a new one in Jaro. The realization of Marañon’s idea took no less than thirty years for the creation of the new diocese. To ease the burden of the bishop of Cebu, Pope Pius IX by his Apostolic Letter Qui ab Initio, May 27, 1865, created the Diocese of Jaro. Jaro was chosen as the seat of the new diocese, “because Jaro, as we have come to learn,” reads the papal document, “is situated on the right bank of the Iloilo River in a wide plain, enjoys a mild and healthy climate;… it is the center of Iloilo Province, and it has flourishing culture and population which numbers already 24,000 inhabitants. Beside, it has a church and a rector big enough to temporarily serve as cathedral and episcopal residence respectively.”
The Augustinians took over Iloilo Parish in 1868 giving in exchange Jaro, which they had ministered to since its beginning in 1584, to be the seat of the new diocese.
Construction of the Church
In the 1840s, Iloilo was still a make shift town built on a shaky foundation, poor and sparsely inhabited. The church – a traveller writes – was not of stone, but of a mixture of brick, wood and limestones. This church as gutted by fire around the 1850s, when the parish priest was Alejo de la Cruz Jalandoni. In 1865, Fr. Leonardo Lazaro, a native of Mandurriao was appointed parish priest. He, with the help of Dn. Manuel Iznart, then governor of the province, started the construction of a new church. It was inaugurated after 20 months of hard work. When the Augustinian Fr. Mauricio Blanco took over in the early 1870s, he started to widen and improve the present church. He built the towers in 1893 and placed a clock in one of them.
In 1912, a strong typhoon destroyed the roofing over choir and caused other damages. Fr. Pedro B. Delgado, with the help of the parishioners, repaired it. From 1922 to 1933, Frs. Domingo Correa and David Casares took pains to make a major repair costing some Php 33,653.00. Engineer Mariano Cacho Soriano directed the work, free of charge. Once more, in 1980-1981, Fr. Gilbert Luis Centina, with the help of some parishioners, remodeled the church. The back walls near the main and side altars as well as the presbyterium were covered with marble from Romblon.
On November 13, 1983, a remodeled sacristy was blessed. The plans were made by Bro. Leonard Jallorina. The present parish priest is Fr. Apolinario Mejorada.
Parochial House
The former parochial house was located on the right side of the church. Fr. Mauricio Blanco started the present one on July 20, 1893 and finished at the end of the following year 1894. At that time – according to newspaper reports – t was one of the best buildings of the city worthy to be the palace of the diocese.
Parochial School
With the development of Iloilo’s port in the last century, people from the province migrated to the city to work as stevedores. With the doldrums suffered by the sugar industry, many a family left their children to roam the streets. Feeling the need to educated those less fortunate children of the Parish, Fr. Manuel Diez Aguado in 1912 established a free school in the first floor of the convent. During the first years it was supported by the Centro Catolico Diocesano of Iloilo. In later years a group of prominent ladies of the parish, took upon themselves the task to collect and solicit funds for the maintenance of the school. As enrollment increased, Fr. Casimiro Garcia, built in the late 1960s the preent bowling alley to generate some income to defray the expenses of the school. In 1970, Fr. Rafael Arguelles, then parish priest of San Jose, constructed the present school buildings.
The Dinagyag
25 years ago: today
(“Dinagyang”: Its birth and evolution)
By Dominador Rivera Jr., President, Cofradia del Santo Niño de Cebu, Iloilo City Chapter
(Note: Published on the Souvenir entitled, “Silver Celebration Santo Niño Fiesta Dinagyang 1968 – 1993” by San Jose Parish Iloilo City, January 15-24, 1993, theme: Equality in Christian Dignity Thru the Santo Niño Devotion)
The root word is dagyang. In Ilonggo, it means to make merry. “Dinagyang is the present progressing for of that Ilonggo word, meaning making merry or merry-making.
Attributed not to the annual, signature, religious-socio-cultural festival in Iloilo Citym the word “Dinagyang” was coined by an oldtimer, Ilonggo writer and radio broadcaster, the late Pacifico Sumagpao Sudario and first used to name the festival when it was launched in 1977.
Iloilo City’s “Dinagyang” had its early beginning in 1968[i], when a replica of the image of the Sñr. Santo Niño de Cebu was brought from Cebu City to the San Jose Parish Church, by Fr. Sulpicio Enderes, OSA[ii], with a delegation of Cofradia del Santo Niño, Cebu members.
The image and party were enthusiastically welcomed at Iloilo City by the Parish Priest of San Jose Church, Fr. Ambrosio Galindez, OSA, then Mayor Reinerio Ticao, and devotees of the Santo Niño in Iloilo City.
The image was brought to San Jose Parish Church and enshrined there up to this time, where a novena in His honor is held every Friday.
Meanwhile, the Cofradia del Santo Niño, Iloilo Chapter was organized and the first set of officers elected, to name a few were: Fr. Ambrosio Galindez, OSA, Fiscal Vicente Gengos, first president of the Cofradia; Mr. & Mrs. Fermin Zapanta, Jr.; Mr. & Mrs. George Bucana, Mr. Felicisimo Almalvez, Mr. Aurelio Deriada, the late Tommy Panaguiton, Doroteo Fuentes, Mr. & Mrs. Espiridon Alcubilla and Dominador Rivera Jr..
The first parish feast of Señor Santo Niño was celebrated in 1968. The culmination of the nine-day novena was the fluvial procession.
In the early morning light of dawn, the revered Santo Niño image is borne in a decorated banca in a fluvial procession, starting from the mouth of the Iloilo river at Fort San Pedro, winding all the way to the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, which stands on the bank of the Iloilo River.
At the point, the Santo Niño is met by the Hermano-Hermana Mayor, devotees, and Ati-atihan tribes. With the Santo Niño leading, the foot procession starts, passing the main street of the City and endings up to San Jose Parish Church, where a high concelebrated mass is held. Every year since then, the image is venerated through a religious celebration, with the celebration. Ati-atihan merely as a prop to enhance the religious tone of the celebration.
The Ati-atihan traces its roots to the barter or purchase of Panay Island by the ten Bornean Datus from the “Ati” King Marikudo in the 13th century.
From 1969, the celebration was casually called Ati-atihan and to differentiate it from that of Kalibo, Aklan, was specified as Iloilo Ati-atihan.
The fluvial procession of the Santo Niño image on the Iloilo River was made a prerequisite to the Ati-atihan foot procession which has now evolved into a parade and competition, thus answering the cultural aspect of the celebration.
The early years of the Ati-atihan parade and competition saw only a few tribes participating. Held in the afternoon of Sunday, the assembly point was the Provincial Capitol, the parade passing Iznart and J.M. Basa streets, and straight to San Jose Church with the Freedom Grandstand as the sole judging area. The first champion was the “Majapahit” Tribe of Compania Maritima.
At first, the steps or movements of the Ati-atihan participants were improvised, their formation unstructured.
Their costumes were made our of indigenous materials like leaves and bark of trees, woven anahaw, buri, or coconut palm fronds and husks.
From 1971 to 1973, more “Ati-Ati” tribes joined the celebration that now has become more colorful and a pompous affair, to eventually include the Mardi Gras (now Kasadyahan), an offshoot of the Ati-atihan, and becoming a full-blown festival. It was during these years that the “Ma-Mau” tribe of NENACO copped the first place consecutively.
In 1974, the Iloilo Ati-atihan played a vital role in the “Operation Balikbayan” program of the Department of Tourism (then Ministry of Tourism), by providing visitors with a unique form of cultural entertainment. Panaderia de Mol’s “The Last Warrior” Tribe was champion during this year and was invited by ex-First Lady, Imelda R. Marcos to grace the “Kasaysayan ng Lahi” pageant, presented to foreign diplomats in Manila. Iloilo’s Ati-atihan was the biggest attraction among all regional participants nationwide and earned the thunderous applause of international dignitaries present.
In 1975, although the religious facet was still present, the activities centered more on the Ati-atihan and Kasadyahan (Mardi Gras) contests, crow-drawers that they were.
Costumes became more ornate and fabulous. Designed, cut, and hand-sewn according to specifications, the costumes came our in a variety of forms and kaleidoscopic colors. Ingenuity in making use of materials for costumes was researched by the competing tribes, seeing to it that this was kept under wraps. Even the movements and frenetic dance steps as the tribes practices were executed behind locked doors. Other paraphernalia like shields and spears were added to the costumes.
Commercialism was beginning to set in and the festival soon enough became structured.
“Tribu Hamili” of Barangay Gen. Hughes garnered the first place in 1975 and held on to it until 1976.
The year 1976 was declared by the late ex-President Marco as Tourism Year and decreed that each province of the country should develop a tourist attraction to lure not only foreign but also domestic tourist to visit places in our country and know more about the Philippines and its people.
This was then that the City of Iloilo though of having the Feast of Señor Santo Niño and the Ati-Atihan and Kasadyahan as main attractions.
The Cofradia del Santo Niño, San Jose Parish which through the years have been the prime mover and managed the feast and the Ati-atihan contest up to this point in time, ceded the management to the city government. If the festival had to be developed into a major tourist attraction, it would be so big in magnitude and the Cofradia thought has it could no longer cope with the demands of a tourist come-on.
The year 1976 also brought about another feature of the festival. Street revelry and audience participation were introduced and encouraged.
Where therefore, the public was just a spectator during the merrymaking of the various competing “Ati-Ati” and “Mardi Gras” tribes and groups, this time, the people were given the chance to gyrate wildly in the streets, sans inhibitions. With soot painted all over the face and body, one could just fantasize on anything that hits his fancy and in wild abandon, dance to the cacophonous beat of drums in the streets mingled with the raucous laughter of merrymaking.
From 1969 to 1977, Hermana Mayor was, once Mayor of Iloilo City, Rosa “Tita” O. Caram.
In 1977 the Iloilo City government which now headed the yearly celebration in coordination with the DOT, Iloilo Field Office, for want of a name, brainstormed of a distinctive, typical Ilonggo word, to identify the festival.
Ilonggo words like Kalipaya, Hinugyaw, Kalingawan, Kasadyahan, etc. which all synonymously meant making happy, cropped up.
It was at this time that Pacifico S. Sudario’s coined word “Dinagyang” was adopted.
From then on, the festival has been called “Dinagyang.”
[i] The image arrived a year before the start of the Atiatihan sa Ilo-ilo in 1967. It should be concurred that it was only the following year in 1968 that the first fiesta in honor of the Child Jesus was held.
[ii] Contrary to some traditions, Fr. Enderes was the rector of the Basilica at the time of the giving of Santo Niño. Rather, according to Basilica’s records, Fr Enderes only became a rector from 197-173.
