"Iloilo being a pilot province in integrated development, the provincial government has requested every municipality to prepare a municipal profile. Among the first of the forty-six towns to submit the manuscript of its "municipal profile" was Pavia. I thought the work was good enough, until I read Miss Guia C. Villaprudente's PAVIA, ILOILO: YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW.
This is a comprehensive study of life in Pavia which include history, people, geography, language, beliefs, practices, folkways, etc. This is the kind of work that should be encouraged, nay, required of all municipalities and provinces in the country."
This is an official history profile of the Municipality per Sangguniang Bayan Resolution No. 2006-53 dated
April 19, 2006. This includes musical scores and poetry related to the Municipality.
Subtitle: Where the Filipino flag was raised in victory outside Luzon, and the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas was inaugurated.
Contents: The Filipino flag is raised in victory — How the flag got to Sta. Barbara for the “Cry” — The Revolutionary Government of the Visayas — Gen. Martin T. Delgado
Published in connection with the 97th Anniversary of the "Cry of Sta. Barbara" and the Launching of the Philippine Centennial Movement in the Visayas. Sponsored by the National Centennial Commission, National Historical Institute, Province of Iloilo, and Municipality of Sta. Barbara at Sta. Barbara, Iloilo on Nov. 17, 1995.
Excerpt from Iloilo, an Episode of January, 1899, and Strained Relations in Manila, Vol. 6: First Series; February 25, 1901
December 13, 1898, General Otis received a petition from certain business men in Iloilo, asking for American protection there. Next day he cabled to Washington telling of the petition, stating that the Spanish authorities were still holding out in Iloilo but would receive American troops, and asking for instructions.
December 23, those instructions arrived. The President directs that you send necessary troops to Iloilo, to pre serve the peace and protect life and property. It is most important that there should be no conflict with the insurgents. Be conciliatory, but firm. General Otis at once cabled General Rios, in command of the Spanish troops at Iloilo, that he was sending a large American force. On the 24th, General Otis heard that General Rios intended to leave Iloilo that same day. Efforts were immediately made, says General Otis, to communicate by other means with General Rios before he could evacuate the city. Lieutenant Colonel Potter was sent at once on a coasting vessel to Iloilo.
This coffee table book is most valuable in the study and appreciation of the history of Iloilo, both the province and the city. It presents more than one hundred thirty photographs taken over a period of thirty years by Pedro Andres Casanave, a consummate American photographer. Each photograph is accompanied by commentaries by Nereo Cajilig Lujan, a veteran llonggo journalist who has successfully ventured into historical research and writing. The book also includes an interesting biographical sketch of Casanave by Lujan.
Casanave was an American citizen who was born in Mexico—thus, his Spanish name. Already widely known as a photographer and artist, he joined the US Volunteers in 1899 and came to the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. After the war, he stayed in the country, married a Filipina from Negros, and established his photography studio in Iloilo City in 1905.
Casanave was not the first photographer to practice in Iloilo. The first Filipino professional photographer, Felix Laureano, grew up and started his photographic career in Iloilo. He later went to Barcelona, Spain and put up a studio.
In 1895, Laureano published his Recuerdosde Filipinos in Barcelona. The photo album contains thirty-seven photographs taken of several parts of the Philippines. Less than half of these show scenes from Iloilo. On the other hand, Casanave’s photographs depict the various facets of life and society in Iloilo from the early American period to World War II.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words, so goes the adage. When it comes to historical pictures, however, the learned words of the historian can situate a picture in its proper context and explain its significance. In this book, Casanave’s pictures and Lujan’s text, contribute to Philippine historiography, especially on Iloilo's past. We commend Nereo Cajilig Lujan for bringing to light Pedro Casanave’s peerless photographs, thereby taking the readers back to Iloilo’s glorious past.
