![Nicholas Loney Monument [Iloilo City Cultural Heritage]](https://shemaegomez.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Nicholas-Loney-Monument-1024x576.png)
Great Britain was the first country to establish a vice-consulate in Iloilo. The first vice-consul, Nicholas Loney, arrived in Iloilo on July 31, 1856. Through his firm, Loney, Ker & Company, he financed sugar production. He was responsible for introducing sugar cane seeds from Sumatra and sugar machinery from England […]
Vicente “Dako” Yap, the eldest of 11 children from naturalized Filipino parents, had known dire straits. The Yap’s first business, a bazaar went bankrupt. “It was hard, the reversal of fortune that happened.” It is a tribute to Dako’s father’s ingenuity that armed with culinary skills, he put up a […]
Sen Rafael Ill is the Bricklayer of A.M. Builders’ Depot. Everyone loves a success story. Epic tales of conquering seemingly insurmountable odds and the sweet taste of victory that follows have been countlessly retold in literature and the media, leaving indelible images both awe-inspiring and familiar to be one for […]
Ian Pama’s journey home took a slightly different turn. He had barely trod the boards as a graduate of De La Salle University in 1997 when he was transplanted right into the thick of managing the newly-established Valiant Bank that the family-owned. “Talk about on-the-job training,” he laughs. This was […]
Fronting the Iloilo River, La Paz was once known as llawhod, It was a barrio of Jaro until 1865 when it became an independent municipality. Since 1937, it has been a district of Iloilo City. The Jaleco family, owning substantial tracts of swamplands and grasslands in the district, are among the principal families […]
The Celso Ledesma House A Beaux Arts Victorian mansion stands in the heart of Iloilo’s commercial district, unperturbed by the bustle of Calle Ortiz and the pier nearby. It is the house that Engineers Mariano Cacho and Mariano Salas built for Don Celso Ledesma in 1922. The Japanese imperial forces […]
Johnny Que is the Renegade of Waflle Time, Coffee Break, etc. Johnny Que recalls how a flash of nostalgia triggered a similar moment of discovery. Already a successful architect, he came upon “the original Iloilo Supermart waffle machine” in one of his trips through the family business warehouse. “It was […]
Pauline Banusing is the Chef of Al Dente Catering Services. I’ve always had a rather independent, Treaelious streak,” whispers Pauline Gorriceta-Banusing with a smile. ” My parents rained me well by giving me responsibilities in running the family jewelry business. And it has certainly helped me as I ventured into […]
Dr. Sandra Sarabia-Gomez is the Innkeeper of Sarabia Manor Hotel & Convention Center It may be difficult to believe that the elaborate and imposing structure that is the Sarabia Manor Hotel and Convention Center began its life as a school project. “It’s true,” smiles Dr. Sandra Sarabia- Gomez, the Hotel’s […]
Atty. Eduardo Hernandez, the Farmer. A short drive southwest of the city leads us to the rooftop of a cottage within the vast Hernandez estate in Tigbauan, the invigorating afternoon breeze adding an air of majesty to the panoramic view of the beach overlooking the Gulf of Panay. Our host, […]