ILOILO....

Iloilo take its name from Irong-irong, the old name of the city of Iloilo, a tongue of land that sticks out like a nose on the south of Iloilo river. The Maragtas Legend tells the story of Iloilo way back in 13^th century, whe Datu Puti and his fellow Datus, fled from the tyranny of Sultan Makatunao of Borneo and landed at the mouth of the Siwaragan River, now known as the town of San Joaquin, and eventually settled there.

Iloilo City is a highly urbanized city on Panay Island in the Philippines, and the capital city of the province of Iloilo. It is the regional center of the Western Visayas as well as the center of the Iloilo-Guimaras Metropolitan Area.

Iloilo City is located in the southern shores of Panay Island. The city faces Iloilo Strait and Guimaras Island across it, making it a natural harbor and a safe anchorage for ships. The city lies on a flat alluvial plain, reclaimed mostly from the swampy areas due to urbanization and industrialization in the late 19th century until the present. Traversing the city are the rivers of Iloilo, Batiano, Jaro and Dungon Creek. Iloilo River is an estuary that separates the districts of City Proper, Molo and Villa Arevalo from the rest of the city. On the other hand, Jaro River is fed by its tributary rivers, Aganan and Tigum. Lately a new escape channel for floodwaters coming from these two rivers to Iloilo Straight was developed, the Jaro Floodway. Iloilo City is 337.6nautical miles from Manila. The city has a total land area of 70.3 square kilometres (27.1 sq mi).

Iloilo City has a tropical wet and dry climate as according to the Köppen climate classification system, with pronounced wet season from June throughout November; then dry season from December to May.

Hiligaynon is the language spoken in Iloilo City. English is used as the language of business and education. In addition, other local languages such as Karay-a (also known as Kinaray-a) is also spoken. Spanish, once widely spoken during the colonial era up to the 1970s, is still spoken by the elderly and some wealthy families and also the elder members of the micro-community of sugar-plantations related families.

Iloilo is Catholic predominated province comprising about 90% of the population. Protestant churches also exist such as Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Adventist, and other Evangelical Christians; There are also non Protestant and other Christian sects such as Iglesia Ni Cristo, Church of Christ of Latter day Saints (Mormon) and Jehovah's Witnesses while non Christians are usually represented by Moslems.