National Museum opens office in Iloilo

ILOILO CITY — The National Museum has opened a satellite office in the newly-restored art deco building in Iloilo City.

Speaking at the Feb. 17 reopening, National Museum Director Jeremy Barns said that the old Municipal Hall is now considered an important cultural property.

Barns credited Iloilo City Rep. Jerry P. Treñas for pushing the restoration of the old Jaro Municipal Hall, which is designed by renowned architect Juan M. Arellano.

Treñas authored Republic Act No. (RA 10555), which declared several key areas in Iloilo City including the old municipal hall as Cultural Heritage Tourism Zone.

RA 10555 stipulates that the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council will coordinate with Department of Tourism (DOT), National Museum, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and other agencies in utilizing and renovating these key heritage areas.

Built and completed in 1934, the art deco building served as town hall when Jaro was still a town.

However, Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon downgraded Jaro into a district of Iloilo City in 1941.

After World War II, the art deco building was converted into a prenatal center for pregnant women and later became a police station.

In 2014, Iloilo City government under Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog donated the building to the National Museum and DOT’s Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) funded the restoration.

Meanwhile, the National Museum is also set to open a regional museum in a former jail donated by the provincial government of Iloilo under Governor Arthur Defensor Sr.