The Historic Iloilo Jail was built in 1911 and was 'decommissioned' in 2006 when replaced by two other facilities in Iloilo Province at Pototan and Mandurriao. The present Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. has secured funding from all levels of Government to rehabilitate the structure and use it as a Museum.

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The new 2015 HP concept presentation
written & photographed by: fergus jm ducharme
The Iloilo Provincial Jail
Sights & Sounds of Ilo²

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This story is part of a new series which we are launching today on
historicphilippines.com.
The series is called: “The Sights and Sounds of Iloilo” and in addition to our
regular Church features we will be including stories from “The Sights” we see
and experience throughout the province on a regular basis. We hope you will
enjoy following our new adventures…

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The Old Provincial Jail backs onto the Provincial Capitol and the Museo de
Iloilo. The juxtaposition is very interesting and best of all the Governor wants
to have it renovated and used as another major museum at an estimated cost
of 80 Million Pesos.

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The jail cells look ominous from this side of the bars, even though they no
longer serve their original purpose.

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Guard towers are placed at each corner, the
guards can then watch what is going on inside
the main prison courtyard as well as what is
happening outside the walls.

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The main gate is protected
by a barred entrance. Now
I’ve never been inside a
prison of any kind, but I am
told by family members who
studied “Corrections” in
college and university that
you get a feeling of
complete loss and
devastation when you hear
those doors clang shut
behind you. You get that
feeling of loss even though
you’re getting out as soon
as you finish your business.
Now, can you imagine what
a newly arrived inmate feels
when he hears those doors
clang shut behind him and
he knows it won’t be
opening for him anytime
soon.

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Is it just possible that people 100 years ago, when this place originally opened
that they were a little ahead of modern times by calling the place a
“Rehabilitation” Centre?

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This is what is called the “Search Room” located right next to the main
entrance. Apparently visitors coming to see the inmates were regularly
searched for contraband before they were admitted to the “Rehabilitation
Centre”.

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An aerial view of the old prison.

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The crest of the Republic of Philippines above the main entrance.

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This fearsome looking wall with only ‘slits’ for windows, just imagine how you
would feel if you were sitting in a cell with only that slit for light and air and
scrunched in with 6 or 8 or more other inmates.

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Being in one of these cells, with larger windows, would be slightly better than
being in the other cells we saw previously.

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Photo of Iloilo Provincial Jail shortly after it opened in 1911

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The Provincial Jail was originally built and opened in 1911. The property was 868
square meters and had a capacity of just over a 1,000 prisoners. It is said that close
to its end it had close of 2,000 guests in residence.
The jail was actually abandoned and its operations split between two operations one
in Barangay Nanga in Pototan and the other in Barangay Ungka in Mandurriao during
2006.
In the interim, Provincial Governor Arthur Defensor, Sr. has announced that the
Provincial Government was prepared, with senior levels of government, to renovate
and rehabilitate the Old Prison site so that it could become a focal point in the tourism
trade in the Province. It is seen as becoming a major tourist attraction and function as
a museum. At total of 80 million Pesos has been allocated to the project.

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As we moved around the outside of the old building, looking into windows to
see what we could see…we spotted this room with stacks of unused ballot
boxes. They are embossed with the words: “Spoiled Ballots” and there has to
be several hundred of the stacked there.

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Jomarie Acallar: friend, navigator, facilitator &
assistant discoverer
Nilo Jimeno: friend, pilot, facilitator & assistant
discoverer
Thank you!