[Ilonggo Notes] Spotlight on National Artists’ designs, works in Iloilo

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May is National Heritage Month. Designated by Presidential Proclamation 439, it recognizes the need to create consciousness, respect and love for the legacies of Filipino cultural history. The theme for 2025 is “Preserving Legacies, Building Futures: Empowering Communities through Heritage.”

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the lead agency for this, emphasizes heritage as a bridge between the past and future, inspiring communities to engage in conservation and education efforts. By blending traditional knowledge with modern techniques, communities can create innovative, sustainable preservation strategies. 

Heritage Month comes on the heels of Filipino Food Month and National Literature Month in April, so the “UNESCO Creative City for Gastronomy” and the “City that Reads” had a slew of events held all over, from the Iloilo Mega Book fair and book launches, to talks and conferences on gastronomy, mall cooking demonstrations and contests to food fairs featuring local kakanin (rice-based sweets).

The most visible, accessible, and prominent forms of heritage tend to be public structures, especially those designed by National Artists (NA) for Architecture and Design. Iloilo has several structures designed by two NAs: Juan Nakpil (1899-1986) and Leandro V. Locsin (1928-1994).

Nakpil was the first National Artist Awardee for Architecture, in 1973. According to the NCCA website, his “greatest contribution is his belief that there is such a thing as Philippine Architecture, espousing architecture reflective of Philippine traditions and culture. He has integrated strength, function, and beauty in the buildings that are the country’s heritage today.” 

Architect Gerard Lico notes that, “Nakpil’s prolific imagination has created astounding buildings that synthesize strength, function, and beauty — edifices which embody the modern heritage of the Filipino nation.

“His 50-year career produced a staggering number of buildings, 200, unmatched in enviable quantity as well as impressive quality. His use of different styles in various stages of his long career betray a shifting aesthetic — beginning with an exuberant art deco trajectory in his early years, later developing with unadorned modernist geometries.”

He designed the Archbishop’s palace in Jaro, which sits at the southeast corner of the Jaro Plaza, on Commission Civil street. The structure was built in 1948 under then archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco.

Nakpil’s name features prominently on the façade, above the door. From its balcony Pope John Paul blessed the faithful during a 1981 visit; there is a small chapel, rectory as well as a display of vintage religious art from Panay’s many catholic churches.

The Archbishop’s Palace in Jaro, designed by Juan Nakpil. Photo by Vic Salas/Rappler

The other work attributed to Nakpil, in an Iloilo Heritage Conservation Council Inventory, is the Iloilo TB Pavilion, also known as the Iloilo Chest Clinic and Dispensary, on Delgado street, owned by the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. (PTSI). This was probably built just before World War II, and is in the streamline moderne style, an art deco variant.

The imposing structure, rounded balconies, stained glass windows, and grills — including the fence and gates evoke an era long gone. The upper floor, which used to be a TB ward-sanatorium, is occupied by a pre-school and occasionally by a Christian group. 

Nakpil also built the Quezon Institute, also owned by the PTSI, and is in similar style.

The Iloilo TB Pavilion. Photo by Vic Salas/Rappler

Nakpil’s major works in Manila are the Geronimo de los Reyes Building, Magsaysay Building, Rizal Theater, Capitol Theater, Captain Pepe Building, Manila Jockey Club, Rufino Building, Philippine Village Hotel, University of the Philippines Administration and University Library, the renovated Quiapo Church and the reconstructed Rizal house in Calamba. Unfortunately, many of these buildings have been demolished decades ago, or are in a dilapidated state. 

Locsin, according to the NCCA citation, “reshaped the urban landscape with a distinctive architecture reflective of Philippine Art and Culture.”

He believes that the true Philippine Architecture is “the product of two great streams of culture, the oriental and the occidental, to produce a new object of profound harmony. It is this synthesis that underlies all his works, with his achievements in concrete reflecting his mastery of space and scale.

“Every Locsin building is an original, and identifiable as a Locsin with themes of floating volume, the duality of light and heavy, buoyant and massive running in his major works.

“From 1955 to 1994, Locsin has produced 75 residences and 88 buildings, including 11 churches and chapels, 23 public buildings, 48 commercial buildings, six major hotels, and an airport terminal building.”

In Iloilo there is just one building that Locsin designed — the former Filipinas Life Assurance (FLA) Co. Building in Tabuc Suba, Jaro. This was built in the 70s, when Locsin was commissioned to design several branches of the insurance company, in different cities all over the country. (Filipinas was later bought by the Ayala Group). 

There was a plan to demolish the building back in 2019, but according to the Bicol Mail, “this did not materialize because of the strong opposition of the Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council.”

The NCCA denied an application for the building to be “de-listed.” In 2022, the now vacant building was used as the Iloilo headquarters for then Vice President Leni Robredo’s presidential campaign.

The Filipinas Life Assurance Building by Leandro Locsin. Contributed photo

Locsin, an Ilonggo (born in Silay city, but his ancestors are from Molo) built the palace of the Sultan of Brunei, which has a floor area of 2.2 million square feet. 

The CCP Complex itself is a virtual Locsin Complex with all five buildings designed by him — the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Folk Arts Theater, Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Philippine Center for International Trade and Exhibition (Philcite), and the Sofitel Philippine Plaza hotel.

There is one person with notable works in Iloilo, who I assumed was a National Artist, until I checked the NCCA website. That person is no other than Juan Arellano, and he might as well be called “the greatest Pinoy architect not designated National Artist.” 

His buildings are some of the most prominent and best known in the city — such as the former Jaro Municipal Hall, which is an art deco gem and now housing the regional office of the NCCA (with previous lives as a health center, post office and fire station).

The old Jaro Municipal Hall. Photo by Vic Salas/Rappler

The other masterpiece is the former Iloilo City Municipal Building, donated by the city to UP in 1947. Fittingly, the building has been gloriously restored, with a series of galleries featuring the works of local and National Artists. 

Arellano’s body of work includes the Metropolitan Theater, the Rizal Memorial Stadium, the buildings around the Luneta such as the Manila Post Office, the Legislative Building, and the National Museum for Fine Arts. He also built the Bacolod Provincial Capitol and Lagoon. 

One other prominent artist-sculptor whose work is intimately associated with Arellano, is the Italian-born and longtime Philippine resident Francesco Monti. 

Monti met Arellano and came to the country in the late 1920s; they collaborated on many of the Arellano works, including those in Iloilo and Bacolod. 

For the Iloilo Municipal Building, Monti did the bas relief façade and the two imposing sculptures of “Law” and “Order” at the main entrance. He is said to have done the reliefs on the Jaro Municipal Hall. 

Other works also attributed to Monti (though not definitely proven) are the Maria Clara statue in the Molo Plaza, and the four statues of a leering Bacchus at the corners of Plaza Libertad. He taught at UST, and died after a traffic accident in Manila in 1958.

The other NA awardees for Architecture and Design, apart from Nakpil and Locsin (1990), include Pablo S. Antonio (1976), Ildefonso P. Santos Jr. (2006), Jose Maria V. Zaragoza (2014), and Francisco T. Mañosa (2018). I’m not aware of any of their works in Iloilo.

Architect Dominic Galicia opines that Arellano (and his other “bet” for NA, Andres Luna de San Pedro, son of Juan Luna and Paz Pardo de Tavera) were not considered since both had passed away long before the awards were started in 1972. 

However, posthumous awards have been given in other categories, so this may be more a matter of some group lobbying for recognition, as the application process for National Artists requires considerable verifiable documentation and endorsements. 

Luna, however, is the architect of the grand Lizares mansion (the Angelicum school) in Tabuc Suba, Jaro. Across the road is the Locsin-designed building.  

But what of the works of 17 other national artists, particularly those in the visual arts?  In Iloilo, certainly there are many pieces — some on display at UPV, the ILOMOCA, Galerie D’Arsie, or in private collections.  Pieces by Cesar Legaspi, Ang Kiukok, Manansala, Luz, Ocampo, Joya, to name some.

But going back to Heritage Month, UNESCO defines it as “a legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations, an irreplaceable source of life and inspiration. 

“Heritage comprises historical sites, buildings, monuments, objects in museums, artifacts and archives; waterways, landscapes, forests, wildlife, insects, plants; while intangible heritage includes customs, sports, music, dance, folklore, cuisine, literature, crafts, skills and traditions.”

Iloilo city has several museums that highlight intangible heritage: piña embroidery and weaving displays can be found at the National Museum Iloilo, the Museum of Philippine Economic History, and the UPV OICA Museums; the latter also has a gallery devoted to intangible heritage, where basketry, pottery, traditional farming tools and methods, chants, and legends are displayed. As someone once said, “In Iloilo, the past is always present.” – Rappler.com