Passi City, Philippines: A Place You Shouldn’t Miss

Posted on September 24th, 2007 in Iloilo by Philippines Insider - Kim

Passi City is located in the heart of Iloilo Province. Passi City’s boundaries are San Enrique on the north; on the south is Dumarao, Capiz; Calinog on the east; and on the west is Lemery. Passi City is a mountainous area and is composed of 51 barangays. It has the largest land area in Iloilo Province and is 50 kilometers away from Iloilo City.

Passi City has a variety of dialects. The Passinhon (local natives) speak Karay-a as their predominant dialect. Businessmen and investors use Cebuano and Tagalog dialects as well. Roman Catholicism is the religion of approximately 95 percent of the population in Passi City.

Throughout the Iloilo Province, Passi City is the District Agri-Industrial Center thus making it locally important. Passi City is rich in agricultural resources. Agriculture has been the long time backbone of Passi City’s economy. The main agricultural products include pineapples, coconuts, sugarcane, corn, rice, and vegetables.

Aside from agriculture, Passi City also has other industries that contribute well to their economy. These include fruit processing, metalworking production, wallboard production, and cut-flower propagation. Passi City also locally produce pineapple jam, wine, and preserves. These locally produced products have gotten their exposure due to various trade fairs and exhibits. Because of these fairs and exhibits, these products have already an established market.

Passi City has an annual festival called “Pintados de Passi Festival”. This festival is one of the very popular and well-established festivals of the region. It is an important event in the life of a Passinhon. The Pintados de Passi Festival attracts local and foreign tourists, which helps the tourism industry of Passi City.

Passi City’s Pintados de Passi Festival reminisces lives of the early settlers. These people have their bodies adorned with tattoos. Thus the name “Pintados” or literally the “Painted Men”.

The Pintados de Passi Festival of Passi City is celebrated with theatre-like street dancing. Participants do aggressive and heavy body movements to the rhythm of the music. They act out folk plays, character types, combat dances, and other ritual actions. Passi City’s rich history and culture play an important role in the preservation of Pintados de Passi Festival.

According to history, in 1766, a Spanish settlement was first established in this area. This marks the Spaniards’ onset colonial rule. In Ansig, Spanish explorers anchored there. Ansig is a place located at Lamunan River’s delta. Passi City’s name is derived from the word “Pasi”. This is a Hiligaynon word that means “unhusked grains of rice”.

Passi City is a great place to visit if ever you have a chance to come to the southern part of the Philippines. It is a place you shouldn’t miss when you visit the province of Iloilo, Philippines.

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Iloilo City: Great Vacation with a Growing Economy

Posted on July 13th, 2007 in Iloilo by Philippines Insider - Kim

Iloilo City, Philippines, was a center of commerce and trade way back in the Spanish and American colonial periods. The locals are known to be a people who are polite and calm in speech. You’ll find that the people of Iloilo City to be tender and warm to guests and visitors.

When you get to Iloilo City, one of the first things you’ll notice is that when you speak to some of the locals they would often just smile at you. That doesn’t mean they don’t understand you or they think you’re funny, it’s just that the locals are generally shy. When you speak to them in English, there are those who would respond in English since Ilongos (Iloilo natives) are well educated and can speak more than one language.

The people in Iloilo City are generally very friendly and would walk an extra mile to help a stranger. Just be aware that Iloilo City also has its own host of scoundrels — so it’s a good advice to be careful too.

Iloilo Ceres Lines Bus

Historically speaking, Iloilo City was an agricultural center back in the colonial days. Agricultural produce like sugar, mangoes, and bananas were exported from Iloilo.

Nowadays, Iloilo City is a huge source of manpower in the Philippines. The manpower in Iloilo City is classified under multi-skilled workers. The people here are also multi-lingual. You will find that workers would speak in the native Hiligaynon, but would speak English at work. Other languages or dialects spoken in Iloilo City include Tagalog and Kinaray-a. Iloilo City is also known as a source of the finest embroidery in the Philippines.

Iloilo City is very much alive with a host of various festivities. Some of the most notable festivals in Iloilo City are the Dinagyang Festival, Paraw-Regatta, the Fireworks Display, and the Feast of Our Lady of Candles.

The Dinagyang Festival is a lively cultural event in Iloilo City. It commemorates the Christianization of Iloilo City natives and is celebrated every fourth weekend of January. You’ll be treated to a colorful parade, a dramatization of the patron saint Sto. Nino, and a celebration of drums and shouts of “Hala Bira” by tribe members.

Iloilo City is also a host to an annual fireworks display competition. This is in conjunction with the Arevalo district fiesta and is held every third Sunday of January.

Iloilo City is also the site of the oldest golf course in the Philippines located at Sta. Barbara. Water activities are also commonplace that include offshore fishing, swimming, scuba diving, and water skiing.

Hotel accommodations in Iloilo City have an average price range of $18 to $100 depending on the hotel you’ll be staying in. The plane trip to Iloilo would have an average cost of Php 2,000 to Php 4,000 depends if you travel first class or economy and so forth. Airlines in the Philippines usually give discounts.

Iloilo City provides an experience of a really valuable vacation. It’s a pleasurable dive into a cultural hospitality that is unique to its people. Iloilo City is also a budding economic region with a competitive manpower that may well boost its economy.

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Hotels in Iloilo City

Posted on July 7th, 2007 in Iloilo by Philippines Insider - Kim

Hotels in Iloilo City can be found almost on top of each other. They are right beside or just a couple of blocks from each other. When competition’s everywhere, seldom is there a busy season. The off-season seems to happen all-year round. That can be both good and bad for guests who book their stay there.

The good part is that these hotels are CHEAP! There are a lot of package deals available, ranging from a weekend package with complementary breakfast for Php 3,000.00, to an overnight stay for only Php 1,250.00 per person. Offers are anything and everything that they can think of to make their prices cheaper than the competition.

These hotels have really nice rooms. Beds are tidy and there are always fresh sheets. You get cable TV and those little single-serving soaps, shampoo and conditioners, and shower caps in your bathroom. Yup, and you can just toss them in your bags too… single serving toiletries are so adorable, you just want to keep them rather than use them. Admit it, when we travel, we bring our own soaps and shampoos anyway. But it is curious that in some hotels, you also get a tiny bottle of bath foaming gel, and there’s no tub in the bathroom! That’s a little funny but, what the heck, we’d just toss that bottle in our luggage too!

Another good thing about it is that the staff really cares about you. The doorman will always greet you with a “Have a nice day ma’am” or a “Take care sir”. You call room service and they’re at your door in less than 5 minutes. Ask for an extra chair, you got. Ask for cold water in a pitcher, they’d bring it in no time. The staff is so friendly and helpful. And if you don’t speak Ilonggo (the native tongue in the city), it doesn’t matter. They can understand the typical Tagalog from Manila and, this is so endearing, they speak beautiful English. Well, connecting with the staff is no problem at all.

And the breakfast is awesome! You’ll really get that Pinoy experience with the tapsilog, tosilog, hotsilog, and all other meat-egg-fried rice combinations that you can find in Filipino homes. You can even get daing or dried fish with your fried garlic rice and sunny-side up eggs. There’s an array fresh fruits to choose from and the mangoes are so sweet!

Now, we’ll go to the bad parts. If you’re alone, the food situation is difficult. The only meal that you can get for a single guest is the breakfast. Turns out, the restaurants and food services in these hotels only make family style portions during lunch and dinner… that’s food for 3-4 people! And we all know that one of the joys of staying in a hotel is ordering room service. And when you’re getting platters of food when you’re only eating for one, it’s not very appetizing. Another bad detail is that there’s no internet access in most of these hotels. So if you’re traveling for business, that’s really inconvenient.

Hotels in Iloilo City are a dime a dozen. That’s both good and bad for the traveler in us. Though there are issues such as the lack of internet access and the family-sized food portions, the people, price and ambiance are worth having the hotel experience in the old city of Iloilo.

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