Iloilo prison to get new lease on life as museum

A century-old building that housed criminal offenders will hopefully soon become a repository of artistic creations and artifacts of Western Visayas.

The Iloilo provincial government and the National Historical Commission (NHC) are finalizing plans to convert the former provincial jail into a regional museum.

Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor said the building on Bonifacio Drive at the heart of the city could be best preserved as a historical structure if it would be converted into a museum.

The former Iloilo Rehabilitation Center was built in 1911 during the American colonial period on an 868-square-meter lot owned by the provincial government. It housed hundreds of inmates until it was abandoned in 2006 after the jail was transferred to Pototan town in Iloilo.

Ludovico Badoy, NHC executive director, said the building, which is near the Museo Iloilo and the provincial capitol, should be preserved.

Badoy and other NHC officials inspected the building and met with provincial officials. He said a recommendation would be presented to NHC and the provincial government on how to convert the jail into a museum.

Defensor said the facade of the jail should be retained.

NHC, according to Badoy, is also supporting restoration efforts for the old Iloilo provincial capitol which has been declared as a national historical site.

Built of wood and stone during the Spanish colonial period, the building underwent major renovations since it became the seat of the civil government of Iloilo in 1901, according to a statement from the provincial government.

It was used as a military garrison by Japanese occupation troops during World War II from 1942-45.