Philippines’ first museum about local economic history opens in Iloilo

March 5, 2019 - 2:50 PM
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The first museum in the Philippines about economic history is established in a hundred-year-old structure that once belonged to the family who owns one of the Philippines’ oldest companies.

Named the Museum of Philippine Economic History, it features historical data on how trade and commerce developed in the country, as well as artifacts of companies that thrived within the “Queen City of the South” in its prime.

One of the major players in the industry is Tanduay Distillery that hugely contributed to the development of Iloilo’s sugarcane industry.

Tanduay poster
Old print advertisement of Tanduay Distillery. (Tanduay Distillery/Released photo)

The owners of the premiere rum drink once lived in the museum’s structure, previously known as the Elizalde Building.

It was eventually turned into a provincial office by the Commission on Audit and then restored to its Spanish-inspired architectural design by the National Historical Commission. — Featured video by Uela Altar-Badayos