By Tara Yap
ILOILO CITY — The city’s Central Business District inaugurated Friday two distinct landmarks.
The new Sunburst Park and Iloilo Freedom Grandstand were opened in a ceremony led by Sen. Franklin Drilon, Mayor Jose Espinosa III and Pocholo Paragas, chief operating officer of Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) under the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The Sunburst Park, which was rebuilt with funding from Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA), formally opens Friday. The park is directly across the century-old Iloilo Customs House in Iloilo City. (Tara Yap / MANILA BULLETIN)
Sunburst Park is in the former site of the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand on Calle Real or JM Basa Street. The park’s redevelopment had P19.5-million funding from TIEZA and is an initiative of Drilon, a native of Iloilo.
The park is across from the iconic Iloilo Customs House. After World War II, the park was renamed after the United States Army 40th Infantry’s “Sunburst” Division that aided the liberation of Panay Island from Japanese forces.
The Iloilo Freedom Grandstand was opened in 1955. It served as a memorial to mark Republic Act No. 1209, which gave the people of the city the right to elect their officials, which used to be appointed.
Last year, the original Freedom Grandstand was demolished to pave the way for the redevelopment of Sunburst Park. The city government built a new, P45-million grandstand in the Muelle Loney area that is next to the Iloilo River.
The Iloilo Customs House was also restored by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in 2017. Built in 1916, the building is now the office of the Bureau of Customs in Iloilo.