Who We Are, Where We Live

In desperate need of repair and restoration, the century-old Casa Sanson y Montinola in Jaro stands as a reminder of the affluent lifestyle of the migrant Ilonggo elite.

- Adrian Tumang

Reminiscent of the prosperous and aristocratic years of Iloilo, many mansions in Jaro now stand empty, abandoned, and in various states of disrepair. Despite their condition, these grandiose homes remain as material expressions of our communal identity and values that have not significantly changed since colonial times. One such mansion is the Casa Sanson y Montinola. Situated along Lopez Street, the old millionaire’s row, the ancestral house used to be part of a sprawling estate that extended to the adjacent lot of the Colegio de San José all the way to the Commission Civil Street behind the block where an SM Hypermarket now stands. Standing a block away from the Lopez Heritage Mansion (Nelly’s Garden), not too far from the Jaro Cathedral, the old villa is owned by an illustrious family of plantation estate owners or hacienderos, the Montinolas, whose descendants’ names grace the wall plaques inside the cathedral, a testament to their status in Ilonggo society. Their lineage can be traced to Don Juan Montinola, captain of the Spanish Army and a peninsulares (born in Spain), who arrived in Jaro in 1781 and became governor of the adjacent province of Antique from 17861787. The house was built by his descendant, Don Gregorio Montinola y Lozada who married Doña Matilde Jalandoni y Habana from the prominent Jalandoni family. The property was passed on to their daughter Matilde Jalandoni Montinola de Sanson and her husband Alfredo Araneta Sanson of the influential Araneta clan. Arranged marriages were prevalent in those days, even more so among the landed elite of Iloilo. These wealthy mestizo families later migrated to the Negros Island across Guimaras Strait intermarrying with other sugar barons and spreading their influence in towns like Silay and Bacolod.