Molo Plaza, Iloilo City : The Athens of the Philippines

Molo Plaza: Iloilo's Heritage Treasure

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Hello Hiver travellers 🌞

Today, I want to share about my recent travel in Iloilo City. I felt so much pride seeing how the city had improved over the past few years. But at the same time, I felt a bit disappointed. 😔

This is Molo Plaza, located in Molo, Iloilo City. This is one of the famous spots here in Iloilo. I spotted a lot of tourists visiting the plaza, taking pictures of the place and the church across it.

Now, I'll take you around the plaza.

At the center of the plaza, you can see a large water fountain. Tourists were taking pictures of it and the church across it.

When facing the Church, on the left side of the fountain, the Greek goddess statues are located. The statues were around the bandstand. There were six statues of goddesses like Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter.

And on the right side of the fountain was the Maria Clara Monument. For those who don't know who Maria Clara is, she's the lead female character from Jose Rizal’s (National Hero) Noli Me Tangere novel.

There were also three spots where play areas for kids are placed. There were slides, seesaws, swings, and a jungle gym.

It looks fun, especially when you see kids playing and hear them giggle. However, some of the facilities were broken and not well-maintained.

There is also another bandstand on the other side of the plaza. It's open and surrounded by lamp posts, making the area well-lit at night.

But the most devastating part was the vandalism.
Everything in this plaza was restored and renovated back in 2022. And now, 4 years later, the plaza is visually undesirable. 😔

Despite the unpleasant things I saw, people are still visiting the plaza. Kids were happily playing. Grown-ups were enjoying taking photos. Teens were chilling on the benches while laughing or chatting with their friends.