Jaro Belfry

Jaro is one of the six districts of Iloilo City, in the province of Iloilo, on the island of Panay, in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It is a former separate city that lends its name to the Archdiocese of Jaro, which covers the provinces of Iloilo and Guimaras and is the metropolitan of Western Visayas, before it merged with Iloilo City when it was incorporated during the American administration in the Philippines. Jaro is the largest of all districts of Iloilo City. The district of La Paz was a former part of Jaro before it became separated. The Jaro annual Catholic Feast of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of the Candles) which is held every February 2 is well known in the Philippines.

Jaro is the cradle of Christian faiths with Roman catholic and Protestant institutions established and founded in the area. The Spanish Catholics established institutions like the Jaro Cathedral and the Archdiocese of Jaro, with the coming of the American Protestants in the early 20th century establishing institutions like the Central Philippine University (the first Baptist and second American University in Asia), Iloilo Mission Hospital (the first American and Protestant hospital in the country and in Asia), the Jaro Evangelical Church (the first Baptist Church in the Philippines), Jaro Adventist Center (the first Adventist Church in the country) and the Convention of Philippine Baptist Churches (the oldest Baptist churches organization in the Philippines) where established.