Jaro, Iloilo City

Jaro
City District
From top to bottom: Jaro Cathedral, Central Philippine University Church, Jaro Belfry (Campanario de Jaro)
Nickname(s): "City Within a City" "The Mestizo District of Iloilo" "Seat of the Catholic Archbishopric of Jaro" "Seat of Catholicism and Protestantism"
Jaro Location in the Philippines
Coordinates: 10°41′24″N 122°33′0″E / 10.69000°N 122.55000°E / 10.69000; 122.55000
Country	Philippines
Region	Western Visayas (Region VI)
Province	Iloilo
City	Iloilo City
Established	1886 (City)
Incorporated	July 16, 1937 (Iloilo City)
Government
• Mayor	Jed Patrick Mabilog (Liberal) (Mayor of Iloilo City)
Area
• City District	27 km2 (10 sq mi)
Elevation	-2 to 6 m (-6.5 to 20 ft)
Population
• City District	343,829
• Metro	1,235,650
Demonym(s)	Jaroeño/Jareño, Taga-Jaro, Salognon
Time zone	PST (UTC+8)
Patron Saint	Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (Our Lady of Candles) (Catholic Patron Saint)
Feast Day	February 2
Website	www.iloilocity.gov.ph

Jaro is one of the seven 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 Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Jaro, which covers the provinces of Iloilo and Guimaras and is the metropolitan see of Western Visayas and Negros Occidental province in Negros Island Region, 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), the patron of the whole Western Visayas and Negros Occidental in Negros Island Region, which is held every February 2 is well known in the Philippines. The town of Jaro is considered as the Mestizo Town in Iloilo with numbers of prominent Spanish Filipino families came from the area.

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, they established institutions like the Central Philippine University, the first Baptist and second American University in Asia, Iloilo Mission Hospital, the first Protestant hospital in the country and second American hospital 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 were also established.