Lin-ay: A Statue of Ilonggo Pride

Lin-ay as simulated in the New Iloilo City Hall render

The "Lin-ay" actually is a 15-foot statue of an Ilongga lady that will be put on top of the dome of the new City Hall, which the honorable mayor of Iloilo City - Jed Patrick E. Mabilog wants to make this as an icon of the city.

This Statue of Ilonggo Pride, is another obra of renowned multi-media visual artist, Professor Edward Defensor.

Professor Ed Defensor and her Lin-ay masterpiece

The lady, is a composite of Ilongga ladies and a true Ilongga in all aspects. She is shown hugging with her right arm, newly-harvested stalks of rice, and in her left hand she is holding a scythe ("garab"), most common harvesting implement of the province. She is as well standing on a field of newly-harvested rice, all to symbolize the prosperity ("kauswagan") of the province and its great city of Iloilo. Her head is tilted up in a pose to symbolize hope ("paglaum"), and her entire mien symbolizes peace ("paghidaet")

The woman statue wears a “Patadyong” skirt and a “Sablay” made of Hablon, products of the then flourishing weaving industry in Iloilo. On its chest is an ethnic necklace symbolic of the rich ethnic culture of Iloilo, also a symbol of being a descendant of the royal line of Datus and a denizen of Iloilo’s internationally known folk-history.

Lin-ay: the Statue of Ilonggo Pride

The "Lin-ay" is standing on a squarish pedestal, festooned with ethnic designs, but most importantly, the four sides will be sculpted with images of the four major economic components of Iloilo--rice farming, sugar cane farming, fishing, and the industrial component.

She will be completely in bronze, and like the Lady of Freedom of Washington D.C. will also serve as a lightning rod.

Upon completion she will be the biggest statue in Iloilo City and the whole of Iloilo province, and our first important cultural edifice since the Arroyo fountain which was put up in the early 1900s.

(Texts are excerpts from Prof. Defensor's description of Lin-ay)
photo credits: Prof. Ed Defensor