there is a statue in iloilo city of a man named nicolas loney and there is also muelle loney
however some people associated him with sugar and the majority do not know who he was
so this is the story of his life
nicholas loney was an englishman born in 1826 in plymouth a bustling naval port he was one
of the ten children of admiral robert loney of the royal navy and ann candy at the age of 16
he left home he worked for four years in venezuela where he became fluent
in spanish after a year back in england in 1846 he left again this time for singapore
loney applied to ker and company and in may 1851
he was appointed to the correspondence department of the firm in manila
he initially lived with the ker cousins at escolta
he took an immediate liking to the country and undertook frequent travels outside manila
in september 1855 a royal order was issued
approving the opening of three more ports of foreign trade sual, iloilo, and zamboanga
in anticipation of this decision the british consul in manila had asked british merchants
in the city to nominate candidates for the position of vice consul in iloilo
the unanimous favorite was nicolas loney and on
june 11 1856 he was appointed british vice consul to iloilo
loney ordered the construction of a building for the vice consulate
but since that will take some time he rented the house at jaro
his residency raised the number of european in jaro to six all the others being spanish
he befriended them and he quickly realized the difference between the spanish and anglo-saxons
loney also wrote to russell and sturgis the biggest american trading house in manila
and persuaded them to send a ship to iloilo to load sugar for australia via manila
russell and sturgis had enough trust in him to give him an advance of fifteen thousand dollars
in 1857 the firm loney and company was born the first foreign commercial company outside of manila
its first focus was importing goods from manila to sell locally and this business
grew rapidly traders from antique, leyte and negros came to buy supplies in wholesale
now loney is set about to modernize and grow the sugar industry he focused on both cultivation and
milling sugar production was increasing due to the growing price of sugar in manila and loney helped
the plantation owners and farmers by providing loans and purchasing modern machinery from europe
through his firm which helped increase the efficiency of sugar production in panay and negros
this was a success and by 1861 there were already 30 iron mills operating in iloilo and negros
he also saw the commercial advantage of exporting sugar directly from iloilo
rather than transshipping through manila and he helped turn the town from a swampy backwater
into a thriving city he also encouraged improvements in infrastructure at the port
of iloilo reclamation of the western bank of the river and the construction of the calle progresso
which became the location of numerous sugar warehouses loney also introduced higher yielding
varieties of sugarcane which he imported from the east indies as a result of this initiative
sugar exports from iloilo rapidly grew from 82 000 pesos in 1858 to 1 million pesos in 1863
sugar plantation in negros grew rapidly in size and number resulting in a large-scale immigration
from panay to negros within a generation negros had become the philippine sugar land
in 1860 loney applied for a leave of absence to go to england he wanted to pursue many business
related matters and also cited health reasons while awaiting approval to travel to europe loney
was joined by his brother robert with several partners loney acquired a hacienda in negros
his brother robert managed the hacienda the hacienda used the most
modern machineries and became a favorite visiting place for foreign businessmen
then on his one-man mission to europe loney took up many matters
such as direct exports from england to iloilo a telegraph line from hong kong to manila and
from manila to the southern islands a railway from manila to sual and the setting up by
inter-island steamship company connecting manila iloilo and cebu he also lobbied in madrid for
tariff reforms and to permit foreigners to own property in the philippines after 18 months in
europe loney returned to the philippines by the overdone drought via china in may 1863
while in spain nicolas loney aged 37 fell in love with a 27 year old leontine traschler
in 1865 leontine and her mother traveled to hong kong
where she probably married nicholas they built a new house in tabukan
just across the bridge to la paz 11 months later a daughter was born and two years after that a son
for a short while from 1866 to 67 loney became acting british consul and lived with his family
in manila during this time he proposed a series of reforms to the spanish authorities
to promote economic activity and encourage trade
loney returned to iloilo but after their second child was born the couple started to think about
returning to europe he thought of applying for the position of vice consul in spain
and the couple decided to leave by the end of 1869.
before the appointed date while resting at home loney conceived of a planned to once
more go up to mount kanlaon to explore it for agricultural and scientific purposes
they climbed the volcano around the 17th or 18th of april 1869
even though loney was not feeling well near the summit he suddenly developed
a high fever his companions rushed him down to matabang doctors were summoned but to no avail
sadly on april 23rd at the young age of 43 nicolas loney passed away he was buried by
the seashore under some coconut trees in what is now rizal street in the city by voluntary
subscription among the residents of iloilo jaro and molo money was raised for a marble obelisk
in march 1904 the municipal council of iloilo passed a resolution naming the qay along
river part of the port as muelle loney or loney waterfront
the obelisk was destroyed in 1945 to expand rizal street
and was not reconstructed in march 1981 a statue of him was unveiled at the end of muelle loney
some historians such as alfred mccoy has criticized loney's contribution to the philippine
development claiming that loney's primary aim in iloilo was to destroy its textile manufacturing
industry in order to substitute imported british cottons and that his contribution to the sugar
industry was merely incidental but today his statue still proudly stands in muelle loney
for his contribution to iloilo's growth as a city and as the father of philippine sugar industry
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