Don Mariano Cacho and Panay Electric Company (PECO)
Don Mariano Cacho (1889-1964) inherited Panay Electric Company (PECO) from his mother, Doña Candelaria Soriano Cacho (1858-1926), who acquired it from Don Esteban de la Rama (1866-1947) just before she died.
World War II, however, destroyed PECO. After the war, only 20 percent of its distribution lines were found serviceable while its power generators could only generate 60 percent of their rated capacities. In order to finance the rebuilding of his family’s business and resume supplying electricity to Iloilo City, Cacho sold his 1930s mansion to the Philippine Women’s College (PWC) in 1945.
The mansion stood in the middle of a vast estate on E. Lopez Street in the Jaro district and was equipped with an elevator and a winding ramp, allowing Cacho to drive his car up to the second floor.
In 1972, former Vice President Fernando Lopez (1904-1993) purchased the property from PWC and turned it into the Jaro campus of the Iloilo City Colleges (now the University of Iloilo).
Two years later, he converted the facility into the Don Benito Lopez Memorial Hospital in honor of his father, a former governor of Iloilo.
In 1987, Lopez sold the hospital to the West Visayas State University (WVSU), and became what is now known as the WVSU Medical Center.
Source: Mr. Nereo Lujan
