Ilonggo Pandesal: Made with love for the City of Love. Made by Ilonggos for the Ilonggos.

Ilonggo Pandesal Helped Iloilo City Residents During Lockdown. Bakers and milling companies in Iloilo City joined hands with the local government unit during the nationwide lockdown to start an initiative that spared residents from hunger amid the nationwide lockdown.

Iloilo Bakers Association together with Angelina Bakeshop, Carlo’s Bakeshop, JD Bakeshop, Theresa’s Bakeshop, Tibiao Bakery and Wewin’s Bakeshop produced over a million of Ilonggo Pandesal which helped residents cope with challenging circumstance brought by COVID-19.

A total of 1,612,752 pieces of pandesal or 201,594 packs (8-piece per pack) pandesals were given to residents from Iloilo Bakers Association member bakeries and milling companies from April 7, 2020 to May 15, 2020. Each day, about 43,200 pieces of pandesal, or 5,400 packs of the bread were produced, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.

This means, residents of this metropolis, particularly the indigent populace, would not experience hunger for a certain time of a day, for 15 days.

It was then extended to a month and a week that a total of 201,594 packs or 8-piece per pack, were given from April 7-May 15. 

The idea of producing the Ilonggo pandesal is a collaboration of City Government and milling firms La Filipina Uygongco, Great Harvest Commodities, Carlos Uy Corporation, General Milling Corp., BTJ Marketing, San Miguel Corp., and 89-S Distribution Inc. that supplied the ingredients and bakeries Angelina Bakeshop, Carlo’s Bakeshop, JD Bakeshop, Theresa’s Bakeshop, Tibiao Bakery and Wewin’s Bakeshop.

The brainchild of the mayor’s son Paolo and his business associates bonded the members of the Iloilo Bakers Association.

Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming support from the private sector during these challenging times. He said that through a strong public-private partnership, the city government is able to “make life a little better for everyone.”