La Paz Public Market is a

public market A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from ...

or ''

palengke A ''palengke'' (Chavacano: ''palenque'') is a permanent wet market in the Philippines (differentiated from periodic wet markets called ''wiktionary:talipapa, talipapa''). Etymology The word ''palengke'' is a local variant of the Spanish languag ...

'' located in

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is considered as the birthplace of a popular Filipino dish,

La Paz Batchoy Batchoy, alternatively spelled batsoy (), is a Filipino noodle soup of pork offal, crushed pork cracklings, chicken stock, beef loin, and round noodles. The original and most popular variant, La Paz batchoy, traces its roots to the Iloilo City ...

History

La Paz has been operated its own market even before its conglomeration with Iloilo City in 1937. The current La Paz Public Market traces its origins to the early 1920s, evolving from a reclaimed fishpond filled with dredged materials from the

Iloilo River The Iloilo River is an estuarine river located in the southeastern part of the province of Iloilo, in Western Visayas, Philippines. The river starts in Oton at the Batiano estuary, then traverses through the Iloilo City districts of Arevalo, ...

, as documented in the Quarterly Bulletin of the Bureau of Public Works in 1918. The main market building, showcasing an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

design typical of its era, was constructed between the 1920s and 1930s. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the market resumed operations with a general covered area where vendors sold goods on tables or makeshift kiosks. In the 1960s, during the tenure of Vice Mayor Dicen, public stalls were erected and rented out to vendors. Subsequently, walls were installed between stalls, which were then individually leased. During the 1970s and 1980s, the main building of the La Paz Public Market housed the La Paz Police Station. A significant fire in 1989 damaged parts of the market's northern section, leading to the temporary relocation of stalls to Rizal Street while repairs were undertaken. The main building of the La Paz Public Market underwent improvements and rehabilitation in the early 2000s under the initiative of Congressman Raul Gonzales Sr.

Rehabilitation

The public market underwent major rehabilitation and renovation in 2022, which necessitated the temporary relocation of stalls to Rizal Street once again. The entire market was demolished, except for the distinctive feature structure with art deco architecture, preserved for its historical value. The rehabilitation is expected to be completed in December 2024. The market is set to feature an additional 73 stalls compared to its pre-renovation configuration.

La Paz Batchoy

The origin of Batchoy is traced to the public market, with multiple accounts claiming credit for its creation. It is believed to have been created in 1938 by Federico Guilergan Sr., evolving from a playful combination of "bats" and "choy" (from chop suey). However, Inggo's Batchoy also claims to be the first batchoy shop in La Paz, established in 1922 at the La Paz Public Market,https://www.thelonerider.com/2008/mar/batchoy/batchoy.shtml predating Deco's La Paz Batchoy Shop by 16 years. Teodorico "Ted" Lepura further popularized the dish with Ted's Oldtimer Lapaz Batchoy, founded in 1945. The dish's name "batchoy" is believed to originate from

Hokkien Chinese Hokkien ( , ) is a variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred to as Quanzhang ( zh, c=泉漳, poj=C ...

, meaning "meat soup" or "minced meat."

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Philippines Buildings and structures in La Paz, Iloilo City Retail markets in the Philippines Tourist attractions in Iloilo City