increase in commercial activity, infrastructures, recreational facilities, educational institutions, banks, foreign consulates, commercial firms and much more sprouted in Iloilo. City Status On October 5, 1889, a royal decree raised Iloilo's status from a town to a city, this on account of growing development in commerce and industry making her second to Manila in importance. Iloilo thus succeeded Manila, Cebu and Vigan as officially declared cities. Through the Becerra Law of 1889, the ayuntamiento of Iloilo was established on January 7, 1890, its inauguration led by the former Governor-General Valeriano Weyler. Iloilo City was the second-most important city in the archipelago at the end of the Spanish Regime. The Revolutionary Period (1896) The immediate reaction of Ilonggo elite to the outbreak of the 1896 rebellion in Manila was that of surprise. They immediately responded with protestations of outrage and affirmed their loyalty to Spain. The Ilonggos themselves were united in their support of Spain during the first two years of the revolutionary period. Shortly after the Cry of Balintawak, the Jaro Ayuntamiento (another colonial city adjacent to Iloilo City), composed of native Ilonggos, convened a special session on September 1, 1896, where the Manila uprising was condemned as an unpatriotic act "that finds no echo in the noble hearts of Jareños, who do not forget the immense gratitude they owe Spain who, from nothing, raised us to a life of civilization and progress." The Ayuntamiento of Iloilo also affirmed its allegiance and loyalty to Spain and made a similar protestation. Condemning the uprising, the city's letter to the Governor General says: "Those dark betrayals, the mere notion of which embarrasses good and loyal Filipinos, have produced a unanimous sentiment of protest and indignation among the Ilongo people, who engrave its most honorable blazon in the sacred and inextinguishable love that it professes to the glorious Spanish nationality that it legitimately feels proud of. The Ilongos are Spaniards, Your Excellency, and Spaniards will they be until death, because they do not want to live and die in another way than under the shadow of the august Castillan standard, to which they owe being dignified and free men now." The foreign community in the city also asked its representatives to visit local authorities and to elevate their protests against the revolt. And so did the Filipino parish priests of Jaro, Molo, Mandurriao, and Arévalo. Towns in Iloilo province also condemned the Manila