To mark the greater development at the Kauturan Pison Development Corporation (KAPIDECO) area in Mandurriao District the Pison family inaugurated the 35-feet chimney as the center piece of the Pison Rotunda last May 1, 2010. KAPIDECO includes Ateneo de Iloilo new campus and a sprawling of future commercial buildings as seen in its master plan that will bring a live, work, play environment to the Ilonggos. With these plans alongside with the ongoing developments in Smallville and Boardwalk area, together with Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park at the old Iloilo Airport and the nearing completion Plazuela de Iloilo, truly Mandurriao is now the new Central Business District (CBD) of Iloilo.
The Chimney Monument was built in honor of the late Donato Pison Sr., an Ilonggo businessman who had a great contribution to Iloilo’s agriculture and industries. This chimney is a remnant of the muscovado sugar factory he built back in 1890s.
Donato Pison Sr. pioneered the sugar production and many other industries such as rice production, fishponds, salt making among others that made Iloilo in the forefront during this era. In fact, Pison was given a posthumous honor as one of the “Ten Outstanding Iloilo Pioneers” by the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations (CREBA), ISOA and Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Iloilo for his invaluable innovations in the salt industry. The descendants and heirs were also motivated to become entrepreneurs themselves. Keen to the potentials of Iloilo they built KAPIDECO, Riverside Boardwalk Properties, Inc. and S.T. Pison Enterprises, Inc.
The base foundation of the monument is 20 feet in diameter. It showcases the relief sculptures depicting the industries that the Pison family started in— sugar production, rice production, fishponds and salt making. It was designed and executed by Edward Defensor – a renowned Ilonggo visual artist together with Fred Orig and Mark Gonzales. The carvings are made of reinforced concrete with rosin finishing in gold and cobalt black.
This chimney stands grand in Brgy. San Rafael in Mandurriao district at the intersections of the new road networks constructed to augment the developments in the new CBD. This becomes a new landmark of Iloilo and a point of interest for visitors as this Chimney was preserved centuries ago until now.
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