Plaza Alfonso XII, named after a king of Spain, was constructed in the 1800s and is one of the oldest plazas in the Philippines. It was surrounded by most of the government offices in Iloilo.[2]
On Christmas Day of 1898, Governor-General Diego de los Ríos of Spain surrendered to the Filipino revolutionary troops led by General Martin Delgado in the Plaza, thus ending the 333-year-old Spanish colonization of the Philippines. After which, the triumphant revolutionaries for the first time raised the flag of the First Philippine Republic in Iloilo City, the last bastion of Spanish power in the country. It was later renamed to Plaza Libertad to reflect the event that happened on the plaza.[2]