Jerry Treñas
Buenaventura Geronimo 'Perez Treñas, publicly known as Jerry P. Treñas', is a Filipino politician who served as the mayor of Iloilo City from 2019 to 2025. He also previously served in that office from 2001 to 2010 and briefly in 1992. He also previously served as the Representative of Iloilo City from 2010 to 2019 and was a member of the Iloilo City Council from 1986 to 1992 and from 1995-1998.
Early life
Treñas was born in Molo, Iloilo City to Efrain Blancaflor Treñas, a World War II veteran and former Constitutional Commissioner, and Soledad Perez-Treñas, a housewife. His grandfather, Potenciano Treñas, was a former Senator. He has an older sibling, Jose Mari. In 1978, he graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. Afterwards, he was hired by Baker McKenzie Law Firm while having pursued law and graduated with honors from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law in 1982. He placed 11th in the 1982 Bar Examinations, with an average score of 88.325%.He was inducted, alongside former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick E. Mabilog, as an honorary alumnus of Central Philippine University.
Political career
While studying at the Ateneo, Treñas joined the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas and attended rallies against the martial law regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. Treñas said he was detained several times at Camp Aguinaldo, Camp Crame, and Bicutan.Treñas taught law at the University of Iloilo from 1983 to 1986 before entering politics. He became a city councilor in 1986 and was reelected in 1988, serving until 1992, when he assumed the position of acting mayor of Iloilo City by succession for only two months. In 2001, he was elected as the mayor of Iloilo City for three consecutive terms, serving until 2010. He is the only person elected to the position who won by a landslide in all precincts in the city during the 2004 and 2007 elections. From 2010 until 2019, he served as the congressman of the lone district of Iloilo City. In 2019, he ran for and was elected again as city mayor, defeating his brother-in-law, Jose Espinosa III.
In October 2024, Treñas announced that he would not run for reelection as mayor in the 2025 Philippine general election, citing health reasons, and instead endorsed his daughter, Raisa Treñas-Chu, to the position. After Raisa won the mayorship, she appointed her father as a special adviser on June 30, 2025. Following his retirement from active politics, Treñas returned to the academe as a political law instructor at West Visayas State University.
Controversy
In May 2024, Treñas apologised after he threatened to sue journalists covering the demolition of an art deco façade at the Iloilo City Public Market dating from 1938 which sparked protests from heritage conservationists during a press conference, during which he publicly went into an outburst, with Daily Guardian (Iloilo) journalist Joey Marzan expressing belief that he was Treñas' target. On May 22, the Iloilo City Hall Press Corps issued a press release stating that they had forgiven him. Treñas subsequently filed a cyber-libel complaint against Nereo Lujan, a historian and information officer of the Iloilo provincial government for suggesting that the demolition was done despite a lack of permits.In July 2024, Lujan filed with the Ombudsman a complaint against Treñas for unlawful destruction of the Public Market's façade without the required clearance from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The market is a Cultural Tourism Heritage Zone, a Historic Center and a presumed important cultural property, under Section 5, R.A. 10066.