Against the changing of street names

THE E-MAIL response to my March 18 column on the changing of street names in Manila was very encouraging. Many readers expressed dismay over the frequent and often indiscriminate changing of street names by legislators. Others were kind enough to offer some suggestions.

But before we get worked up, Agnes Paulino e-mailed corrections to the column: "P. Leoncio was renamed Eduardo Quintos, not Antonio Quintos. Eduardo Quintos was the chief of police of the then Manila's Finest. His house is located on that street. Economia is now Vicente G. Cruz, not Manuel de la Fuente. Manuel de la Fuente is the name of the street that used to be called Trabajo. The names were interchanged in your article. Vicente G. Cruz, if I am not mistaken, is the father of retired Justice Isagani Cruz who also writes for PDI. They used to reside in Economia. That would explain how the street got its new name. Manuel de la Fuente was a former mayor of Manila."

We will forward these corrections to Dr. August de Viana of the National Historical Institute, who provided the material for the column.

Miss Paulino then added: "Lawmakers might have changed some street names but it does not necessarily follow that these streets will be completely known by their new names. People will still say Buendia, rather than Gil Puyat, Pasay Road rather than Arnaiz, or for that matter, Pasong Tamo instead of Chino Roces. It only goes to show that these lawmakers have nothing better to do. When I go to Makati and I take the FX van, I usually tell the driver to let me off after Herrera Street and not Vicente Rufino. He might not know where Vicente Rufino Street is."

To make things worse, all these changes are not confined to the National Capital Region but happens all around the archipelago. Edgar G. Billones of Cebu reported on streets in Bacolod:

"One can understand the desire of some people to name or rename streets after heroes, political leaders, or even family patriarchs. I don't have much objection to that, much less care, as long as they don't take title to them. But the way the Bacolod City government has renamed some of its streets defies intelligence.

"Along Lacson Street (the city's main thoroughfare named after Gen. Aniceto Lacson who led a revolt against Spain) in what used to be Capitol Subdivisions, are side streets, numbered 1st to 27th. For more than half a century, it was very easy to find a specific street address; one simply had to count the streets in sequence. Until somebody, or some bodies, at city hall thought it was smart to change some of the names. Well, I can live with some changes, maybe be even comfortable with them. But the idea to rename a street after other major cities is-to be kind about it-addled. One street, for instance, has been named Cagayan de Oro City, another, Marikina City. Can you imagine your address listed as: No. XX Cagayan de Oro City St., Bacolod City? Now, that makes me squirm in my seat."

Dr. Manuel B. Datiles made two useful suggestions:

"Count me in as one in mind with you. These people who keep changing the names of the streets have nothing else to do and have no historical perspective nor love or respect for their country. These people they are using to rename the streets can be honored by naming new streets of which there are dime a dozen, rather than old established streets which means a lot to the people living in them.

"What Congress should do is enact a law that would require that the [majority of the] inhabitants of a street should first be asked to vote to change the name of their street before the name is changed, to make it harder for politicians to do this."

Susan Tan offered another suggestion worth a try:

"How about giving secondary honorary names to sections of long avenues and boulevards [which] is sometimes done in other cities and municipalities around the world? The original name of the street stays the same, but underneath a section from some point to another point, is a smaller secondary inscription dedicated to the honoree. For instance Taft Avenue in the section fronting De La Salle University might be called something peculiar to the school, if there are enough petitions to make it so. It gives some recognition to a personage but does not complicate or change the name of the street. Emblazoned above the honoree's name is the name of Taft Avenue, but in smaller type underneath is the secondary street name of the honoree."

I think the above has been done in Makati and some other places. Another practice is to cut long streets into sections and rename these after even more obscure people. Can you imagine the Edsa highway being chopped up and its portions given individual names? Maybe we should look into repetition of names. Every province, city, town and "barangay" [neighborhood district] has a Rizal Street. This may be heretical, but can't we just have one Rizal Street per city or per given land area? What about other heroes?

How about renaming generic streets like the North and South Luzon expressways, the Skyway, or C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, and Elliptical Road after someone?

Then you have bridges, canals, flyovers, "esquinitas" [side streets] in abundance, so why not leave current street names that have been in place for at least 10 years alone? We would appreciate more comments and suggestions.

Comments are welcome at aocampo@ateneo.edu.