Filipino politicians are always trying to rewrite history by replacing traditional street names with whatever fits their moods and interest. EDSA highway is now being threatened by yet another attempt to have it named after Cory. Its as idiotic as renaming a street after someone who grew up in it (plenty of examples of this serial disregard of history).
Are there no more important issues to discuss in congress these days?
The Boholano congressman probably never read about Senador Roxas’ previous attempt to rename EDSA. Roxas exactly had the same intention – name it after Cory. He abandoned his plans after finding out how unpopular his idea was – he doesn’t want to deal with issues that could affect his electability (he was running for VP then). I think he would have lost more votes if he insisted. Another senator, Dick Gordon, pushed hard for replacing another historical symbol – the flag. He sees the first republic’s flag as not representing our Muslim brothers. The guy is smart but this made me cringe – I didn’t know the flag is supposed to represent a group or a religion. What I know is that it should stand for the history and aspirations of our founding fathers. I would have voted for him if it were not for this crazy idea of his.
What’s exciting is that no one wants these changes made anymore – it is as if Filipinos have awaken from a long sleep. People are now rejecting what before would have not even made the tabloids. Now everybody is talking. If we continue resisting these idiotic laws, soon, these politicians will lose their appetite trashing history. So, while I’m bothered by the way some of our leader think, I’m happy seeing this renewed vigilance of our young people. I’m pretty hyped!
A few weeks ago, the Batangas Governor’s proposal to put an ala-hollywood Batangas sign in Taal and it drew so much negative criticism from all over the country that the Batangas’ politicians had to go on the defensive. Their proposal became a goldmine for jokes and ridicule in the social media sphere. I was smiling from ear to ear hearing the Batangas politicians trying to explain their side in prime time news – they don’t know what just hit them.
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In Negros,there’s this wonderful coastal town once called Saravia. We have fisher folk relatives there that my mother used to visit when she was younger. The town, according to her, was popular for their brand of kinilaw and scenic seascape. When I brought her to Negros recently she was shocked to find that they renamed the entire town after Enrique Magalona (grandfather of the late Francis M). She asked “how was that possible?’, I don’t know if there was ever a consensus to have the town renamed but my view is that such changes only serve to diminish the historical significance of a town because a name, whether for a person or a place, represents identity.
But in a country where politics is a circus what can we expect! There was even a time in our history that politicians was pushing for the name of the country to be changed.
These people are unbelievable. Crazy.
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