Why changing “Philippines” to “Filipinas” is silly waste of time & resources!

Why changing “Philippines” to “Filipinas” is silly waste of time & resources!

What's in a name?  That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

---William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things.         --- Confucius

            Holy carabao! Have you read the news that a resolution dated April 12 by the government’s Komisyong ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) or the Commission for the Filipino Language urging the use of “Filipinas” instead of “Philippines” or “Pilipinas” as the country’s official name?

I highly respect the KWF officials and concede that they have sincere intentions, but I oppose this idea which I think is a silly waste of time, energy and resources!

Image above sourced from wika.pbworks.com

            Why do many of our politicos and bureaucrats have this penchant for the useless exercise of changing historic and also culturally important names, often with no strongly logical and overwhelmingly advantageous reasons? Are they too just so bored with their lives, or lacking more important tasks to do?

Manila street used to honor Spain’s only Prime Minister of Filipino descent

            Not all name changes are bad, but I wish to cite some which I disagree with and lament. One example was our politicos’ changing of Manila’s Azcarraga Street to Claro M. Recto Avenue in the 1960s. By the way, hope Manila Mayor Joseph "Erap" Estrada and Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno will clean and decongest this thoroughfare.

First of all, let me clarify that I admire the anti-colonial Senator Recto as a courageous nationalist and he surely more than deserves a major street to be named after him. In fact, I believe he was worthy to be president, similar to other nationalists like ex-Senate President Jovito Salonga, Senator Jose W. Diokno and Senator Lorenzo Tañada, Sr. 

The nationalist Senator Claro M. Reto, image above sourced from hitoriles.com

However, Azcarraga Avenue used to honor a unique leader too which reflected the colorful Philippine past, and I believe it was unnecessary to change that name especially since there are many other new boulevards or streets.

Image of Marcelo de Azcarraga y Palmero, sourced from latinamericanstudies.org

Once known in the Spanish and American colonial eras as Calle Azcarragaza, this street traverses historic Binondo, Santa Cruz and Quiapo districts. In the 1990 book by the late National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin entitled Manila, My Manila, he wrote about the very important person the street was named after---the soldier and political leader Marcelo Azcárraga y Palmero, 3-term prime minister of Spain (1897-1900) and the only Spanish prime minister of Filipino descent. He was once field marshal.

            Azcárraga was born in 1832, in Manila in the what was then called the “Spanish East Indies” (modern-day Philippines plus other Spanish colonies in the east like Guam and the Marianas), to Basque Spanish former general José de Azcárraga y Ugarte and to María Palmero Versosa.

Azcarraga’s father Jose was a bookshop owner in Manila’s Escolta (which has luckily survived the name-changing habit of our politicos) and the mother Maria was a mestiza from Albay province.

            Marcelo Palmero Azcarraga also studied law in the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. He became multi-awarded for government service and served as prime minister three times. On his mother's side, Azcárraga was descendant of the Filipino mestizo Lizarragas, heirs of the fallen Conde de Lizarraga. His maternal Palmero uncles were also active in pre-war Philippine politics. Prime Minister Azcarraga was an uncle to the self-styled Conde de Albay, also known as Señor Pedro Govantes.

Not all name changes by our politicos were inane. One name change by politicos which I agree with was that of Plaza Leon XIII (Trece) in front of the Tondo church of Manila. It was renamed as Plaza Hernandez in honor of the writer, labor leader, anti-Japanese guerrilla during World War II and the country’s first National Artist for Literature Amado V. Hernandez.           

Writer and labor leader Amado V. Hernandez image above, sourced from voiceseducation.org

Why not the Philippine Islands for automatic tourism promotion?

           

            If our government leaders really feel the itch to change the name of the Philippines, why not revert back to the pre-war American colonial era’s use of the more exotic-sounding “Philippine Islands” which shall definitely be advantageous for tourism promotion?

I am serious, if we only just continued using the Philippine Islands, that name could automatically evoke images of tropical isles similar to the Carribean, Hawaii, Bali, etc. and subliminally tell the rest of the world that “It’s more fun in the Philippines”.  By the way, “It’s more fun in Filipinas” would sound awkward too?

Apart from the huge economic resources needed to change every government or private sector electronic, metal and other signages as well as numerous printed materials, or my not liking the idea of the country’s premier state university being called University of Filipinas (UF), I believe the world is already so used to calling our archipelago “The Philippines” so there’s no need to confuse them. Why fix something that isn’t broken?

There are 1,001 more important things in the Philippines which we should expend  energies on to change, such as the mismanagement of Metro Manila’s traffic flow, the wide chasm between the few who are well-off vis-à-vis the small middle-class and majority the poor masses, our colonial mindset or mentality, the still continuing corruption in lower-ranking government leaders and the need for structural reforms, etc. Another thing we need to change? Please change the irritating, epal and seemingly useless name-changing habit of our politicos!