"There are so many other reminders of that momentous—and felicitous—juncture in the history of this country."
By the end of its occupancy of a territory, a colonizing country will have left ample evidence of its presence there. Part of the evidence is a collection of place names associated with that country. The longer its occupancy of the colony, the greater the number of place names that are associated with the colonizing country.
These thoughts came to mind when I saw the name Brooke’s Point, one of the municipalities that will comprise the province of Palawan del Sur, one of the three provinces into which this country’s third-largest island has been divided by a newly enacted law. Being an English name, Brooke’s Point, which is one of Palawan’s southernmost municipalities, obviously was given its name during the period of US rule in this country (1901-1946).
The US did not leave many English-sounding place names outside Metro Manila, where public thoroughfares and gated-subdivision streets are named after American personalities. Brooke’s Point is only one of only six municipalities that have American names.
Another one of the six is the municipality of Jones in the Northern Luzon province of Isabela. I have not done any research on the Jones after whom the municipality is named.
A third municipality whose name is associated with the US is New Washington in the Panay Island province of Capiz. A point on the Sibuyan Sea, the claim to fame of New Washington is its being the birthplace of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila. An excellent example of a small-town boy who did well—very well, in fact.
A fourth municipal place name with an American association is Allen in the island of Samar. Allen is situated in the northern tip of Samar, just across from the southernmost municipality of Luzon, the Sorsogon town of Matnog. Who was Allen? Again I must confess I don’t know.
The remaining two municipalities with US-associated names are also in Samar. One is named after an American president (Taft) and the other is named after a legendary American military commander (MacArthur). Samar is the only part of this country that has seen fit to honor those two illustrious Americans.
Most of the Metro Manila public names associated with this country’s last colonial master have been changed (including Dewey Boulevard, Otis Street, Plaza Lawton, Fort William McKinley, Camp Murphy); only Taft Avenue remains. Several years ago there was an effort to change Taft Avenue to Jose Wright Diokno Avenue, but that effort was unsuccessful. The winning argument was to the effect that Taft— pronounced Tap by jeepney drivers and barkers—Avenue had become so ingrained in the minds of Metro Manilans that changing it would have been a disruptive move.
Until the 1960s many of the streets in the Malate-Ermita area of Manila were named after states of the American Union (e.g. Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, and Dakota). Those picturesque names are now a part of this country’s storied history. But some of the streets of Quezon City’s Cubao district and of San Juan City’s Greenhills subdivision continue to remind Metro Manilans of America’s universities and presidents, respectively.
That is the sum total of the place-names legacy of US rule over the Philippines.
But the names of municipalities and thoroughfares are by no means the sole reminders of the Philippines’ 45 years of colonial association with Uncle Sam. There are so many other reminders of that momentous—and felicitous—juncture in the history of this country.
