"These remind Filipinos of their country’s having been a colony of Spain for close to four centuries."
"These remind Filipinos of their country’s having been a colony of Spain for close to four centuries."
One hundred and twenty-one years after the end of the Revolutionary War against Spain, there remains so much that reminds Filipinos of that country’s four-centuries-long colonial rule over this country. Some of these reminders are edifices and other physical things; others are names and designations.
Some of the names that have remained to remind us of this country’s history as a Spanish colony belong to the men who headed the Spanish state—the Kings of Spain and their families. There, for one, is the province named after Queen Isabela, the female half of the powerful couple Ferdinand (Fernando) and Isabela, the powerful royal duo that sent Magellan on his long voyage of discovery. Then there is the Camarines Norte municipality of Reina Mercedes, the consort of one of the Kings of Spain. A Quezon municipality was named Infanta after the eldest daughter of a Spanish monarch. And, of course, there also is Palawan’s precious Puerto Princesa, obviously named after a royal offspring.
Perhaps not many cities or towns were named after the last King of Spain, but until fairly recently the main street of Dumaguete City was Alfonso XIII St. In Manila’s Binondo district is Reina Regente St., which was named after the Queen who reigned as Queen during the minority of the future King of Spain. The names of certain places—provinces, cities, towns and streets—likewise remind Filipinos of their country’s having been a colony of Spain for close to four centuries.
Besides Isabela, the names of three other provinces have strong connections with Spain. Nueva Ecija (accent on the ‘E’) and Nueva Vizcaya were named after the Spanish regions of Ecija and Vizcaya, and Compostella Valley brings to mind the city in northern Spain with which Santiago de Compostela is associated.
No single part of the Philippines can contain more reminders of the long Spanish presence in this country than the Quiapo-Sta.Cruz-Sampaloc area of the city that the Spanish authorities came to characterize as La Mas Leal Ciudad de Manila. The streets in the area bear the names of important and historical Spanish places, such as the regions of Catalonia, Extremadura, Castilla—altered to Dos Castillas—and Asturias and the cities of Algeciras and Toledo. Other places in this country with Spanish connections are the towns named Valencia in Negros Oriental and Bukidnon and the municipalities of Murcia and Pontevedra (both in Negros Occidental) and Jaen (in Nueva Ecija).
But no place in the Philippines can be a prouder and more vivid remainder of the four-centuries-long relationship between this country and Spain than the thoroughfare known to all Filipinos simply as España, the grand eight-lane boulevard that runs from Quezon City’s Welcome Rotunda to Manila’s Quezon Boulevard. The presence of 403-year-old University of Sto. Tomas along España drives home, every day, the point that once upon a time Spain was a large part of the life of this country and that on the whole the relationship was felicitous and mutually rewarding.
(ADDENDUM: The following paragraph was inadvertently omitted from my Sept. 10 column: “After a relatively long period of peace with its western neighbor Pakistan, India broke into the headlines with its withdrawal of the longstanding autonomous status of the disputed Kashmir region. Economically, India continues to fare well, reinforcing its reputation as one of East Asia’s growth engines.”)