Poll: Plaza Quezon or Plaza Arejola?
I HAVE it on good authority that the National Historical Institute (NHI), the government agency responsible for the conservation and preservation of the country's historical legacies, has rejected the proposed name change of Plaza Quezon to Plaza Arejola.
The proposed name change was endorsed by the previous Sangguniang Panlungsod to the NHI after the Committee on Arts and Culture backed the move initiated by the Kabikolan advocacy group.
At the same time, the Sanggunian directed the committee to use all means possible of generating feedback from city residents on the matter.
Background material on the issue, which drew the attention of Inquirer columnist Manolo Quezon, grandson of the late President Quezon, can be found here, here and here.
To help generate feedback, I have added a poll on the issue -- which can be found above, and will run for two weeks -- using Blogger's new Poll's feature. It's doesn't look pretty, but it should be useful.
A caveat, as always: polls like these are unscientific.
10 comments:
I voted No. If we are to have a plaza for one Bikol martyr, we might as well create a plaza each for the other fourteen.
Sheesh.
Hindi. Agri ako kay Maryanne. Kung gusto/kenakelangan, gumawa ng bago o humanap ng plaza na di nakapangalan sa naging presidente ng Pinas gaya nung plaza sa tapat ng City Hall.
Maryanne: The Arejola brothers -- Tomas and Ludovico -- are not among the 15 Bicol Martyrs. They distinguished themselves in the resistance movement against the Americans.
Irvin: That is exactly Manolo's position, without specifying the space infront of City Hall. I have yet to read what is reportedly a terse reply from the NHI, but I it shares the same sentiment, i.e. the unhistoricality of the proposed name change, involving as it is a former president of the republic.
Kelangan nilang ikonvins ang NHI na kay MLQ3 o sa philippine province ipinangalan ang plaza kung ganun.
Irvin
just a clarification: i inquired as to the reasons and the history of the naming of the plaza, but i don't think it's proper for me or any member of our family to express an opinion on the matter, specifically. the people of naga city giveth, they can taketh away.
on a general point, however, i am not in favor of renaming places, only because it does two things:
1. it (unfairly, i think) substitutes the opinions of one generation for the opinion of a previous generation.
2. if the purpose is to honor people, the best way to do it is not by renaming something, but creating something new and naming that. this avoids erasing what is called "the landscape of memory," and is fairer to the person to be honored, since whatever you do, the new renaming will not catch on.
i was also curious why naga city had a plaza by that name in the first place. i'd assumed it was because the railroad to legazpi was one of the major accomplishments of the quezon administration, and that is the connection between mlq and the bicol region. but willy informed me the naming of the plaza was a much more recent occurence.
I see. But still, my vote is No.
Hi Willy,
You've just been tagged by me.
But why do they want to change the name?
Plaza Quezon sounds fine to me, Willy!
My Dad would've been against the re-naming but that's because he was a Pres MLQ fan.
Schumey: Thanks for the tag. I'm still thinking what to write about, though.
Manila Bay Watch: Sorry for the late reply, but thanks for visiting. I think it's generational. Those who decided to rename it Plaza Quezon I think adored the late president, just like you dad.
But as my later post would show, it's been mooted already.
Si Tomas Arejola palan nagin representative kan 1st district kan Ambos Camarines na iyo an rason kan pagigin banwaan giraray kan Canaman 98 taon na an nakakalihis. ;p
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