"The devotees arrived in Baguio City around 7 a.m. Saturday and embarked on a day-long visitation of several churches in the pine city. They started their journey back to Laguna at 5 p.m. through Marcos Highway, now called the Aspiras-Palispis Highway." --Yahoo News
First, my sadness for the misfortune of the people who suffered in this accident. No one should be allowed to suffer this way.
But my attention is diverted a little bit more towards the phrase "Marcos Highway, now called the Aspiras-Palispis Highway" Call me a loyalist (of someone I've never met) or whatever you want, but I think one of the biggest mistake the Philippines, my beloved country, is doing is trying to erase history. We are known for changing road names as if it will matter. But years later, we realize that in articles written about the place or the road, the other name will still be mentioned.
Seriously, if you ask me, I wouldn't really remember it as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway, and I highly doubt that I will teach my future children that's the name of the road. I'd tell them that it's called Marcos Highway and when I was younger, there was this bust of the former President/Strongman Marcos on the mountain. A little bit of Mt. Rushmore vanity in our very own little country. I'd do that because I wouldn't know what to tell them about Jose Aspiras and Ben Palispis. I can try googling it, but as I try now, all I ever came up with are articles that say "Aspiras-Palispis, formerly known as Marcos" and a bunch of irrelevant Facebook pictures. So, there is no point.
There would be more color and excitement as we go up the winding road and tell stories of how the road has evolved and how the Lion on the other road brings people good luck. The funny thing..we don't change the name of Kennon Road (not Filipino at all), or Burnham Park or whatever American or Spanish named road we have. But we changed Marcos Highway probably simply because we felt oppressed and maybe by changing the name, we will forget to tell the story, and from forgetting to tell the story, it will be shoved to the back of the shelf and be forgetten forever. (Yes, that's the way to do it, let's bury 20 years by changing the name of the road)
Whoever Jose Aspiras and Ben Palispis are/were, I don't have disrespect for them. It is always a feat to have a road named after you. My only thought is that in a country like ours, there are more roads to be built and more roads to be named. If we probably spent more time building and naming roads, instead of renaming them, we would probably be a more progressive country by now.
But even if I know this entry might make a shallow point only, or no point at all, I just hope it made you understand that to me, it will always be Marcos Highway... or that little road in downtown Manila will always be Nueva. I'd be devastated probably to find out that when I go home, my street where I've lived for 23 or so years would be named something other than Yale...I dunno. I'm just airing out little bits of thought.
Bye now.
First, my sadness for the misfortune of the people who suffered in this accident. No one should be allowed to suffer this way.
But my attention is diverted a little bit more towards the phrase "Marcos Highway, now called the Aspiras-Palispis Highway" Call me a loyalist (of someone I've never met) or whatever you want, but I think one of the biggest mistake the Philippines, my beloved country, is doing is trying to erase history. We are known for changing road names as if it will matter. But years later, we realize that in articles written about the place or the road, the other name will still be mentioned.
Seriously, if you ask me, I wouldn't really remember it as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway, and I highly doubt that I will teach my future children that's the name of the road. I'd tell them that it's called Marcos Highway and when I was younger, there was this bust of the former President/Strongman Marcos on the mountain. A little bit of Mt. Rushmore vanity in our very own little country. I'd do that because I wouldn't know what to tell them about Jose Aspiras and Ben Palispis. I can try googling it, but as I try now, all I ever came up with are articles that say "Aspiras-Palispis, formerly known as Marcos" and a bunch of irrelevant Facebook pictures. So, there is no point.
There would be more color and excitement as we go up the winding road and tell stories of how the road has evolved and how the Lion on the other road brings people good luck. The funny thing..we don't change the name of Kennon Road (not Filipino at all), or Burnham Park or whatever American or Spanish named road we have. But we changed Marcos Highway probably simply because we felt oppressed and maybe by changing the name, we will forget to tell the story, and from forgetting to tell the story, it will be shoved to the back of the shelf and be forgetten forever. (Yes, that's the way to do it, let's bury 20 years by changing the name of the road)
Whoever Jose Aspiras and Ben Palispis are/were, I don't have disrespect for them. It is always a feat to have a road named after you. My only thought is that in a country like ours, there are more roads to be built and more roads to be named. If we probably spent more time building and naming roads, instead of renaming them, we would probably be a more progressive country by now.
But even if I know this entry might make a shallow point only, or no point at all, I just hope it made you understand that to me, it will always be Marcos Highway... or that little road in downtown Manila will always be Nueva. I'd be devastated probably to find out that when I go home, my street where I've lived for 23 or so years would be named something other than Yale...I dunno. I'm just airing out little bits of thought.
Bye now.
1 comment:
"...we changed Marcos Highway probably simply because we felt oppressed and maybe by changing the name... it will be shoved to the back of the shelf and be forgotten forever."
And yet there are Filipinos willing to vote these folks back into power.
Post a Comment