I agree with Tito Sotto! Changing names etc.

Photo not mine: CTTO

I agree with Sen. Tito Sotto. Our national anthem is up for an update. It's a million years old and the lyrics especially the last line speaks of a romantic era where dying in a revolution against the colonial oppressors is the ultimate sacrifice patriots could do for their country. Would you die for your country? Me?  Hell, no! It's not fun.

Filipino politicians have the propensity to change things especially ones they can legislate easily. They love changing the names of streets, avenues, buildings, towns, provinces after names of their long departed relatives or political allies. I guess it's all about name recall, or vicarious immortality where they want their heritage, in this case surnames, perpetuated.

Take the case of the Municipality of Montalban, Rizal. My mother had an uncle who lived there and we visited the place maybe three times and the town was beautiful then, the mountains, the river where we bathe, and the myth of Bernardo Carpio were the main attraction of the place. 

Artwork not mine: CTTO

I was told that all earthquakes emanates from Montalban and that there were two giant boulders colliding with Bernardo Carpio trapped in the middle trying to prevent the rocks from crushing himself. He was cursed to do this Sisyphean task because he fell in love with the wrong lady. 

The mythical giant is still alive, according to folklore,  and the earthquakes occur every time Carpio shakes his shoulder. I guess his shoulder shakes created the west valley fault. nah, just kidding. Its the other way around. The area where Bernardo Carpio was supposed to be trapped is in the west valley fault which explains the legend of the origin of the earthquakes.

Montalban does not exist anymore, instead in its place the Municipality of Rodriguez emerged. What happens when the name of a town is changed?

A lot. The myths, the historical references, traditions,  the romance it evokes, so many things that are intertwined with the name. I guess it's like meeting a person you know as Charice introducing herself/himself as Zyrus. The person changed too.

I had the chance to visit Montalban a few years ago and I was a bit disappointed to see the hundreds of vacant/abandoned row houses project in place of the once forested feet of the mountains. 

The sad thing is, the Rodriguez Family is a virtually forgotten and they are hardly remembered in most of Rizal Province except in the isolated municipality of Rodriguez. I hope the provincial board has seen their errors and return the municipality's name to Montalban.

Politicians should be the last thing to consider when naming public places, buildings, parks etc. History, aboriginal names, folk tradition, municipal identity, fruits, animal, insects, rock formations, etc. aa lot of names that evokes natural beauty, myths and palates, to choose from. 

Politicians names should be there at the bottom of the list of names along with the obscene and the sexually explicit. In fact sewers and water treatment plants, drug rehab centers, nuclear plants, mine shafts, etc. should be named after them.,

Where was I?

 The Lyrics, nah, I was joking. The lyrics needs no changing, its the senator and the people in the government who betray the government that needs changing, in fact, all of us needs changing.