Believe It Or Not: No law yet naming Colon

CEBU, Philippines - Odd as it may seem but there is no law found in the archives of Cebu City about Colon Street.

The stretch from the Colon Bridge in Barangay Pahina-San Nicolas and ending at the Obelisk in Barangay Parian, is still called as “Parian.”

If not for the ongoing codification project, the City Council would not have known there is no legislation approved since formally and legally naming the entire stretch as “Colon Street.”

Colon Street has always been known as the oldest street in the Philippines, a historical and cultural fact that has been taught to the country’s school children.

 Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, one of the movers of the Codification Project, just recently sponsored an ordinance formally naming and recognizing the oldest street in the Philippines found in the downtown area of Cebu City as “Colon Street.”

The ordinance was approved recently by the Committee on Laws headed by Councilor Edgardo Labella.

“It is an oddity of no small proportions, therefore, to find after review of the city’s archives that the street has not been formally named as such in any ordinance,” according to the committee report.

The committee stated that the proposed ordinance is not only legal and valid, it is the proper measure to cure the deficiency in the significant item of the country’s history.

Colon Street, in the downtown area of Cebu City, was built by the Spaniards and was referred to the olden days as “Parian.”

It was later named as Colon after Cristobal Colon (Columbus), who discovered America. — Ferliza C. Contratista/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)