Matias H. Aznar Road, Cebu City

It is the road at the Sambag Subdivision stretching from R.R. Landon Street Extension to Aznar Memorial Coliseum. The road was given a name when the City of Cebu had just finished improving the old Sambag Road stretching from P. del Rosario St. Extension (renamed as J. Alcantara St.) to the Aznar Memorial Coliseum.

The Cebu City Council, on motion of Councilor Eulogio E. Borres, enacted Ordinance No. 416 on July 25, 1963, naming the road in honor of MATIAS H. AZNAR. He was born on August 13, 1907 in San Roque, Cavite. His parents were Matias Aznar Sr. and Paz Regina-Chavez.

Matias Hipolito Aznar, was a pharmacist turned educator, he dedicated the best years of his life to the cause of higher learning, he founded in the summer of 1946, the Southwestern Colleges. He founded the college with his wife, Anunciacion T. Barcenilla, daughter of Leocadio Barcenilla and Justina Teneiblos-Barcenilla of Carcar and Sibonga, Cebu.

Matias, envisioned that the academic institution be a science center outside of Manila, with Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry and Pharmacy as field of concentration. Matias and his wife, who both studied Pharmacy in Manila, questioned why there was no school not only in Cebu but in the entire Visayas and Mindanao that offers medical courses, thus the vision of establishing the first medical school after World War II.

Matias died on May 18, 1958, a year before the school he founded became a university in December of 1959. The construction of the Aznar Memorial Coliseum, which is part of the university compound, benefits the City of Cebu, for its cultural and scientific implications and increased the values of the lands in the area.

The Cebu City Council that enacted the ordinance was presided by Mario D. Ortiz, while the Secretary of the Council was Leodegario C. Salazar, the Secretary to the Mayor was Vicente V. Pacifico. The ordinance was approved by Carlos J. Cuizon on August 2, 1963.