Dr. Jose P. Rizal Street, Cebu City

On March 7, 1984 with the enactment of Batas Pambansa Bilang 648, renaming the Rizal Avenue to Natalio Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City became the only city in the country with no street named after the country’s considered National Hero. It was on July 30, 1973 when the Cebu City Council enacted City Ordinance No. 834 renaming the Cebu South Expressway as the Jose Rizal Avenue.

Natalio Bacalso Avenue is Cebu’s longest road, starting from the corner of Leon Kilat, Cebu City, up to the town of Santander. The town also erased the name of Jose Rizal Avenue.

For decades calls were made to rename the Natalio Bacalso Avenue to Jose Rizal Avenue, yet it could not be easily done as it needs a national law for it to be achieved. The problem was solved after the Cebu City Council renamed a short thoroughfare fronting the legislative building stretching from D. Jakosalem Street to P. Burgos Street. The street was formerly called as A. del Rosario, named to honor Anacleto del Rosario. The honoree was the son of Eugenio del Rosario and Casimira Sales. A. del Rosario was given the title as the “Father of Philippine Science.”

It was the Order of the Knights of Rizal, Cebu Chapter who wrote the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Cebu City through the Vice Mayor Edgardo Colina Labella requesting the renaming of the “Cebu City Hall Lane” to Jose Rizal Street.

It was on November 4, 1998 through City Ordinance No. 1734 that the Cebu City Council renamed A. del Rosario Street to Cebu City Hall Lane.

The Cebu City Council explained that the renaming of the street after Dr. Jose Rizal will give due recognition to all those who made a name in the field of science (both Rizal and del Rosario are men of science).

Cebu City further justified it saying that Rizal, aside from being a man of science, was a well-known writer having authored a number of novels and essays such as the Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891) and a number of poems such as the “La Juventud Filipina,” “Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo,” and “Mi Ultimo Adios.” Cebu City Ordinance No. 2495 renaming the Cebu City Hall Lane to Jose Rizal Street was enacted on June 5, 2018.