Miguel Raffinan Street was named by virtue of City Ordinance No. 553 enacted by the Cebu City Council on August 26, 1965. The former name of the street is "San Jose."
But who is the honoree? Don Miguel Raffinan was Cebu City mayor from 1947 to 1951 and builder of the Cebu City Hall (Post War). There was a pre-war city hall building, the newly renovated city hall undertaken by Mayor Tomas Osmeña was built by Mayor Raffinan.
Don Miguel Raffinan was born on May 13, 1891, a lawyer who was admitted to the Philippine Bar on October 2, 1917. He was a newspaperman, writing for the Spanish dailies, "El Precursor" founded by Don Mariano Jesus Cuenco and "La Revolucion" founded by Don Filemon Sotto.
Mayor Raffinan defended the validity of City Ordinance No. 43, enacted in 1947 imposing fees on tickets on theaters. Theater owners led by Pedro Arong of the Liberty Theater, John D. Young, Felix Barba, Sixto Arcilla, Ahing Lee, and Jesus C. Osmeña filed a suit against the city and sought the recovery of the fees collected by the city. The Supreme Court on February 18, 1956 declared that the ordinance was beyond the city's power. However it denied the recovery of payments made by the theater owners against the city. The respondents of the case aside from Mayor Raffinan were, Anatolio Ynclino (then city treasurer) and Atty. Jesus E. Zabate (acting city treasurer).
Raffinan was active in his private practice as a lawyer. He was counsel of Sampaguita Shoe and Slipper Factory in a case that reached the Supreme Court against the Bureau of Customs and the Court of Tax Appeals.
Raffinan, before he was appointed as Cebu City Mayor in 1947, was elected representative of the old sixth district of Cebu. He was first elected in 1931 and reelected in 1938 and served until 1941. The old sixth district of Cebu was composed of Aloguinsan, Barili, Dumanjug, Pinamungajan, Toledo, and Ronda.
Miguel Raffinan was one of those who led the people of Barili in fighting the Japanese army that occupied Cebu. The resistance movement in Barili was formed on September 27, 1942 with Lt. Aguasin and Domingo Gutang.
Mayor Raffinan had the historic three minute conversation with President Elpidio Quirino via telephone radio from Manila to Cebu, joining him was Don Sergio Osmeña Sr., former president. Miguel married Visitacion Paras Abad of Barili, she was born on July 2, 1894 and died on January 27, 1978.