Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 No 11 | Page 15

June 1 - 15, 2017
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY
15
Alejano proposes renaming PH
A Filipino lawmaker on
June 12 suggested chang-
ing the name of the Philip-
pines to distance the coun-
try from its history of Span-
ish colonialism.
House of Representa-
tives member Gary Alejano
Alejano, of the Magdalo Par-
ty-list group, recommended
in a proposed legislation
the creation of a Geograph-
ic Renaming Commission
to study the possibility and
feasibility of changing the
name of the Philippines.
“If we want to be truly in-
dependent, then we should
throw away the bonds of
colonialism by establishing
our own national identity,”
Alejano said.
Portuguese
explorer
Fernando de Magallanes
declared the islands’ Span-
ish occupation in 1521.
It was in 1542 that the
explorer Ruy Lopez de Vil-
lalobos baptized the eastern
islands of Leyte and Samar
as “Felipinas” in honour of
Felipe II. The final coloniza-
tion of the archipelago be-
gan in 1565 and since then
its name has undergone
many changes.
The current name “Re-
public of Philippines” has
remained since the final in-
dependence of the country
from the U.S. in 1946.
Alejano, a former mili-
tary man who was impri-
soned for co-organizing
a failed coup against the
government in 2003 and
later, was granted amnesty
before entering politics,
presented his proposal on
Independence Day.
“For our country to
move forward, we should
identify a name for our
country that genuinely re-
flects our national aspira-
tions, a name that signifies
our values and self-determi-
nation,” he added.
Alejano lamented that
the Philippines chose “to re-
tain the name given by our
Spanish colonisers” and
argued that “many other
nations who were formerly
under colonial yoke have
reverted back to their for-
mer pre-colonised name”.
If it were to be created,
the commission proposed
by Alejano would comprise
representatives of the main
Philippine organizations in
the fields of history and cul-
ture and would have a year
to complete the project.
The proposed commis-
sion will be composed of
three commissioners from
the National Commission
for Culture and the Arts, the
National Historical Com-
mission of the Philippines,
and the Komisyon ng Wi-
kang Filipino.
Alejano sought an allo-
cation of P30 million from
the General Appropriations
Act for the commission.
“Ideally, the name of
a country should define
WWW.PHILIPPINEASIANNEWSTODAY.COM
not only its land, but also
its people and patrimony.
In addition, the new name
must also reflect our histo-
ry, culture, society, and na-
tional sentiments,” Alejano
explained in his bill.
A suggestion for the
country’s new name would
be Maharlika, popularized
by former president dictator
Ferdinand Marcos.●