A total of 40 barangay officials on Wednesday, November 12, underwent a seminar on the guidelines on renaming barangays amid the proposed ordinance renaming the numerically designated barangays in the city.
In an interview, Councilor J. Melchor Quitain, the ordinance’s proponent, said that the seminar puts importance on the preservation of the rich cultural history of barangays, which is not reflected in the currently designated names.
“Naisip ko na i-rename ang barangay not simply for the purposes of identification lang, na identify man, naa
may numero pero what cultural or historical significance do their names have? I think our city hall is only 100 years old, so medyo bag-o bag-o pa sa Davao there is still time for us to research on our history and asa man gyud nahitabo ang tanang events diri sa Davao City sa atong barangay so atong gi-request sa barangay nga mag research mo unsay nahitabo sa inyong barangay (I thought of renaming the barangays not simply for purposes of identification, since they already have numbers, but to give meaning — what cultural or historical significance do their names have? I think our City Hall is only about 100 years old, so Davao is still relatively young. There’s still time for us to research our history and find out where all the important events in Davao City really happened in our barangays. So we requested the barangays to research what events took place in their respective areas),” he said.
He urged the barangays to choose a name with cultural significance, one that the younger generation will not forget.
“Choose a name with historical significance and dili gyud malimtan sa new generation unsa ba gyud ang Davao asa ba gyud nagsugod ang Davao City. I think that is very significant sa isa ka lugar we cannot move to progress and forget the past always gyud we need to preserve our identity its just a one way of helping out our city (Choose a name with historical significance — one that the new generation will never forget, so they will know what Davao truly is and where Davao City really began. I think that is very significant for a place; we cannot move forward and progress while forgetting the past. We always need to preserve our identity — it’s one way of helping our city),” he said.
Davao City Culture and the Arts Office Head Oscar Casaysay, the guest speaker during the event,
emphasized that the name selected should be connected with the local history of the place. It may be important people, previously existing landmarks or flora and fauna.
“Unang una kay kambyohon man gyud nato ang numerical into a regular name na. Ang amoang giingon nga naa ta’y balaod nga gi-considera nga ang pangalan kay nay historical buot pasabot kung unsa man ang ilang maihusahan didto masaysay pud nila masubay nila ang kasaysayan (First of all, since we will be changing the numerical names into regular names, we said that there is a law we are considering which requires that the name should have historical significance. This means that whatever name they agree upon should also reflect and trace the history of their place),” he said.
During the seminar they encouraged the barangays to conduct cultural mapping, to know the history of their place, the iconic personalities that contributed to their community, the events that took place in their barangay, and the previous source of living in the area, and
historically-linked events, places, things, which could help them decide their barangay name.
Casaysay also said that the barangay names will have to be approved by the National Culture of the Arts Commission.
He said that the OCA is willing to provide technical assistance to the barangays on their cultural mapping.
Quitain, during the interview, added that they expect that the renaming would take a long process but they hope that within three years time, the barangays will be able to accomplish the cultural mapping and take significant steps in the renaming. CIO
