San Pedro Street (cont.)

In the previous issue of Davao Catholic Herald, my Shalom column, at the editor’s request with my approval, was used as front page article. In the last paragraph I wrote that Mayor Duterte met with me for the scond time. He brought along Councilor Rieta who had an even a bigger proposal: to close the portion of San Pedro Street starting from the front of the Cathedral up to Anda Street! Councilor Rieta explained that the extended portion would be developed as a tourist spot and promenade area but most of all to emphasize the value of a religious heritage and a historical landmark that is San Pedro Cathedral with San Pedro Street. The Mayor seemed to like the idea.

On our part I showed Architect Boy Quinto’s plan of a beautiful promenade and a relaxing and quiet spacious spot on San Pedro Street. I felt the Mayor also liked this. I heard later that this was opposed by some people who were concerned with difficulties arising from the rerouting of vehicular traffic. Perhaps in the future city officials should revisit the proposals and primarily to reconsider seriously the request of the Church. But more on history for now.

Why would the provincial government of Cebu in 1926 asked the Church in Davao to relinquish her ownership of Plaza Oyanguren to the ‘government’? Was Gov. Causing referring to the ‘government’ of Cebu or Davao? Historian Dabay does not explain. On the side of the Church, the Prelature of Davao then was part of (suffragan of) Cebu archdiocese having been separated from Zamboanga diocese. Probably the government officials in Davao, if there already was a local government then, would by protocol go to the archbishop of Cebu who was higher in rank to the bishop prelate of Davao. Whatever it was, it seems to be a clear historical fact, if we go by the book of Gloria Dabay, that plaza Osmena belonged to the Church.

In view of issues of street closure and the need for authentic documents, I would like to recommend the following to the Archdiocese of Davao and to the Cathedral parish of San Pedro especially to its parishioners:

1. Collective efforts should be undertaken to get the support of the City Mayor and the City Council to close permanently San Pedro Street to vehicular traffic, to market & walking vendors, and to parking space. It should be recalled that for 6 months during the mayorship of Benjamin de Guzman this portion of San Pedro Street was actually closed as an experiment. The reason was to find out if the closure would affect flow of traffic. There was no adverse report about this initiative except for certain complaints of an office occupant who said he had to walk in the rain because his car could not enter San Pedro Street. The parishioners too can appeal for help from their respective councilors.

2. Professional researchers should be hired to look for the documents and other records especially the request of Governor Causing to the Church to relinquish its ownership of Plaza Oyanguren. These records could be in Cebu provincial government records and in the records of the Archdiocese of Cebu. They should also go to the records in the City Government of Davao, the Parish of San Pedro and the Archdiocese of Davao. Perhaps Wikipedia and Google can help.

3. Hard evidence and perhaps eye witnesses are needed to verify the frequent rumors that, in the not too distant past, a Davao city myyor, not the present one, and his city council decided one day to change the streeet’s name, San Pedro, to another name. Then a massive fire came out of nowhere and burned many buildings along the street until it stopped on Bolton Street beside the Cathedral. Gaba or karma, people were quick to say. But the point that make sense and should be seriously considered is, that names of historical places should be preserved for posterity. Historical names and places are part of our historical memory which support the wisdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal who once said, “Ang hindi lumingon sa kanyang pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa kanyang paruruunan” (“He who does not know where he came from would not know where he is going”).