THE ART OF NAMING STREETS IN CEBU CITY

HAVE YOU NOTICED Cebu City's map or have tried walking upon its city streets or, better still, have ridden around the suburbs of this Queen City of the South? Chances are you would see street names where you would least expected it or getting curious as to how city planners of the past label such streets in a roughshod manner? Sometimes, if not, most of the time, you'll get confused.

Take for example V. Gullas Street. It starts from M.J. Cuenco Avenue infront of the Cebu State College of Science and Technology and ends at Legaspi Street near Ultra Vistarama Theater where, on the same straight route where Mabolo public utility jitneys ply, Manalili Street takes the rest of the length up to Calderon Street in Carbon Market. This is a contiguous road yet two street names are sharing it. Likewise the wide P. del Rosario Street and Imus Street, with the former cut dead at D. Jakosalem Street to give space to the shorter Imus. And why honor Imus? What part of the city's history did that name is being given importance of?

Legaspi Street, on the other hand, which starts from M.J. Cuenco Avenue near Plaza Independencia is abruptly stopped at Colon Street in Oriente Theater where, Pelaez Street takes up the rest of the conterminous downtown by-way starting from Cinema Theater. If you look at the city map only Legaspi is fixed like this whereas parallel streets crossing Colon are exempt like D. Jakosalem, Osmeña Boulevard, Leon Kilat Street, Panganiban Street, Climaco Street and Mabini Street.

In that same stretch and principle, the former city administrators liked to add the word “Extension” to the same immediate expanse of these city streets, taking for example, T. Padilla Street, Juan Luna Avenue and Gen. Maxilom Avenue where, by the time they cross east of M.J. Cuenco, they will have an Extension or Ext. appendage. And that's not all. They also love to append “Extension” to streets where they are not related contiguously or a half kilometer away.

Three classic examples are Legaspi Street whose extension is located running along the northern length of Plaza Independencia but its southernmost sidewalk is FIVE meters away from the main street's northernmost curb if you draw a straight line; Junquera Street where the location of its extension is running parallel near to it starting from R. Landon Street and linking at F. Ramos Street and the third are a couple of the mother of all extension-naming mock-ups – V. Gullas Street and Gen. Echavez Street.

The extension of V. Gullas is located a block away starting from Serging Osmeña Boulevard crossing Arellano Boulevard and M. L. Quezon Boulevard before ending at the Pier 2 waterfront! In the Gen. Echavez case, its extension is located deep within the interior of Barangay Lorega - a block away - making a loop that start and end at Gen. Lorega Street and another extension which start at D. Jakosalem Street running infront of the F. Ramos Supermarket and end at F. Ramos Street – two blocks away!

Conditions such as these are so common if you view any city map of Cebu. The urban planning is so confusing and full of many inconsistencies in street markings and naming. You wouldn't find any of these anywhere else, not even the most topsy-turvy places in the world. I have grown accustomed to these all and I am proud of my city and, for me, this is a unique trait. If you can make it here in Cebu then you are alright anywhere else you will go.

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer.