Lucena City Streets: The People Behind the Names

lucena city streetsWe see them everyday as names written on metal boards standing on some corner or a stretch of road; however, very few of us probably knows after whom these streets were named, so we did a little research and found out that:

Three of the streets in Lucena City were named after its pillars: Fr. Mariano Granja; a Franciscan priest who worked with the principalia ( an electoral body tasked with the election of community leaders) to establish a new municipality that would later become Lucena, Hermana Fausta Labrador; an educator and social worker who later founded Sacred Heart College and is now a candidate for sainthood, and Faustino Enriquez, the first governadorcillo of Lucena.

Aside from the three previously mentioned, majority of the streets in Lucena City were named after politicians or political families that have played major roles in its birth and development such as Don Crisanto Marquez; first municipal president of Lucena, Jose Zaballero; the captain municipal of Lucena who led local revolutionaries during the Philippine Revolution, and principalia members Melanio Allarey, Bartolome Queblar, Doroteo Trinidad, Rufino Barcelona, Bernardo Merchan, Gregorio Merchan, Francisco Juarez, Santiago Abellanosa, Bonifacio Marquez, Santiago Zaballero, Candido Zaballero, and Simeon Perez.

Other politicians who also fall under this category include former municipal presidents Pedro Nieva (1916) and Feliciano Zoleta (1910), former councilors Juan Evangelista, Antonio Lagos (1937), Manuel Edaño (1937), Federico Daleon (1947), and Ernesto Cabana (1963), former vice mayor Pedro Torres (1937), former mayors Gregorio Marquez (1903), Venancio Queblar (1906), Anselmo Nadres (1937), Amando Zaballero (1947), Casto Profugo (1955), and Mario L. Tagarao (1963), former governor Leon Guinto (1955), former congressman Manuel Enverga (1954), former Senator Claro M. Recto (1931), and former presidents Manuel Quezon (1935) and Sergio Osmeña (1944).

Also mixed with these political figures are Philippine heroes such as Katipunan founder Andres Bonifacio, martyred priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (collectively known as GOMBURZA), propagandist Marcelo H. Del Pilar, and famed general Miguel Malvar.

Pretty long list and it’s not even complete, but it was fun to know the people behind these streets. How about you? Do you know where these streets are?  Do you know another street name and the person it was named after?

Source: Villariba, Cesar (2000). A Definitive History of Lucena City (1879-2000). Lucena City: Book Media Press, Inc.

Author: Lucenahin

is an online magazine dedicated to everything Lucenahin. Browse our collection of articles and learn more about people, places, events, and interests in Lucena City.

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