What’s in a name?

If we can change the names of our streets — from Dewey Blvd. to Roxas Blvd., for example – and towns — from Sexmoan to Sasmuan in Pampanga — at the drop of a hat, why not the name of our country?

" is a Malay word, meaning free men belonging to the lower nobility class.

The Philippines is named after King Philip 2nd of Spain who was a very cruel king. Philip ordered the beheading of Protestants in his time and burned at the stake the Moors or Muslims of Spain.

So, why should we allow ourselves to be named after an inhuman monarch?

If we want to shed our colonial and bitter past, let’s start with renaming the country Maharlika.

*** Ferdinand Marcos cannot be given credit for coming up with trying to rename the country Maharlika.

In fact, Assemblywoman Imelda Marcos opposed it when Eddie Ilarde, a colleague in the Batasang Pambansa, introduced a bill to rename the country Maharlika in 1978.

The Marcoses at that time wanted Maharlika in their private domain, citing as reason the name of the wartime unit that Ferdinand formed when he was in the guerrilla movement.

Many friends wanted to please Ferdinand Marcos by naming their establishments Maharlika but were rebuffed.

Hence, Maharlika Motel in Pasay City was renamed Mahal Kita; Maharlika Sauna Bath, a prostitution joint in Quezon City which was frequented

time, was changed to Maalikaya.

Nobody but nobody should use the name Maharlika in vain, according to Marcos.

And what happened to Eddie Ilarde, who wanted a name change for the country?

Most of his bootlicking colleagues in the Batasan called him insane for even thinking to change the country’s name.

“My bill never reached second base, Mon,” Ilarde recalled.

His Muslim colleagues, however, hugged the former broadcaster-turned-politician and told him they should have been the

*** Anyway, what’s in a name? Plenty. It could make or unmake its bearer. Hence, the bearer of the surname Lastimoso, which means sorrowful in Spanish, seems to be a sad sack; Sinfuego, which means

Joseph Estrada always wins because his surname means “paving the way;” Donald Trump beat the more competent Hillary Clinton because trump means triumph.

Manny Pacquiao has it all. Manny, which rhymes with money, and " which means “wholesale” in the Cebuano dialect.

My childhood friend, Wilbur Ligutom (" means hungry) became a very prosperous man in the US because he changed his surname to Ligutam.

***

The Spaniards apportioned names to their Filipino subjects according to their position in society.

Santos, de los Santos, Sta. Maria, Cruz, de la Cruz, de Jesus, San Lazaro, San Lorenzo, San Miguel, for example, were people who worked for the church.

Reyes, de los Reyes, Castro, de Castro, Corona were given to people who worked for the government.

Mercado, Diaz, Cuesta were given to people who sold goods. The original name of Jose Rizal was Jose Mercado because his family was of the merchant class.

Other Filipinos who could not

worked for the church and government, nor were they of the merchant class, were left to have their original Malay names; hence, Dipasupil, Dimalanta, Mabayag, Maturan, Mandunggo, Donggoan.

***

There was a girl who answered by the name Maria Duhaybilat.

is Visayan for two; term for the female sex organ.

Maria became an object of ridicule in school in Cebu. Her classmates always teased her, her teachers would snicker when they called out her name.

So, when she went to college, Maria Duhaybilat went to court to have a change of name.

She’s now Maria Usaybilat, meaning one in the Visayan dialect.

Maria is now comfortable with her new name because every female is a has only one sex organ.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Just a food for thought: If you have a name that invites misfortune or ridicule, why not change it?

***

The is playing catty with me after I criticized it in this column recently.

It has refused to pay for the law-

against me by dismissed Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.

I was with the when I wrote an item in my “On Target” column about Aguirre’s incompetence as justice secretary that infuriated

Justice

The always paid for my lawyers and bail when libel cases

with them.

Which is just as it should be since I was writing for the paper.

But now that I’m no longer in their employ, the says it’s my problem to pay for my lawyers and bail.

I was with the paper when I wrote that column item about Aguirre. It’s only fair that the take care of the litigation expenses even if I’m already out of the paper.

I spent the best years of my journalistic career — 31 years — in the

I’m not writing this because I can’t afford to pay the legal fees and the bail; I most certainly can.

I’m writing this to show the public what kind of paper the is: petty and catty.