It’s a decided long shot, but one Filipino lawmaker is making a move to change the country’s name.
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano last week filed House Bill 5867, which seeks the creation of a commission that would study the possibility of changing the name of the Philippines, a move he believes will toss off the “bonds of colonialism”.
The former soldier turned lawmaker said that the proposed “Geographic Renaming Commission” will “study the possibility and the feasibility of renaming our country.”
The bill was filed on June 7 and released by Alejano’s office on Saturday in time for the country’s 199th year of independence.
According to GMA News, “The commission would be composed of three members from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), and the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF).”
The commission, if approved, will receive an initial funding of PHP30 million, about US$600,000, and is expected to complete their work in a year.
“If we want to be truly independent, then we should throw away the bonds of colonialism by establishing our own national identity. For our country to move forward, we should identify a name for our country that genuinely reflects our national aspirations, a name that signifies our values and self-determination,” said Alejano in a report by Rappler.
“[V]arious colonizers came over which muddled our identity as a people and nation. Felipenas, Filipinas, Pilipinas, Philippines—which of these is the correct name of our country? It is high time for us to have a name which befits us and is universal to all,” he added.
While other countries have renamed themselves in the past — most notably Burma changing its name to Myanmar in 1989 — it’s a rarity, and we’ll be genuinely surprised if this gets very far (much less a $600,000 budget).
