Poblacion’s village captain doesn’t want you to call the area ‘Pobla,’ and people are confused

Dear cool kids, just because Poblacion in Makati has since been gentrified into a district dotted with a thriving dining and nightlife scene does NOT give you the right to call it whatever you want — particularly “Pobla.”

Pobla’s — ahem, Poblacion’s — barangay (village) captain, Benhur Cruz, released a resolution objecting to the now-popular nickname its hip goers have given the area, which, quite frankly, has some people scratching their heads.

“THIS IS BARANGAY POBLACION! STOP USING THE TERM ‘POBLA!’,” the resolution read, adding that it was objecting to the use of the word Pobla when referring to barangay Poblacion in Makati City “or any area within its territorial jurisdiction.”

The resolution argued that the barangay’s residents “highly [consider] the image and [value] the rich heritage of Poblacion,” and said that “any inappropriate contraction or misuse of its name, particularly the term ‘Pobla,’ is found to be offensive and derogatory to the community.” 

Cruz used the hashtags #NotoPOBLA and #YestoPOBLACION in his post.

This merited online reactions that mostly comprised people scratching their heads.

“How is ‘Pobla’ offensive or derogatory? Serious question,” one wrote.

“‘Pobla’ is offensive? Lol,” another said.

“I am sure 90% of their constituents use that term themselves,” another chimed in.

Others pointed out that while Poblacion in Makati was historic in a sense that it was the city’s first settlement, the barangay hardly had any ownership over the name ‘Poblacion,’ which is Spanish for town center. Several municipalities in the Philippines also have barangays called Poblacion.

“How sensitive. It’s like saying calling the country Pinas instead of Pilipinas, or Pinoys instead of Filipinos, is derogatory. There are lots of places called Poblacion and the name Pobla is almost uniquely attributed to their area,” u/Skullfreedom said.

Some users accused the captain and the barangay council of being “bored.”

Meanwhile, many simply made light of the resolution and have decided to refer to the area as “Pobs” instead — yet another nickname its young and hip goers have christened the place.