VIRAC, CATANDUANES, Philippines—What’s in a name?

Plenty, it seems, as local officials of Bagamanoc town, 61 kilometers from this capital town, found out from Rev. Msgr. Manolo A. delos Santos, bishop of the Diocese of Virac.

De los Santos asked Mayor Odilon Pascua and Vice Mayor Juan Velchez Jr. to change the name that the municipal government had given to a landmark at sea here, several hundred meters from the poblacion.

In promoting the Manok-manok Festival, which was formally opened June 1, the town officials distributed handouts and posted billboards containing the offensive name of the landmark: Boto ni Kurakog, literally translated as “Kurakog’s Penis.”

The landmark is a column of earth and loose rock that rises five meters above the sea and resembles the male sex organ, with a healthy shrub growing on top of it.

Legend has it that the male organ belonged to Kurakog, a giant who had lain to sleep at Ilihan Point and never woke up, his body washed away by the waves until only the pointed column remained.

“You should change the name because it is indecent and would reflect badly on the character of your people,” the bishop of this predominantly Catholic and deeply religious province told Bagamanoc officials during a private meeting at the St. Anthony de Padua Church.

Gov. Joseph C. Cua agreed, saying that even his provincial tourism coordinator, Carmel Garcia, hesitated before pronouncing the landmark’s name.

Chastened by the advice, both Pascua and Velchez agreed to find a suitable, inoffensive tag for the landmark, which they said had been called “Boto ni Kurakog” by old-timers for decades now.

They are considering renaming it “Fertility Island” as suggested by the bishop or some other tags as “Espada ni Kurakog,” which translates to “Sword of Kurakog.”

Despite the minor controversy, town officials are promoting daily boat rides to the landmark for P100, for which a tourist hears the story of how the monument came to be and gets the chance to offer a chicken egg at the supposedly enchanted phallic symbol.

Local officials apologized to the bishop for not consulting the Church on the matter and said they only followed the townspeople’s description of the landmark.

The festival, which features activities centering on the town’s chicken industry, runs until June 13, the feast day. Fernan A. Gianan, Inquirer Southern Luzon