Sotto wants QC’s Roosevelt Ave, not Del Monte Ave, renamed after FPJ

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Vicente Sotto III is seeking to tweak a bill that initially proposed to rename Del Monte Avenue in Quezon City after late movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

Roosevelt Avenue, where Poe grew up, should instead be renamed after the late actor, according to Sotto.

“I prefer the renaming of Roosevelt Ave. It’s where FPJ grew up because it was their ancestral home,” the Senate president said in a message to reporters.

“Besides, it’s a larger street,” he added.

Sotto said he has already informed Senator Lito Lapid about his planned amendment to the bill.

“I will propose in plenary during the period of amendments,” Sotto said.

“More importantly, I told Sen Manny Pacquiao because he is the Chairman of the Comm[ittee] on Public works and therefore will sponsor the bill [on the floor]. He agreed with my amendment,” he added.

It was Lapid who filed Senate Bill No. 1822 seeking to rename Del Monte Avenue to Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue. The said measure has already been approved by the Senate public works committee.

Del Monte Avenue, Lapid had said, should be renamed after Poe since it was where the late actor’s movie studio was located.

But the proposal to rename Del Monte Avenue was met with opposition from Franciscan priests.

In an earlier statement, Fr. Cielo Almazan, minister provincial of the Philippine Franciscans, said “the first Christian community” was established in San Francisco del Monte, “from which Quezon City emerged in 1939.”

“Therefore, this area and their historical names are sacred to the civic and religious history of Quezon City,” Almazan said.

Almazan also penned an open letter addressed to Lapid to “humbly present our objection” to the bill.

“There is no doubt that FPJ has done great things to the movie industry. He can be honored via a street renamed after him, but please choose another street, like West Avenue or any other street that is not named after anybody, without any historical or religious significance, or constructed in its present state only after World War II,” Almazan’s letter read.

JE