Airport Road, Hibbard or Perdices?

From Silliman I walked all the way south to reach the downtown area. Exciting! Now am about to see the city, yeah!

Very first I noticed on exit from the main university portal is that building with a National Bookstore Branch. Nice positioning and very apt! Am sure that bookstore will be in for brisk business many years more! O hey! Over to my left on Silliman Avenue I could see Jo’s Inato – but I’d visit that later.

From a quick research before I left, I should not miss the cathedral, the bell tower, the public markets (yes plural) and finally the famous Rizal Boulevard. I did visited all and found out a bit more! Here we go…

Airport Road, Hibbard Avenue and Perdices St.,
These three names are actually one continuous and “generally straight” road!

It is named the ‘Dumaguete Airport Road’ from its northern end down to the Silliman University area. Obviously from the name alone, this is that road that is supposed to lead straight to the runway but is cut short by the Silliman Farm and College of Agriculture areas, so that you have to pass via the national highway as a regular route - where the airport is nearer anyway.

Then it becomes ‘Hibbard Avenue’ as it cuts through the university's main campus. Well, the name Hibbard is fitting and rightful since it is in the memory of the pioneer of Silliman University’s existence – Reverend David Sutherland Hibbard of Lyndon, Kansas – first teacher (together with his wife Laura) and later president of the then Silliman Institute.

Now as if to say Hibbard’s memory should remain in the portals of the university he built, right outside of campus, at the corner with Silliman Avenue, the very same street sports the name ‘Perdices St.’ - Dumaguete’s way of honoring the memory of former governor Mariano Perdices. This name goes all the way as the street curves at its southern end until it touches Angatan St., which becomes the Dumaguete-Valencia Road.

Weird but nothing wrong hehe! Unique? Not really! Now I just have to start getting out of my old notion or preconceived assumption that one straight or continuous road should have one name. While I know of other such “phenomena” in this country, I think though that authorities should avoid overuse of this kind of weirdness. It can confuse regular brained folks like me! Yes, it really did confuse me, reason why I asked around about those personalities. One of those I asked even said “they’re both important people to this city so they better be the names of the most important street. Okay, I rest my case. I do earnestly hope and wish not to see a street or road anywhere in the world where its name changes every block hehehe! Kasamok adto oi!




For a chronology of stories on this trip, click the following article numbers:
01   02   03   04   05   06   07   08   09   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18
19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35


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