The "Villa" and "Arevalo" Puzzle

Let us start this series of stories on my Southern Iloilo Tour. As said in my previous entry, this tour started in the city, and, my first destination was Villa. Ah, well yes, Arevalo!

This was not the first time I visited the district. I have gone to Tatoy's, I have watched the Paraw Regatta, and so on. But if you may recall what I said on the 41st paragraph of a blog story I did more than 9 years ago, this was an opportune time to clarify things!

So, said my tour guide, in Iloilo, Villa is one and the same as Arevalo. OMG! He continued telling me about the complete and official name of the district today, which is "Villa De Arevalo". Haruy! Kaya pala, mao diay, amo gad, asya ga, sore ga riyūdesu, sebab itu, itu sebabnya, es por eso, c'est pourquoi! Even the jeeps confused me since there are those that have "Villa" for a destination sign board, while many others have "Arevalo"!

Imagine?! Villa Beach and Arevalo Beach, are after all one and the same, pala!

"La Villa Rica De Arevalo" was the original name of the place, which was a town in and by itself. That designation was care of Ronquillo de Peñalosa, the Spanish Governor, who named this place after his hometown in Spain. Ayun naman pala eh, as in, as early as the 1500s pa pala napangalanan ang lugar na ito!

My tour guide further shared that... many Iloilo residents themselves are actually unsure about Villa, Arevalo, Villa Arevalo, Villa De Arevalo or La Villa Rica De Arevalo. I prodded more, and he told me that many think Villa and Arevalo are two different places; that there are those who say "taga-Villa" while others "taga-Arevalo"; but when you ask them where the boundaries of Villa and Arevalo are, they could not tell.

As said above, the present official name of this district composed of 12 barangays is Villa De Arevalo. But, my guide says, even official documents do sometimes just contain "Villa Arevalo" which is the most commonly used 'full name' of the district.

Then I asked, "who uses Villa and who uses Arevalo"? Da! A long pause, and then he said "kahit sino lang"! So whatever anyone feels to use it is okay. You can use Villa, Arevalo, Villa Arevalo, or Villa De Arevalo!

Anyway, I just surmised, aside from confusing some 'meticulous' roamers like me, this seemingly loose liberty at using truncated names of the district does not hurt anyone. Why? Because, a district, is not anyway a formal unit of government.

It is after all just like Fairview, Quiapo, Don Galo, Lahug, Maras-baras, Agdao, Jaro, etc

Haaay, anyway, we arrived at the Arevalo Church, but that's my next story :)

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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   36  Thirty six stories
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