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[av_heading heading=’RURAL UPDATE | Roman Mapa Street ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JOHNNY NOVERA
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Tuesday, April 11, 2017
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THIS FOUR-lane major street which is part of Barangay Airport in Iloilo City runs eastward from Mandurriao district plaza passing in front of Mandurriao Elementary School, then cross Megaworld’s Iloilo Business Park to Barangay Tabucan where the road turns southward up to the 10-storey Filinvest Futura Homes development at right and the Iloilo River Esplanade to the left until Carpenter Bridge that connects to Molo district and downtown Iloilo City.
The major roadway was named after Roman Mapa from Negros Oriental, a Catholic priest who served at the parish of Mandurriao after Father Gervacio Gallofin who first established Mandurriao’s Spousal of Our Lady Church.
Celsa Mondragon, a relative of Father Mapa, had a daughter, Ysabel, who was married to Carlos Jones, a British consul. They had five children and one of them, Carlos Jones Jr., got married to a local girl, Dolores Villanueva.
Carlos Jr. and Dolores had three children born in Mandurriao all surnamed Jones; namely, Milagros, Roman and the youngest, Purita, was married to Manuel Solinap Sr. who set up residence in Barangay Airport near the present barangay chapel beside the road. They had nine children, all now with families of their own, but one of them, Kapitan Manuel J. Solinap Jr., is the present punong barangay of Barangay Airport who remained in the family compound.
Father Roman, his relatives and their descendants who chose to have their home in Mandurriao were generous and philanthropic to the community. They donated, for example, the site of the local Catholic cemetery and also contributed five hectares of their property to build the former Iloilo Airport (now Megaword’s Iloilo Business District). This street named Roman Mapa in Mandurriao is therefore well deserved.
Undertaking a job like Writing History in our Streets to put up historical markers or signage in our street corners or other conspicuous locations on the road will not be interesting if not for the exciting challenge to research and discover knowledge or information about our street names. But with the cooperation of our incumbent barangay officials, we see good encouragement.
Like at Quirico Abeto and R. Mapa streets in Mandurriao district, we will be seeing in due time the barangay kapitanes of other areas. We are just waiting to have a marker finished along the specifications we have recommended to provide us a model for other streets and proceed with the project smoothly.
We wish that other barangays that have jurisdiction over streets will take up this matter in their barangay councils and adopt the project.
Soon we will visit you to offer this service of Writing History in our Streets, if you wish to avail yourselves of it. (For comments or reactions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN)
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