Nicolas Rafols St. (an unimplemented street naming ordinance)

Nicolas Rafols, the lawyer, writer, and legislator was honored with a street in Toledo City and Cebu City. But the street naming ordinance of Cebu City, just like the Eduardo Aboitiz (formerly Lopez Jaena St.), enacted on November 9, 1987, finally unveiled last July 19, 2017, and the Gabriel Flash Elorde St. which still retains its old name, Gansiang and Progreso St., officially should be implemented. Even Gov. Jose Leyson St. still shares the same status. Unimplemented street naming ordinances in Cebu City should be corrected; they are byproducts of bureaucratic nuances.

The dead honorees and their families cannot fight for it, so it is the living, the beneficiaries of what they have contributed to Cebu who should correct it. Where is the street that has been honored named after Nicolas Rafols? It is the street we still call today as Jazmin St. in Capitol Site. It was City Ordinance No. 955 enacted on December 6, 1976 renaming Jazmin St. to Nicolas Rafols St. The following year, July 6, 1977, City Ordinance No. 973 was enacted renaming Jazmin St. and Ma. Cristina St. as Nicolas Rafols. But this should not be applied because a later ordinance renamed Maria Cristina St. as M.P. Yap St. after Monsignor Manuel P. Yap. An earlier ordinance under City Ordinance No. 641 enacted on October 14, 1968 named 4 streets within the Espina Subdivision, one of which was named after Nicolas Rafols. This, however, cannot be validly imposed as it is a private subdivision. This leaves us with the ordinance passed on December 1976 renaming Jazmin St. to Nicolas Rafols St.

Nicolas Rafols was born in Toledo City, Cebu, son of Nicolas Rafols Sr. and Ignacia Mercado. He studied at the Liceo de Manila and finished his law degree at the Escuela de Derecho in Manila (1911). The following year he was admitted to the Bar on October 12, 1912.

He was elected Representative of what was called then the 6th District of Cebu composed of Aloguinsan, Barili, Dumanjug, Pinamungajan, Toledo, and Ronda. He was editor of “El Precursor” and “El Democrata” and wrote a historical novel entitled “Ang Pulahan” in 1918. It was the story of a Cebuano rebel who fought social injustice.

The “Pulahans” rose to prominence after they refused to surrender their arms after the Cebuano Spanish Revolt and continued to fight against the Americans, branded as bandits by the newly-arrived invaders. He wrote another book entitled “Damgo” also in 1918.

Many of the “Pulahan” leaders of Cebu surrendered to Don Sergio Suico Osmeña Sr., a young provincial fiscal then, earning respect both from the Americans and the remnants of the Spanish revolt.