Bring back Montalban.
This, according to Rizal 2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles, is the prevailing sentiment of residents of Rodriguez, Rizal who want to restore the original name of the first class municipality still popularly known in the country as Montalban.
The first-term legislator revealed on Wednesday that during his tenure as Assistant Provincial Administrator of Rizal and while on the campaign trail, he was frequently approached by Rodriguez residents who requested him to author and push a measure restoring the town’s name back to Montalban, the name it was given when it was founded in 1909.
2nd District Rep. Fidel Nograles at his oath taking
“It’s fairly common knowledge that everyone still refers to Rodriguez as Montalban, but it was only recently that I learned that so many of my constituents really want the municipality to officially reclaim its original name,” said Nograles, who is a Rizal native and a lawyer.
“The people of Rizal have continued to embrace and hold on to the original name of the town.”
With an area that covers over a fourth of the province of Rizal, Rodriguez is the most populous municipality in the country, with close to 370,000 residents.
In 1982, the Batasang Pambansa changed the town’s name from Montalban to Rodriguez, after the late Senate President Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Sr.
“It has been close to forty years since Montalban was renamed, but the people of Rizal have continued to embrace and hold on to the original name of the town,” said Nograles.
“The widespread use of Montalban continues to this day. If you ask for directions in the area, you will be referred to signs pointing you to Montalban,” said the solon.
“If you ask for directions in the area, you will be referred to signs pointing you to Montalban.’
“In many online resources and documents, it has become standard practice to add the name Montalban in parentheses after referring to Rodriguez so that readers are not confused,” added the Ateneo Law alumnus.
Nograles, who also has a Master’s Degree in Law from Harvard, stressed that “the people of Rodriguez still feel an emotional connection to Montalban because of the town’s rich history.”
“The fact that tourist sites here still carry the name of Montalban, like the Montalban Gorge, and that even their tourist office is called the Montalban Tourism Office, speaks volumes about what the name Montalban’ means to my constituents,” he said.