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By Go Bon Juan
Editor’s Note: The Sixth Dr. Jose P. Rizal
Awards for Excellence awarding ceremony will be held on June 14,
2008, 7 p.m., at the Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center on Anda and
Cabildo Streets, Intramuros, Manila.
Ongpin Street has been the symbol of Chinatown
in Manila for decades. In fact, it is almost synonymous to
Chinatown. People who visit Chinatown almost always pass by Ongpin
Street.
But few people know that Ongpin Street got its
name only in 1915, when its original name, Sacristia, was changed to
honor Roman Ongpin.
Sacristia matches the other streets around the
area—Rosario, Santo Cristo, Salazar, Benavidez, Magdalena—which
reflect the religiosity of Binondo, then administered by the
Dominicans. (Sacristy is a room in a church where sacred vessels,
vestments and other liturgical objects are kept.)
The 1902 business directory Witness Manila and
the Philippines Directory, however, shows that Ongpin Street was not
the main Chinese business street in Binondo at the time. (I am most
grateful to Manny Encarnacion who lent me his copy of his most
precious directory and allowed me to photocopy it.)
The directory listed only 28 establishments on
Calle Sacristia, of which only five were Chinese: No. 30, Go Chin Co
Retail Store; No. 62 Coien Co, small shop; No. 3 Chinese Chow House;
No. 73 Chin Sio Hun Candles. These would be the pioneer Chinese
shops on this future main Chinatown street.
What were the main Chinese business streets in
the neighborhood back then? Calle Rosario (now Quintin Paredes) in
Binondo and Calle Santo Cristo in San Nicolas.
The 1902 directory listed 164 establishments
along Calle Rosario, of which 141 were Chinese. On Calle Santo
Cristo, there were even 188 establishments, of which 174 were
Chinese.
Even other streets in Binondo and San Nicolas
had more Chinese stores than Calle Sacristia.
Calle Nueva (recently named Yuchengco Street)
hosted 97 establishments, of which 86 were Chinese. Nueva in Spanish
means new. The street was opened in 1863 due to the heavy traffic on
Calle Rosario caused by ongoing repair works on Jones Bridge (first
known as Puente Grande then Puente de España) after an earthquake.
Nueva is parallel to Rosario.
When and how Ongpin started to boom and become
the main Chinatown street is something that needs further research.
Has it something to do with the changing of its name to honor the
famous revolutionary Roman Ongpin, a Chinese mestizo?
Indeed, as far as street names are concerned,
Ongpin would be the most Chinese not only because it honors a great
Chinese mestizo, but also because it is a prominent Chinese surname:
Ong.
T. Pinpin Street in Binondo also honors a great
Chinese mestizo, the first Filipino printer Tomas Pinpin. But Pinpin
is not an obvious Chinese name. People who do not know Tomas Pinpin
and his Chinese ancestry will not realize this from the surname
Pinpin, unlike Ongpin.
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