Two barangay council petitioned the City Council for a change in name–Barangay Centro (San Juan) of Agdao District and Barangay 23-C Mini-Forest/Salmonan of Poblacion District.
Two resolutions were approved on second reading but the lawmakers asked the barangay officials to comply first with the existing rules and guidelines on the intended change of name before the council will resolve the matter.
The Barangay Centro appealed to change the name to Barangay San Juan as apparently, many are misled by the name Centro.
Meanwhile, Barangay 23-C Mini-Forest/Salmonan called for a change in the name to Barangay 23-C Darussalam.
The Local Government Code of 1997 provides that changing names of public places, streets and structures of highly urbanized cities should have the authority from the Philippine Historical Commission.
Further, the same code orders that the change in shall take effect only upon the ratification in a plebiscite of the political unit directly affected.
The committee report stipulated that the two barangays have yet to comply with the requirements.
In the previous City Council, the city government pushed under the committee on rules and privileges the renaming of downtown barangays, especially those in the Poblacion, with the barangays identified with number-letter combinations from 1 to 40 and A to D, respectively.
The plan did not push through, and the local government could not come up with a uniform system in the renaming.
