Sotto suggests renaming Roosevelt Ave. after FPJ instead

Roosevelt Avenue in Quezon City, not Del Monte Avenue, should be renamed after National Artist Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ), Senate President Vicente Sotto III said on Thursday.

He made the suggestion after several groups expressed opposition to Senator Lito Lapid's Senate Bill 1822, which proposes the renaming of Del Monte Avenue to honor FPJ who had a film company located in the area.

"I prefer the renaming of Roosevelt Avenue. It's where FPJ grew up because it was their ancestral home. Besides, it's a larger street," Sotto said in a message about the street that was named in memory of US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Sotto added that he already discussed this with Lapid and Senate Committee on Public Works chairperson Manny Pacquiao.

"He agreed with my amendment," he said, referring to Pacquiao who would sponsor the bill in the plenary.

Senator Grace Poe, daughter of the late Filipino action star icon, thanked her colleagues for introducing such a bill.

The National Historical Commission of the Philippines, meanwhile, expressed reservations against the initial proposal as it underscored that "street names which have been in existence for more than 50 years or older are considered historical already."

Del Monte Avenue has been around as early as 1961, the NHCP said.

The Basilica Minore de Santuario de San Pedro Bautista in Quezon City also issued a statement opposing Lapid's bill.