(Conclusion, continued from yesterday)
MALOLOS, Bulacan—From its original name “Daang-Patubig” (“waterway” in Filipino), the name of the road just off the Provincial Capitol here has evolved and is sometimes referred to as NIA (National Irrigation Authority) Road or NIA-Mojon Diversion Road. Some residents call it “Mojon Bypass Road” or simply “Mojon Bypass.”
To Bulacan State University (BulSU) students using the university gate along the road that was inaugurated last year, it is simply known as Mojon road or diversion road.
Sometime in 2004, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo gave 10 hectares of government property to the Malolos City government. Twenty-five hectares were allocated for the expansion of BulSU and the remainder was given to the provincial government.
Then-Mayor Danilo A. Domingo initiated the widening of the road to become a regular two-lane highway, with walkways on both sides, electric posts and steel barriers to prevent accidents to speeding motorists.
Last year, the sprawling Malolos Central Transport Terminal, 75 meters away from the end of McArthur Highway, where a McDonalds store sits, was opened to the public and is now teeming with daily commuters to all points of Bulacan, Manila and nearby destinations in Pampanga.
Noel Acuña, barangay captain of Mojon, said he will pass a Barangay Resolution calling for the naming of the road to Congressman Teodulo C. Natividad Road, in honor of the late lawmaker who authored Republic Act No. 7665 converting the former Bulacan College of Arts and Trade (BCAT) to its present name, Bulacan State.
From less than 10,000 students in the early 90s, BulSU now has a population of some 60,000.
“We owe this rapid development of BulSU and the spill-over growth to our barangay to Rep. Natividad. BulSU now has 15 colleges, including a high school laboratory, a college of law, nursing, criminal justice education, engineering, architecture and fine arts, social science and philosophy, among others, including a college of fisheries which was a brainchild of the late congressman,” Acuña said.
A lawyer by profession, Natividad served as representative of the 1st District of Bulacan from 1978 to 1986 and from 1992 until his death in January 9, 1997.
Natividad, who uses the moniker ‘Agila ng Bulacan’, is best remembered as author of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1972, Probation Law, Disability Act, and the first chairman of National Police Commission (Napolcom).
Lawyer Aida Bernardino, chief of the Malolos City Bureau of Permits and Licensing Office, shares this view and said the road should bear a name.
“New establishments, like the Malolos Central Transport Terminal and the expected hundreds of business establishments will open and operate in the new mall being constructed near the terminal. We definitely need a road address for these,” she told Manila Standard.
In addition, BulSU is presently constructing three five-story buildings at its 25-hectare extension campus traversing the road. The new structures will house the university’s graduate school, infirmary, Engineering Laboratory Testing Center, and Integrated Science and Development Center.
Whether it will be christened Mojon by-pass road, Diversion road or Natividad Road, the Malolos City Council has been urged to pass an ordinance soon to name the road, and not wait for another company to sponsor its name, like what Mighty Corporation did at Barangay Tikay.