Historian: Colon is not the oldest street in the Philippines

Local

GIVING Colon Street in Cebu City the reputation as the oldest street in the Philippines is not just misleading, but also, according to a historian, "probably by far the oldest fake news in the country today."

This claim has been reinforced by government markers, school textbooks, and travel guides. However, Jobers Reyes Bersales argued that historical evidence points to Magallanes Street, not Colon, as the country’s true oldest street.

Bersales traces the origins of the Colon myth to the early 20th century.

In 1910, American Bazar, a Cebu-based shop, started selling postcards labeled "Oldest Street in Cebu," featuring an image of Colon’s Parian section taken by American soldier Dean Curran Tatom.

The claim gained further traction when the international travel agency American Express Company included it in its first Philippine travel guidebook in 1933.

This branding made Colon’s supposed historical significance widely accepted, even though no Spanish-era document or map supports the idea that it was the country’s first street.

The National Historical Institute (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines) placed official markers on Colon in 1961 and again in 1999, reinforcing the myth.

Bersales finds it puzzling that historians failed to question how a street located inland, far from Cebu’s historic waterfront, could be the country’s oldest.

"It is a wonder why even historians of the recent past never questioned how the oldest street in the Philippines can possibly be located about a kilometer inland in a city so famed in Rajah Humabon’s time for its vibrant trading port," he wrote.

Why Magallanes Street?

Bersales said that Spanish city-planning laws support the idea that Magallanes Street, not Colon, is the country’s oldest street.

He explained that Spanish settlements followed the Laws of the Indies, which required streets to be built in a grid pattern around a public square or plaza.

Cebu’s earliest known map, dated 1699, shows that the ciudad developed near the waterfront, with its main streets surrounding a central plaza.

That plaza, known today as Plaza Sugbu, was where Rajah Humabon welcomed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 and offered to hold the first Catholic baptism.

"If there is a veritable candidate as the oldest street in the Philippines, therefore, it is without doubt Calle Magallanes," Bersales said.

Unlike Colon, Magallanes Street follows the traditional Spanish layout, linking the plaza with significant colonial structures, such as the Casa Tribunal (seat of civilian authority) and Spanish residences.

Transformation of Colon

While Bersales debunks Colon’s status as the oldest street, he acknowledges its historical significance.

He said during the Spanish era, it became one of Cebu’s key commercial hubs, lined with “balay nga tisa” (old tile-roofed stone houses) and tapangko (wooden canopies that stretched over sidewalks).

Many of these buildings were destroyed during the 1898 Tres de Abril Revolt when Spanish gunboats shelled the city’s waterfront and business district, wiping out much of its infrastructure.

By the early 20th century, as Cebu rebuilt, commercial activity centered around Magallanes Street and its intersections. Colon, however, gradually regained prominence as a business district.

Bersales believes this rebuilding period played a key role in the myth’s creation, as businesses, postcards, and travel agencies began branding Colon as Cebu’s oldest street.

Historical inaccuracies

Bersales views the belief that Colon is the oldest street as an example of how misinformation, when repeated over generations, can become widely accepted as fact.

He warns that myths like this demonstrate the power of social influence and how historical inaccuracies can spread, even becoming "official history" through government recognition.

"But, like most fake news, this one had a very simple but ingenious beginning," he added.

By bringing historical evidence to light, Bersales hopes to correct this long-standing misconception.

While Colon remains one of Cebu’s most iconic streets, he asserts that Magallanes Street should be properly recognized as the oldest street in the Philippines.(MyTVCebu)