Quetal Ustedes? Vene ya! Hearing these words you would think that you are in a Creole or Latin speaking country. Actually, you are in the Philippines …in Zamboaga particularly and what you are hearing is the Chavacano dialect spoken by the residents of what was once dubbed as the City of Flowers.

Zamboanga City government officials have supported the idea of calling this southern port city of the Philippines as Asia’s Latin City . This was based on the fact that the local residents are speaking the Chavacano dialect – a derivative of the Latin and the Spanish language.

Zamboanga was formerly known as the City of Flowers because of profusely growing flowers. According to legend, the Malay Subanons (river people) who came to settle at the southern tip of the Zamboanga peninsula found the place with abundantly blooming flowers and called the place Jambangan-meaning land or pot of flowers.

Another legend states that the name was derived from the word saguan or sambuam which means a wooden paddle or pole used by the Malays to paddle their colorful vintas. The third version of the legend is that the name Zamboanga was derived from the sambon, a medicinal plant that grows in the area. When the place was colonized by the Spain , the Spaniards find it hard to pronounce the word. It was then hispanized and changed to Samboangan to make it easier for the Spaniards to pronounce the word. Of the three legends, the last seems to be more credible as Samboangan was found in the map drawn by Fr. Pedro Murillo in the year 1734.

The Spaniards in an attempt to spread Christianity in the Mindanao area have chosen Zamboanga to be the site of their garrison because of its strategic location. The construction of the fort signaled the birth of the Chavacano dialect. The natives as well as the Spaniards in an effort to communicate with each other have developed a pidgin form of the Spanish language. Since then Chavacano have emerged to be the “lingua franca” of the Zamboanga people.

Zamboaga as Asia ’s latin City was formally launched at the opening of the 15th Mindanao Business Conference. Before this name was adopted, Zamboanga was also known as the City of Flowers, the Convention Capital of the Philippines . Zamboanga was also dubbed as the Sardines Capital as 70 percent of the sardines consumed by the whole country are manufactured by the canning factories here.

The Chavacano people however, have rationalized that other places can lay claim to the title of City of Flowers . In fact, Baguio City , the summer capital of the country has devoted the whole month of February for a flower festival, the Panagbenga Festival.

To gain worldwide recognition, the Zamboanga government officials with the full support to the people have chosen the name Asia’s Latin City instead. The League of Cities Development Strategies Programs, the World Bank and the different sectors of the community have branded Zamboanga as Asia’s Latin City hoping that as the name have an international appeal, the city will be given a competitive global recognition.

Tags: Asia’s Latin City, Chavacano, vintas, Zamboanga