USWAG NAGA!, VIVA NAGA!, and yes -- even AN MAOGMANG LUGAR, have to go as the label of Naga City.

        Now, official letters, signage, advertisements, and all other forms of communication concerning Naga City should start bearing ‘Heart of Bikol’ when referring to the city, as mandated by the newly-implemented ordinance preferring the appellation ‘Naga City, Heart of Bikol’ over the city’s other unofficial nicknames and appellations.

        To distinguish Naga City from the other Naga City in Cebu province, all government agencies, educational institutions, religious groups, media outlets including radio and television stations, and business establishments here are directed to use the appellation ‘Heart of Bikol’ in their postal addresses in addition to the city’s 4400 zip code.

        The ordinance authored by City Councilor Bernadette F. Roco came after the faulty deliveries of letters and other important communications resulting from confusion between the two cities having similar official names.

        Same issue arose after San Fernando in La Union Province and San Fernando in Pampanga province had been declared city years ago, but was resolved when the two cities appended the name of their particular provinces.

        Unlike the case of the two San Fernados, however, Naga City cannot easily add Camarines Sur in its official name because, politically, it is an independent city.

        The appellation ‘Heart of Bikol’ was lifted from the catchphrase ‘from the Heart of Bikol for the good of Bikol’ of the weekly tabloid Naga Times published during the 1960s and edited by Luis General Jr. to whom the phrase has been credited.

        Then Mayor P. Vicente Sibulo ordered the adoption of ‘Heart of Bikol,’ and had poet-writer Bienvenido N. Santos compose a poem inspired by the nickname.

        The official nickname, also, was adopted to give the city a ‘more poetic appellation’ and an ‘attractive packaging’ to draw tourists and investors.

        Commonly-used nickname for the city ‘AN MAOGMANG LUGAR’ has to go, as it was only meant to be used in the official logo for the city’s 50th Anniversary in 1998 and not in the years after it.