Calle Comandante Azcárraga
It honours the Azcárraga name, a military dynasty with Biscayan roots and a presence in Spanish Manila, whose most famous member, Marcelo Azcárraga, went on to lead the Council of Ministers.
The surname on this street in Nueva España comes from a military family whose story stretched between the Basque Country and the Philippines. The father, José Azcárraga, a soldier of Biscayan origin, settled in Manila, and there in 1832 was born the best-known member of the line: Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero, the only Spanish head of government born in the Pacific islands. He served as Minister of War and of the Navy, and presided over the Council of Ministers three times between 1897 and 1905.
The plaque reads Comandante Azcárraga, a rank that does not fit Marcelo, by then a full general, so it is not clearly documented which particular Azcárraga the sign meant to honour. What remains is the trace of a military dynasty with one foot in Bilbao and the other in Manila.