Linggo, Marso 3, 2013

Province of Cebu                                                                 Cebu Island is a long narrow island stretching 225 km (140 mi) from north to south, surrounded by 167 neighboring smaller islands, that includes Mactan, Bantayan, Malapascua, Olango and the Camotes Islands.
It lies to the east of Negros Island; to the east of Cebu Island is Leyte and to the southeast is Bohol Island.
30,000 years ago the Negrito race crossed the Asian continent through land bridges. With the disappearance of the bridges, islands were formed, Cebu was formed. Being part of the Malay Peninsula, Cebu was part of the Malay empire around 500 A.D.
Early inhabitants referred to this island as Zebu or Sugbu, whose trade and commerce reached as far as Thailand and China as well as the nearby Malay countries. As seen on the Cebu map, Cebu is known for its narrow coastlines, limestone plateaus, and coastal plains, all characteristics of a typical tropical island. Cebu also has predominant rolling hills and rugged mountain ranges traversing the northern and southern lengths of the island. Cebu's steep mountains reach over 1,000 meters. Flat tracts of land can be found in the city of Bogo and in the towns of San Remigio, Medellin, and Daanbantayan at the northern tip of the province.
Its capital is Cebu City, the oldest city in the country, which forms part of the Cebu Metropolitan Area together with 6 neighboring cities Carcar City, Danao City, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Naga City, Bogo, and Talisay City and 6 other municipalities found on the Cebu map. Cebu is served by Mactan-Cebu International Airport on Mactan Island, thirty minutes drive from downtown Cebu City.
Cebu is one of the most developed provinces in the country and the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the central and southern parts of the archipelago. It has five-star hotels, casinos, white sand beaches, world-class golf courses, convention centers, and shopping malls.
When Cebu was "discovered" by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, it was truly a discovery, for it opened the eyes of the world to what it did not expect to see. The island, with its natural port, was a logical destination, and its people, so steeped in the ways of trade and commerce, were its greatest natural resources. The island is infamously known as the site of Ferdinand Magellan's death during the Battle of Mactan shown as Mactan Island on the Cebu map.
Fast-forward 436 years, and Cebu remains a discovery. It remains that one bright spot, situated right at the geographic center of the archipelago. It is the fastest growing economy in the country, with an average growth rate significantly higher than that of the entire nation, and any other province.
The Province leads 78 other provinces in gross assets, equity and total income. There is a reason why this small island leads the entire country in exports of furniture, fashion accessories, carrageen, gifts, toys, and houseware. There is a reason why Cebu consistently gets the biggest chunk of tourist arrivals yearly, and has become the tourist gateway to Central and Southern Philippines.
Perhaps, it is because the island is naturally situated to become the center of all this action. It is a natural port as you can see on the Cebu map. More than 80% of inter-island shipping capacity is based here, on this small island. It is the most accessible place to and from all points in the country, with more domestic air and sea linkages than even Manila.
It is naturally safe. It does not lie within any earthquake zone or typhoon belt. There are no volcanoes on the island. The location is sheltered from incoming typhoons and is rarely subjected to the tropical storms that hit Luzon and Manila.
It has the necessary, well-balanced infrastructure to remain competitive, and to sustain development. And yet, within minutes from its cosmopolitan quarters as shown on the Cebu map, you are immediately transported to resort settings and natural wonders. Moreover, an independent, self-reliant, entrepreneurial culture pervades the island, which makes its people eminently positioned to seize the opportunities that nature presented it.
Cebu has had four centuries of being discovered by the world. Discover today this island and its people.
                                        
Cebu Philippines Travel Guide, Destinations and Attractions


Cebu is in the heart of the Philippines. Known to be the Queen City of the South, Cebu has is the oldest and second most important city in the country. Cebu is one of the top priority of tourist because of its world-class beach resorts and diving spots. Cebu's tourist destinations and attraction are found in both north and south of Metro Cebu. Cebu has it's own international and shipping port. Cebu has export processing zones that are helps boost up the economy of the country.

The province is composed of five cities; Cebu City, Mandaue, Lapu-lapu, Toledo and Danao and there are 48 municipalities. Cebu City, the provincial capital, is located on the island's east coast.

Cebu is the shipping crossroads and it is a good jumping off point for island hopping to the tropical islets of Central Visayas. Cebu is the home of the world-class beach resorts and beautiful tropical diving sites in the country. Mactan Island which is adjacent to Cebu has become the tourist package destination especially for Japanese, Taiwanese and Koreans.

Cebu is also the home of the Sinulog Festival which is famous because of its colorful costumes and street dancing. The Sinulog Festival is held every third Sunday of January. Various groups in which are called tribes are wearing beautiful, exotic and colorful costumes to celebrate the religious festival with the image infant Jesus. These tribes are singing and dancing in the streets from morning to evening.

Cebu is also known as the country's oldest Spanish settlement and colonial City dating from 15th century. Cebu has several historic landmarks.

There are many colonial houses in the south especially in Carcar the restored Bahay na Tisa and the Moorish-style Church of St. Catherine. Many exotic and beautiful beaches can be found in Argao and Dalaguete. 18th Century church which attracts tourist can also be found in Argao.



Kawasan Water Falls Cebu PhilippinesMagellan's Cross Cebu PhilippinesCebu Philippines Hilton Hotel Resort and Spa
Kawasan FallsMagellan's Cross                                                                  Cebu Hilton Hotel Resort & Spa

                 
Located centrally in a group of islands that form the Visayas, central of the three main Philippine island groups, the others being Northern Luzon and southernmost Mindanao, may be one vertigo-inducing central too many. But puissant fortune has positioned this long and narrow island in the auspicious site, in the axis of an archipelago with 7,107 of its fellows.

Its geography is unique, stretching 122 miles, nowhere exceeding 20 miles across; the island is eight times the size of Singapore, and five times the size of Hong Kong. Modern topography maps show the back of a lizard immersed in teeming waters, a jagged cordillera rising 3,400 feet at the apex as its spine, gradually vanishing into plains on both its northern and southern ends. Cebu is long and narrow, allowing easy access to both the bounty of mountain and ocean: markets abound with both fresh seafood and produce.

The soil, however, lacks fecundity. Porous and derived of limestone, less than 30% of the province is suited for agriculture. Sugar was major export in the 1840's, where the island became second only to Pampanga and Bulacan, two Luzon towns north of the Visayas. The industry soon fizzled, and only traces of its glory can be found today. Corn replaced rice as a staple because it needed a lot less water than the latter (Cebu has among the lowest rainfalls in the country). Even today, country field meals feature fresh stone-ground boiled corn. Only mangoes can be considered a terrestrial agriculture product the province is identified with, he best ones coming from Guadalupe area. Faced with a limited choice of marketable raw product, Cebuana ingenuity has giving birth to countless incarnations of mango: fresh (both ripe and green), pureed -- as ready-to-drink juice concentration, dried and sliced mango pulp, canned, vacuum, packed ... even the rind is sweetened and dried as a snack food .. the list is almost inexhaustible.

The island's relationship with the ocean, however, is altogether a different love story. A combination of legend and archeology pieces together the story of Indonesian and Malay tribal chiefs who landed on these coastal shores, settling on virgin territory. As these people were not a lot bound by communal consciousness, little documentation of their collective lives are available. It is, however, gleaned from the records of the neighboring civilizations that they engaged in trade with, that the early settlers had a well-developed if not impressionable culture, and an existing commercial ethos.

Turned toward to the sea, pre-colonial Cebu was already a recognized quay, its main port of Sugbu ("to wade in water", as most arrivals were wont to be especially at low tide) figured prominently in a book called "Records of Various Barbarian Nations" written in 1225 by Chua Ju-kua, Superintendent of Foreign Trade at the customhouse in Chua-chou, of the ancient civilization of China. A full three centuries before the coming of the Spaniards, who would occupy for 300 years, Cebu was already a flourishing trading post.


Cebu Philippines Festivals, Fiestas and Cultural Event
Kadaugan sa Mactan FestivalKinabayo Festival Mandaue City Philippines
Sinulog FestivalKadaugan sa Mactan FestivalKinabayo Festival

People in Cebu love to celebrate festivals or are fiesta-loving people. Cebu has one of the most colorful and world-renowned festivals in the Philippines and they celebrate it with excitement and high spirits. Cebu celebrates different festivals in different towns and cities. Cebu celebrate fiestas with religious rituals and dancing in the streets to the beat of the drums.

List of Cebu Festivals

Sinulog Festival
3rd Sunday of January (Cebu City)
People shouts "Viva Pit Señor". The Sinulog is Cebu City's most popular and grandest festival. It is celebrated every 3rd Sunday of January in honor of the Señor Sto. Niño. Foreign and local tourists flock to Cebu City for this celebration and join in the procession and the grand mardi gras. The Sinulog is a dance-prayer expressing devotion to the Holy Child. it is popular belief among Cebuanos that this dance-prayer is the most effective way of getting favors from the Sto. Niño. This festival is world-renowed and the most extravagant festival in Cebu. The Sinulog festival is celebrated in honour of the holy child Senior Santo Niño. The highlights in this festivities is the street dancing where merrymakers dance to the beat of the pit senor drums.

Tagbo Festival
19th of January (Poro, Camotes Island)
It is celebrated every January in honor of patron Sto. Niño de Poro. Beloved memoir of a living past, Tagbo is the corner stone from which this great municipality has sprung. Rich in cultural heritage and deep in spiritual values, Tagbo is a very significant event precluding the birth of a town very dear to the hearts of her sons and daughters.

Silmugi Festival
20th of January (Borbon)
"Silmugi" is an old name of the town of Borbon and the festival is in honor of its patron saint for the bountiful harvest. The street dancing which is one of the highlights is participated in by the different barangays.

Bodbod Festival
10th Of February (Catmon)
The town of Catmon is famous for its tasty "bodbod" and thus is the focus of the festival. The street dancing competition is participated by the different barangays has its dance movements, the movement of making the bodbod with the costumes in bodbod concept.

Kabayo Festival
February - Movable (Mandaue City)
Organized by the Cebu Equine Owners, Breeders and Sportsmen Association (CEOBSA), the Kabayo festival is supported by the DOT. The festival promotes sports tourism, ecotourism and agri-industrial tourism awareness in the country. The highlights include the parade of horses, horse racing competition and the best decorated "tartanillas" or horse drawn carriages and features a bazaar and flea market.

Sarok festival
14th of February (Consolacion)
The festival is part of the town's commemoration of their founding anniversary. It is a mardi gras parade and street dancing along the main thoroughfares with participants using a creative design of "sarok", a native hat used by the farmers to protect them from the heat of the sun.

Soli-Soli Festival
18th March (San Francisco, Camotes Island)
named after the soli-soli plant which abounds around the lake Danao which is used for mat, bags and hat weaving and other handicrafts. its freestyle street dancing competition uses soli-soli plant as its dominant material. The festival adds color to the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Tostado Festival
3rd Sunday of April (Santander)
The festival focuses on the town's famous delicacy, the "tostado". The street dancing which is the highlight of the festivity uses the different movements of making tostado in the dance participated in by the different barangays.

Haladaya Festival
Easter Sunday (Daan Bantayan)
Starts on Easter Sunday and ends with a street dancing on the seventh day after Easter. Haladaya means "Halad kang Datu Day", the leader of the first Malayan settlers in Daan bantayan. Highlights include the fluvial aprade where patron saints of the different barangays will be placed in decorated bancas or motorized outrigger boats and paraded in the sea.

Kabanhawan Festival
Easter Sunday (Minglanilla)
Showcases the "Sugat" in which the town is known for many years since. The street dancing depicts the joy felt by the believers when Christ is resurrected. The celebration is grander since it will be followed by a day long games and entertainment that highlights the endowment of Minglanilla's history, trade and arts.

Bahug-bahug sa Mactan or Kadaugan sa Mactan
22nd - 27th of April (Lapu-Lapu City)
A weeklong commemoration of the historic battle of Mactan between the Spanish Conquestador Fernando Magallanes and Mactan Chieftain Lapu-Lapu. The festival features various activities highlighted by the series of musical productions culminating with the famous battle, food street and live band entertainment.

Mantawi Festival
7th of May (Mandaue City)
A showcase of the city's historical heritage and identity promoting the city as an industrial and tourist hub, that involves the Spanish regime through street dancing, dioramas, floats, food festival, trade fair and sports event.

Tartanilla Festival
12th of June (Cebu City)
The Tartanilla Festival is Cebu City's way of preserving the tartanilla (horse-drawn carriage) heritage by reviving the oldest mode of transportation to ply some of the city's streets. The festival coincides with the city's celebration of the country's Independence Day starting from June 1 to 12. gaily decorated tartanillas driven by kutseros ply the streets of some of the city's barangays and compete for several awards.

Camotes Cassava Festival
2nd week of June (Tudela, Camotes Island)
A yearly celebration of a bountiful harvest where farmers display their various cassava-based products, share their varied technical experiences in producing and processing cassava products. Among the activities are the Best Booth Contest, Poster-making Contest, search for new cassava food products, cultural night and the search for Miss Camotes Tourism.

Palawod Festival
Last week of June (Bantayan, Bantayan Island)
Palawod is the fishermen's daily toil, their means of livelihood, their life and pride. The street dancing captures and preserves the Bantayanon's unique traditional fishing rituals inherent to the island through dancing, music and the visual arts.

Haladaya Festival Daan Bantayan CebuInasal Festival Talisay CityMantawi Festival Mandaue City
Haladaya FestivalInasal FestivalMantawi Festival

Semana Santa sa Bantayan
Holy Thursday and Good Friday (Bantayan, Bantayan Island)
Also known as "Pasko sa Kasakit" Celebrated in Holy Thursday and Good Friday. This is celebrated in the observance of the Holy Week on Bantayan Island with procession and merry making.

Kinsan Festival
June - Movable (Aloguinsan)
Kinsan is the name of the town's favorite fish that abounds in the town's coastal area every June. It is relatively big fish, with a foot-long kinsan, weighing about three kilos considered small.

Kuyayang Festival
June - Movable (Bogo City)
Kuyayang refers to the dance movements conveying courtship and love characterized by the Bagohanon's cariñoso character. Kuyayang mardi gras as a cultural tourism festival manifests the cultural heritage of Bogo as a place and avenue for cultural conservancy program of the city.

Caballo Festival
25th of July (Compostela)
A street dancing competition that honor's the town's patron saint, Señor Santiago de Apostol. History retells of a war between Christians and Muslims where the townsfolk saw and was saved by a miraculous apparition of a man riding a horse and later became known as the town's patron saint.

Dinagat Bakasi festival
2nd week of August (Cordova)
It is a unique reinvention of the Dinagat Festival. The exotic eel locally known as "bakasi" is peculiar and abundant in Cordova. The dance replicates the gliding movement of the bakasi.

Bonga festival
9th of August (Sibonga)
Celebrated in honor of the town's patron saint, Our Lady of Pilar and Santa Filomena. Among its highlights is the street dancing and ritual/showdown competition. "Bunga" is a Cebuano word which means fruit in English. This festival is a thanksgiving for all the blessings and graces the Sibongahalnons have received for the abundant fruits found in their town.

Siloy Festival
Last Saturday of August (Alcoy)
The festival promotes the Mag-abo forest with its famous Black Shama or Siloy, the town's scenic white sand beaches and dive spots and in honor of the town's patroness Saint Rose of Lima.

Kabuhian Festival
3rd Sunday of September (Ronda)
Celebrated during the town's fiesta that features activities like trade fair, livelihood forum and a street dancing competition participated in by the different barangays with the dance movements depicting the various livelihood program of the town.

Karansa Festival
3rd Sunday of September (Danao City)
The Karansa is a dance expressing one's joy and happiness performed in four basic steps: The kiay, karag, kurug and kurahay that jibes with the Karansa official beat. It is celebrated during the city's annual fiesta in honor of their patron saint, Sto. Tomas de Villanueva.

Pitlagong Festival
26th of September (Argao)
Argao's tribute to the tradition of townsfgolk faith, celebrations, food, work, livelihood, arts and crafts. Pitlagong is an instrument for cleaning the "sugong" which is a bamboo container for coconut wine of "tuba" which is very important to the taste and quality of the tuba.

Sinanggiyaw Festival
4th of October (Dumanjug)
Sinanggi-yaw is taken from two old Cebuano words, Sinanggi meaning abundance of harvested agricultural products of the local farmers and Sayaw meaning dance. Through street dancing and field presentation. Performers is focused on three aspects: planting, harvesting and thanksgiving.

Inasal (Halad) Festival
14th - 15th of October (Talisay City)
A showcase of Talisay City's historical heritage and identity promoting the city as an aqua and tourist hub, through street dancing as a thanksgiving offering to the city's patroness, Sta. Teresa de Avila. Sports fest, paradeof the great personages as higantes, food festival featuring the famous "inasal" or lechon, Talisay's roast pig being the undisputable best - golden brown, crackling crispy skin, tasty meat from secret stuffed herbs.

Kabkaban Festival
4th week of November (Carcar City)
The festival is in conjunction with the fiest of St. Catherine of Alexandria, the town's patron saint. It is a cultural catalogue of the town's historical past. Among the highlights of the festival which was named after Carcar's old name Kabkab which is a kind of fern, is the street dancing and parade.

Kawayan Festival
2nd of December (Alegria)
"Kawayan" is the vernacular term for bamboo and is the major source of livelihood/income in Alegria. The street dancing competition is based on the kawayan and is slated during the town's fiesta in honor of Saint Francis Javier.

Sadsad Festival
8th of December (Oslob)
In celebration of the town's annual fiesta, "sadsad" is a form of merrymaking and thanksgiving for the blessings received for the past year from the town's patroness, the Immaculate Conception.

Tag-anitohan festival
8th - 9th of December (Tudela, Camotes)
The festival is a street dancing and ritual contest participated by the community. It is history retold of the richness of the town's origin from immortals to the time of Christianization until it was separated from its mother town of Poro in the year 1911.

Pasyon sa Mandaue
Good Friday to Easter Sunday (Mandaue City)
This is a re-enactment of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Fiesta sa Mandaue
May 8 - Week Long Festival (Mandaue City)
This is a week long fiesta celebration. The festival will starts May 8. The fiesta is celebrated in honour of Manduae's Patron Saint, St. Joseph.

Feast of Santa Filomena
Celebrated in the First week of August in Tingo, Olango Island.

Tagbo Poro Festival
Celebrated every January in honor of Patron Santo Niño de Poro in Camotes Island. Tagbo is the cornerstone from which this great municipality has sprung.

Banig Festival
Fiesta celebrated in Badian Cebu in the Month of July.


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