Cebu Celebrates with St. Paul's College

(From Left: Ms. Patsy Cañete, Dr. Randolph Libres, Dr. Jean Jueco and Ms. Khrissy Davis)

Last Monday, October 18, 2010; we joined SPCFI ( St. Paul's College Foundation Inc.) as they installed their third president; Dr. Randolph Libres. The event was attended by the different regional heads from Dep-Ed(CHED), faculty members, family and close friends. It was held at the Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel. It started with a Mass Celebration officiated by Msgr. Binghay and ended with a sumptuous feast!

(From left Dr. Randolph Libres, Ian Kintanar, Anton Melendres, Cliff Borlasa, Jaime Chua, Maricar Durano, Patsy Cañete, Khristianne Davis and Dr. Benedict Go; Seated: Dr. Jean Jueco)

One highlight of the event was the inaugural  speech of the newly installed president.Truly he was not only destined for greatness but he lives for greatness.In our own way, as his friends we are truly proud of his achievements and as the captain of the ship, we know he can take SPCFI to greater heights. The president is a man of passion and he does things with a thirst to do everything right. One admirable character is his never ending desire to learn which I have acquired and slowly adopted. 

To Dr. Randy, in behalf of his closest friends, we know you will do a great job!!! Good Luck and God Bless!!! 

CEBU GOVERNOR CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY!

(Photo from: http://www.skyscrapercity.com)

Let's take a break from POLITICS and just say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our HONORABLE GOVERNOR, Gov. Gwen Garcia!!!

With Power comes great Responsibility! Let that quote from Spidey remind you always, Ma'am!!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Cebu's Pride: Titay's!!!

Yesterday, I was excited because I thought my friends and I are going to Danao City, but I was disappointed because there was some miscommunication and I was already planning to ask them to drop by in Liloan particularly in Titay's. For Cebuanos, the best Cebuano pastries can be found here!

Started by Na Titay and her heirs Corazon "Na Azon" B. Frasco with her two sons - Panphil and Gerardo Jr, Titay's have been serving more than a Century their delicious and unique recipe of most loved local treats. From their popular Rosquillos, Otap, Caycay, Galletas, Galletas del Carmen, Benangkal, Galletas de Bato, Polvoron, Bread Buns, Sinudlan, Penato, Hojaldres, and many others. I can personally recommend their sumptuous Meatroll!!!!


Located in Liloan, Cebu, Titay's is another good reason to hop in and enjoy Cebu!!!! 

CEBU CITY: No Place for Future Venus Rajs?

Aside from being a world-class island flocked by diverse people and a rich culture that is truly Filipino but with a distinct Cebuano flavor, the CEBU province is probably one of the few remaining places in the world to have beauty pageants that doesn’t have a swimsuit round. As a beauty pageant enthusiast and as a citizen of a country who loves beauty pageant next to a Kris Aquino Controversy, this is definitely sad and disappointing. Although the aim of the Cebu Provincial Government is noble for women, somehow the move can also sacrifice a few artistic, and self-expression moves.

Ever since Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran and among many other women who bagged international titles in honor of our country, beauty pageants have become one of our past times and entertainment. These women became respected in their chosen fields. Although I admit, that some local pageants can be a good outlet for people’s mockery and would probably promote women as sex objects, banning pageants from having the swimsuit round might not really be the best solution. Instead I think they should assign a governing body to events like this and before the actual date of these events some specifications should be implemented.

Such talk about swimsuits in beauty pageants came once again as a hot topic because PB Member Arleigh Sitoy wanted to amend the Provincial Code to allow candidates to wear swimsuits. However, PB Member Agnes Magpale cleared out the issue and said there’s no need to amend the code because such only prohibits those skimpy bikinis that tend to project women as sex objects. The swimsuit category can still be a part of any pageant given that it’s based on internationally-accepted standards on female beauty pageants.

Well I guess that’s actually good news. After all people do have all the right to whatever choice of clothing they want to wear, on the other hand it also requires responsibility and some moral approach. Lewdness and misconducts are still unacceptable. I think as a country that takes its beauty pageants seriously, I think the people can be good judges as to when women are projected as mere objects or when they are treated as MAJOR, MAJOR role models. So I guess, we’ll be seeing more of Venus Rajs in the near future then?

Cebuanos Fabulousity

In my 28 years of existence around CEBU, I have met the best bunch of people. Cebuanos are diverse people, they love to share a good laugh and they are are very much enthusiastic about life which evolves around work, arts, friends, food, fun, music and just about anything. I have compiled my old blogs and would love to concentrate on one single blog that's gonna talk about Cebu and the life that evolves around it.. here are a few of the most fabulous people I have met through the years:

This picture was takenduring Audi and Farrah's Brazil Trip thank you party sponsored by Havaianas!!!! The venue was HANDURAW, our fave UPian hang-0ut.

I was hesitant to join my friend’s brother’s wedding because I was in my usual ‘UP outfit’, but my friends convinced me to join them since the party was about to end and nobody would really care if you’re in your short shorts. I thought, It would be similar to most parties about to end wherein there’s still a lot of food and nobody is there anymore, and I was invited anyway.. so I did.

But this pic was taken @treff bar in waterfront.. Its my second time though. The first was with single girls on a valentines night. This time it has become extra interesting because the night almost became a 1 on 1 interview with Waterfront’s GM.. and my listening skills was put to use.. :-)

As you will discover Cebu, and tour about its rich and interesting island, you will discover not only fabulous places but fabulous people as well! You will not only look forward discovering about the place, but the CEBUANOS who make cebu all the more worth discovering!!!

the LONG TRIP: from Cebu to the camotes islands (reposted from ulrich gall)

From Cebu to the Camotes Islands

by ulrich gall..

Junks, the incredibly interesting architect, guitar maker, bar owner, outdoor equipment manufacturer, musician and triathlete we met last time in Cebu, mentioned that the Camotes Islands would be a nice place to visit, and that he had a house there.

LP confirmed - a good destination for adventurous travellers. So Andy and I went, for the weekend.

Finding out when the boat leaves was not easy. After some initial misinformation most sources seemed to agree that it would leave at 6am from Oanu wharf in Mandaue City. We went half an hour early, which was good, because it turned out that actual departure is (and has been, for a year), 5.30am. Fortunately, it was only 5 minutes late. The boat was 170 passenger bangka "Ave Maria 3"; a wooden trimaran powered by two V10 truck engines, complete with the original steering wheel, stabilized by bamboo outriggers.

We were able to ride on the roof, and had a ncie breeze and good views. I'd prefer a boat like this over a modern boat with assigned seats any day.

About 3 hours later we arrived in San Francisco, Camotes. Immediately as we docked, kids came over and started playing on the outrigger. Very cute.

We transferred to the house in Esperanza (we ended up not staying in Junk's house, since it sounded more complicated and he wasnt sure if the generator was working) on two scooters, one of which we then rented for the weekend (400 PHP).

The nice thing about it was that it runs on Coca Cola. Finally a good use for that stuff. (the cheaper models run on Pepsi; but I think that tastes like wok water, so I doubt it's good for the engine).
When Andy wanted to take a picture of this pretty little store, the people around stopped him. Not because they didn't want the picture taken, but because they wanted to pose.

I have to point out that absolutely everyone we had met until this point had been incredibly friendly, even for the high standards in the Philippines. But that turned out to be only the beginning...



We started exploring the islands... to get an overview, we wanted to get on top of one of the hills. That turned out harder than we thought. People in that community spoke little english; one of them eventually murmured something about "Mata Christo" and pointed to the hill, gesturing us to follow him. So we did, along with about a dozen kids. Half an hour later, halfway up the hill, it became clear that I had heard correctly. The scluptures along the trail up the hill were somewhat creepy. Very explicit. They seemed well maintained. The views were very nice.

Somewhere around here I started to realize that there was something very strange going on on these islands. Something wonderful... more about that in the next article.

The next morning, we decided to get some work done, and then hung out with the villagers for a little while.
There were a lot of scary blue jellyfish on the beach. As a joke, I asked our friendly neighbor Ron how they taste. With a straight face, he said that his uncle knows how to prepare a dish from it. I decided to call the bluff and accepted his offer to bring a little bit for us to taste. Oops, I thought, when he showed up with a big plate full. Oh well. How bad can it be, after tasting day old chicks the day before? As it turned out, it blue jellyfish in coconut sauce was actually quite good. Chewy, of course, but not bad. Spicy.
We continued the tour...
At one point we passed a highly efficient live fowl transport. 100 roosters and two guys on a scooter.

I admit this is somewhat cruel, but at least these roosters had a decent life until today, probably their last day anyway.

And then I saw it. The most amazing sight ever: Not only do they have trash bags here and use them, they even recycle!

You have to have travelled in the tropics in the developing world to appreciate this... What was even more amazing was that everything else seemed consistent with this; looking back, it hit me that people really take care of this place.
They like where they live; there were no signs of conflict, neglect, carelessness or despair. People seemed to have their lives under control. There were dozens of episodes of friendliness and vibes of happiness, every single one of which would have deserved mentioning if they had happened elsewhere. Incredible, really.
We explored a cave, had a competition on who can take the cheesiest picture (Andy won), watched a house walk by, listened to Gemelina's women choir (turning down an invitation join in), helped a 5ft tall young girl start he offroad bike (one of the few signs of OFW money), talked to a farmer about his eggplant plantation, and generally continued to have a good time.

After too little sleep we headed back to Cebu.

On the way back, I had a long conversation with a part owner of the boat, and met his nephew, a very bright and motivated kid, who has some interesting insights on his family business and the shipping (public transportation by boat) industry in the Philippines in general. But that's another story.---> me????



for the webpage that we have developed....here!