Daghang salamat!

Even if we have no Cebuano roots, I have an affinity with Cebu since some family members decided to settle there and I get to fly to that Queen City of the South often. In the beginning it was always for vacation — or to accompany visiting relations from the US.

Starting in the last decade, however, it was already mostly work-related. On my fourth month on Startalk, for instance, there was an advertising congress there and Startalk had a motorcade in the city’s major thoroughfares. There were just three hosts then: Rosanna Roces, Lolit Solis and this writer. They put me in the lead float — with Osang in the last as the finale. And Lolit? She was in the parade, all right, but was comfortably resting inside an air-conditioned van where the scorching afternoon sun wouldn’t ruin her schoolgirl complexion.

We had just arrived from Manila then and we were very tired. But all throughout the parade, we all felt the warmth of the Cebuanos. Never mind if some of them were shouting “Showbiz Lingo!” — and that made the Startalk staff with me wince and frown. That was understandable. I did Startalk for five years and a half and was still identified with that old talk show.

Aside from joining the motorcade, we also did two Startalk episodes in Cebu and I had an engaging interview with one of the province’s pride, Pilar Pilapil. But heart-wrenching was my on-cam conversation with the mother of the Chiong sisters Marijoy and Jacqueline, whose unsolved murders were featured recently on Kara David’s Case Unclosed.

Our schedule was so tight that my sister had to kidnap me from my hotel room at the Waterfront in the middle of the night so we could talk at home and do our bonding.

Some five years later, I flew to Cebu again for work. The network was doing its regular GMA Kapuso Fans’ Day there and I was the only one available to represent Startalk. Strangely enough, most of the work I did that time were segments for the now-defunct S-Files. In between, we did autograph signing and a lot of picture-taking at the Abellana stadium and it was in the middle of summer and it was hot and dusty. I remember that when I hit the shower after that long day, mud puddles were formed on the bathroom floor.

On Dec. 15, 2007, I flew to Cebu once more for the inauguration of the Flawless branch there in SM Cebu. Even if that was still work-related, that was very light work — and fun since we were with Lorna Tolentino, Alyssa Alano and her manager, Annie Ayroso.

Exactly a week ago, Flawless brought me to Cebu again because lady boss Rubby Sy decided to join the Sinulog by having a Flawless float participate in the Sunday parade. The usual Flawless gang was supposed to be with us, but Mark Herras had S.O.P. and Lorna Tolentino begged off because in her own words, “I’m not fun company these days.” We have to understand that she just spent her first Christmas season without beloved husband Rudy Fernandez.

In the end I was the only one who was able to make it. Fortunately, there was still Bea Villegas, a local actress and DJ in Cebu and Flawless endorser for the Visayas.

Last year, she was also in the Flawless float during the Sinulog and she briefed me what to expect during the whole-day parade.

The call time that Sunday morning was at 10 a.m., but Flawless marketing director Francis Labora and Han Kintanar went to the assembly point earlier than that. It was almost 11 a.m. when the entire Flawless team got there. I immediately spotted the Flawless float that had a swan in front where an image of the Sto. Niño rode.

It was only much, much later when I found out that there were other Kapuso talents also in the Sinulog parade. Way ahead of us was Marian Rivera and on the float right before us were Richard Gutierrez and KC Concepcion who were both there to promote their upcoming movie When I Met U. Seated at the back of the float providing moral support were Lily Monteverde and Annabelle Rama.

A true-blue Cebuana, I bet Annabelle had attended countless Sinulog festivals in the past. That was my first and I was beginning to discover why people troop to this annual feast (it began I think in 1980).

It is a fun and colorful festival. But it could be physically tiring, too, especially since we were on the float for six hours (it was longer for the others since I hopped in late). The sun was unbearable at times and thank heavens for the Making Shade sun block passed on to me by Rubby Sy. Making Shade will be available soon at Flawless now that it had passed through the discriminating eye of Flawless brand consultant Jacqueline Thng. I say it’s a good product because I only applied it twice in those six hours and no sunburn.

Along the way, I tried looking for Cebu City’s Acting Mayor Michael Rama, but he was perpetually making the rounds to check if everything was running smoothly in the parade. Thanks to him and his team for Sinulog’s success this year. Rama, by the way, is my brother-in-law and I know how he had always been so dedicated to his job. That parade wasn’t easy to mount, but they put it together in a very orderly manner despite the millions of people that showed up.

By the time I got out of the float at way past 5 p.m. I had met practically everyone from Cebu. Before I made my exit, however, I heard somebody in the crowd shout “Showbiz Lingo!” in the same bellowing voice I used to deliver for five years and a half. It took me several seconds to remember what that was all about. It all seemed so distant. I guess there are things you forget that belong to the past. But the warmth of the Cebuanos I felt in that Sinulog festival is one experience I probably will never forget for the rest of my life.

In my limited Cebuano, allow me to say daghang salamat!