Cebuano culture: Yesterday and today

Last weekend, we got a special treat of social activities that gave us an insight of our Cebuano culture of yesteryears and what it is today. Saturday evening, we went down memory lane going to the place where I grew up in old Parian District to see the extravaganza that the Taytayan Group have put up. Dubbed, “Parian Kagahapon ug Karon” it was a dinner show on Mabini St. fronting the famous Yap-Sandiego house at the corner of Zulueta-Mabini St.. Taytayan supremo Val Sandiego turned it into a backdrop for his stage presentation. And what a presentation it was. The Sandiego Dance troupe outdid itself!

Actually this all began earlier in the afternoon when the Carcar Heritage Society headed also by Val Sandiego sponsored a painting exhibition by renowned Cebuano painter Antonio “Tony” Alcoseba who won twice the national competition on Watercolor painting. This exhibition was displayed at the Cebu Cathedral Museum graced by his beloved eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Tourism Secretary Ace Durano. After the exhibition, the special guests were transported via tartanillas (horse-drawn carriages) to the Yap-Sandiego ancestral home.

Though I arrived a bit late, Val requested me to sit with Tourism Secretary Durano and his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal (he comes from Marinduque, but is more Cebuano than most Cebuanos) to watch the evening’s affair, which was very well-attended. Secretary Durano told me that he was amazed that the Taytayan group was able to host such a festive atmosphere at very little cost. Indeed, cost is relative if one is focused or determined to pursue their noble goals. Taytayan truly linked the life and times of Parian from the Spanish era, to the American, up to the present through song and dance.

Sec. Durano was particularly impressed with the plans and ideas of Taytayan, like the plan to create a Heritage Way for tourists, which should start from the now renovated City Hall where the Magellan’s cross is situated, down along Mabini St. all the way to the Yap-Sandiego house, then to the Casa Gorordo museum then back to the Fort San Pedro in Plaza Independencia. This should have been done a long time ago!

That plan sounds ambitious enough, but in truth, it really doesn’t cost much as only the facade of edifices along the way would be renovated. Right now Cebu City has separate tourist sights but the Taytayan plan links them together in what would be called the Heritage Way. Tartanillas can go around that road and roads like that of Mabini can be paved with cobbled stones.

The City of Vigan’s tourism program is the preservation of their Old Spanish quarter. They have their Heritage way where only Calesa’s are allowed on the main roads and officers of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are also dressed in period costume of the Guardia Civil. Manila has its Intramuros, the well-preserved walls of the old city, which is their main tourism attraction.

But that’s in Vigan. Here in Cebu, we have separate tourism sights and there is no question that all this can be linked together via a Heritage Way. This is also the vision of the Carcar Heritage Society; unfortunately, the local government isn’t so keen about preserving the old structures. I hope that the City of Cebu would embrace this idea as they are the beneficiaries of this tourism destination.

At the end of the Saturday evening affair, Val Sandiego announced their plan to design a Sapot Bisaya, a truly Cebuano garb that we can use for formal occasions. This was originally suggested by then Cebu Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmeña but no one cared to follow it up. This is why we challenge the Taytayan to take the cudgels for the Sapot Bisaya where all Cebuano couturiers would make their own individual design and vote for the winning one that would be adopted and used by all of us during formal occasions instead of the Barong Tagalog. Indeed this could only happen through a very focused group like the Taytayan that aims to truly bridge Cebu’s past to our future.

Sunday evening, we graced the 53rd birthday (she honestly looked more like 35 yrs old) celebration of Cebu Gov. Gwen F. Garcia at the Marco Polo hotel where her friends and relatives and many government officials and personalities greeted her. Attended by Sen. Loren Legarda, PAGCOR chairman and CEO Efraim C. Genuino and Rep. Martin Romualdez. The guests were treated by a song and dance excerpts from the movie “Mama Mia” by the USJR-Dance troupe. Indeed, Cebuano culture has been with us through the centuries of Philippine history.