‘Suroy-Suroy Sugbo’ goes north

CEBU, Philippines — The second leg of Suroy-Suroy Sugbo, the Cebu provincial government’s tourism program, will start today.

The well-known tourism caravan spearheaded by the Provincial Tourism Office for this installment is north-bound, taking tourists to prescribe beaches and scenic spots of the Northern Heritage Trail.

This means tourists are to expect more seafood in their menus.

Opening at the Municipality of Consolacion, the first leg will set forth to visit the towns of Compostela, Carmen, Sogod and Daanbantayan.

Participants will then stay in their respective hotels in Medellin town.

Towns will still be given an hour each to showcase delicacies and cultural presentations. This is apart from town stops for meals since they are given an additional thirty minutes.

Maria Lester Ybañez, Tourism Office head, said that, as of yesterday, all preparations have been met for the three-day caravan, which will end on January 24.

“We are all set and ready. Actually, we are excited for the first Suroy-Suroy of this year,” she said.

She said the guests should expect a longer travel time from one town to the next since the trail has lesser towns than the previous Southern Heritage Trail last November. While the first leg had 22 towns, this installation of Suroy-Suroy Sugbo caters to 15 towns.

The towns include San Remigio, Sta. Fe, Madridejos, Bantayan, Bogo, Tabogon, Borbon, Catmon and Liloan.

However, Danao City is not included in the trail.

Danao Tourism officer Dinggoy Duterte earlier said the city will not join the northern trail. He, however, did not provide a reason.

In the May 2019 elections, Danao City Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III supported his cousin, former vice governor Agnes Magpale, who ran against Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.

Durano’s son, Ramon “Red” Durano VI, was also the rival of Garcia’s son-in-law, Representative Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco, in the fifth district.

Both Red and Magpale lost in the last polls.

As of yesterday, about 249 paying guests have made the cut-off for the caravan. They will be transported by six buses from Silver Lines.

The tour package for the Northern Escapade ranges from P9,000 to P14,000, depending on the arrangement of the accommodation. The payment includes the transportation, accommodation, and meals of the delegates for the three-day tour.

Ybañez said they had to turn down some hopeful participants because of the limited availability of hotels and resorts.

The guests that did not make the final count have been advised to make reservations for the next installation of Suroy-Suroy, the Camotes Escapade happening on April 25-26.

Following this is the Midwest leg on June 12 and 13.  KQD (FREEMAN)