Author: Max Limpag
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I’ve always been tepid about that cliche on the journey being the destination. It is a frequent travel bromide on Instagram, often posted by the very people who ultimately share fantastic photos of their destinations. Surely the journey and the destination make for the whole travel experience. with one literally leading to the other. I…
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Business leader in Cebu released today a manifesto supporting the call by Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella for the city to revert to General Community Quarantine (GCQ). The leaders of various business groups said the decision to place Cebu City under Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) was based on flawed data. It was also done “without…
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As Metro Cebu prepares to reopen for business by June 1, a group of researchers based at the University of the Philippines recommended that the enhanced quarantine (ECQ) in Cebu City be extended to prevent a resurgence of cases. The COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) is expected to decide this week whether to extend the…
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Visits to public places such as groceries, pharmacies, retail outlets, transit areas, and workplaces plunged as a community quarantine was put in place in the Philippines in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19, phone location data show. Stays at home dramatically increased in the same time period, according to information made available by…
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More cases of COVID-19 infection have been detected in areas throughout the country. Cebu City is among the areas with an increasing number of confirmed cases. These infections are clustered in the city jail and communities like Barrio Luz, Barangay Suba, and Mambaling. Below is an interactive map of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Cebu. It…
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The second wave of the trancazo pandemic in 1918 will be less severe and only the very young and old are vulnerable, health officials said in a story on Manila Times published on October 27, 1918. They were gravely wrong. “This official announcement is interesting not only for its dismissive tone and lack of seriousness,…
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The 1918-1919 influenza pandemic claimed more than 80,000 lives in the Philippines. As in other parts of the world, the contagion came in three waves, with the second surge being the most virulent. Areas hit by the first wave of infections in the middle of 1918 had fewer deaths during the more virulent episode at…
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Upon its turnover to secular priests at the dawn of the 17th century and for 400 years, the Bantayan parish was under the patronage of St. Peter and only under him. When the parish celebrated its 400th founding anniversary, it did so under the patronage of the fisherman held by Catholic traditions as the first…
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The Sinulog grand parade is a spectacle for tourists and locals and devotees should just stay home and let visitors enjoy it, a historian said in a forum tracing the roots of Sinulog yesterday. It is not authentic but a commercial celebration designed for outsiders, said Dr. Jose Eleazar Bersales, an anthropologist at the University…
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Make quality phones and sell them at low prices, that’s the business model of itel as it moves to grab a bigger share of the market in the Philippines, company officials said on Saturday. In just a year, the company sold 1 million phones, itel Country Manager Lei Zhang announced in a briefing in Cebu…
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Drawing from lessons its TacOps response team learned during Typhoon Yolanda, Cisco has made available a response and management solution that taps its various technologies to innovate disaster response and management. The product is Cisco KONEKTADO, an end-to-end solution that enables easy and effective collaboration and communication before, during, and after a disaster such as…
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A company has introduced in Cebu a refillable aluminum LPG canister that is government-certified as safe to use. The Gaz Lite Mate, a 230-gram version of the refillable LPG canisters of Pascal Resources Energy, Inc. (PREI), can be used with existing portable gas stoves and grillers in the market, company officials said in a press…
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American Idol singing sensation Jessica Sanchez is returning to Cebu with her first major concert here on November 29 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino. Sanchez rose to prominence in her stint with American Idol, which included a dramatic save by the judges after she was nearly voted off. She was just 16,…
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The baptism of Cebuanos led by Rajah Humabon will be the focus of the Archdiocese of Cebu and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in their celebration of the 500th year of the Christianization of the Philippines On December 1, 2019, the church will start a 500-day countdown to April 14, 2021, the…
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In the old town center of Opon, the old name of Lapu-Lapu City when it was still a municipality, stands a statue of Lapulapu carrying a staff. Far from being the warrior that is depicted in the bigger and more popular statue in Liberty Shrine eight kilometers away, this Lapulapu looks less menacing. He’s more…
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I’ve long been curious about the word marica, which I first heard when I relocated to Cebu more than 20 years ago. I never heard it growing up in Polomolok, South Cotabato where we talked a patois that was a mix of Cebuano and Ilonggo. For us, it was “dali” or “adto diri” or “ari…
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Augustinian friar Santos Gomez Marañon, who served as bishop of Cebu from 1829 to 1840, granted the Magellan’s Cross plenary indulgence to those who pray before it every Feast of the Triumph of the Cross on September 14. The indulgence is gained by praying the Creed. For those unfamiliar with Catholic teachings, an indulgence is…
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Just outside the compound of the Inmaculada Concepcion parish church in Oslob, southern Cebu, stands a forlorn statue of a slightly hunched priest holding a cross — as if to offer a blessing — while looking out to the open sea. The statue is that of Fr. Julian Bermejo, an Augustinian priest who played a…
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(WARNING: this article tackles a mature subject in graphic fashion) These people go naked, Italian scholar Antonio Pigafetta wrote in his account of the Armada de Molucca’s stay in Zzubu or Cebu, “wearing only a piece of cloth made of palm around their shameful parts.” “They have as many wives as they wish, but there…
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It all started when Vladimir, our tour guide in Davao City, sang a Kim Chiu song over the bus PA system. We were headed to our hotel from another full day of school visits and government courtesy calls. Traffic was terrible. To while away the gridlock, Vladimir asked everyone in the bus – students, teachers,…