“Cebuano” comes from the root word “Cebu,” the Spanish version of the original

name “Sugbo,” which most probably comes from the verb “sugbo,” meaning “to walk
in the water.” In the old days, the shores of the Cebu port were shallow, so travelers
coming from the sea had to wade in the water to get to dry land. The term is suffixed
with “-hanon” to refer to the language, culture, and inhabitants of Cebu; hence
“Sugbuhanon” or “Sugbuanon.” The Spaniards later modified Sugbuhanon to
“Cebuano” and—less commonly—the early Americans to “Cebuan.” Today Cebuano
may also refer to the speaker of the language no matter where he comes from.

The Cebuano are also called “ Bisaya,” although this is a generic term applying not
only to the Cebuano but to other ethnic language groups in the Visayas. The
etymology of “ Bisaya ” is uncertain although it is probably linked either to the word
meaning “slaves,” for the region was either target or staging area for slave-raiding
forays in precolonial and early colonial times; or to the word meaning “beautiful”
which was what a Bornean sultan declared upon seeing the islands according to a
popular tale.

Cebuano is the first language of about a quarter of the Philippine population or

around 15 million Filipinos today. It is dominant in Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental,
Siquijor, Camiguin, sections of Leyte and Masbate, and most of Mindanao. It belongs
to the Austronesian family of languages which, in the Philippines, has split up into
many language groups or subgroups.

The Cebuano language chiefly defines the Philippine ethnic group referred to as
Cebuano. The core area of this group is the province of Cebu, an elongated
mountainous island with some 150 scattered islets. Encompassing a total land area
of 5,000 square kilometers, Cebu province is bounded in the north by the Visayan Sea,
in the east and northeast by Bohol and Leyte, and in the west and southwest by
Negros across Tañon Strait. Cebu is located in Central Visayas, the geographical
center of the archipelago. This region—with 4 provinces, 9 cities, 123 municipalities,
and almost 3,000 barangays—has a combined population of 4.6 million.

The cultural reach of the Cebuano, however, extends beyond Central Visayas. Due to
factors like a dense population and a lack of arable land, Cebu and Central Visayas are
an important source area for population emigration. It is for this reason that the
Cebuano have also come to constitute a significant part of the populations in other
parts of the Visayas and Mindanao. Moreover, the role of Metro Cebu, the country’s
second largest urban concentration, as southern center of education, media, and
transportation, enables Cebu to exercise cultural influence beyond provincial or regional
boundaries.

History

As early as the 13th century, Chinese traders noted the prosperity of the Cebuano with
whom they traded various porcelain plates and jars, from the late Tang to the Ming,
which were used by the natives for everyday life or buried in the graves. The traders
also remarked how the Visayan, when not engaged in trade, raided Fukien’s coastal
villages using Formosa as their base. Reportedly, the Visayan rode on foldable bamboo
rafts, and, when attacking, were armed with lances to which were attached very long
ropes so that they could be retrieved to preserve the precious iron tips.

In the early 16th century, the natives of Cebu under Rajah Humabon engaged in an
active trade which bartered woven cloth, embroidery, cast bronze utensils, and
ornaments. The settlement also had small foundries producing mortars, pestles, wine
bowls, gongs, inlaid boxes for betel, and rice measures. Humabon himself was finely
clad in a loincloth, silk turban, and pearl and gold jewelry, and was supposed to have
demanded tribute from East Indian, Siamese, and Chinese traders. At that time, densely
populated villages lined the eastern coast of the island, while the highland villages
hugged the streams and lakes. The coasts were linked to the hinterlands either by rivers
or trading trails. Communities were composed of bamboo and palm leaf-thatched
houses raised from the ground by four posts and made accessible by a ladder, the area
underneath reserved for domestic animals. Humabon’s large house resembled the
common dwellings, towering like a big haystack over smaller ones (Pigafetta 1969).

On his way to the Moluccas, Ferdinand Magellan landed in Cebu on 7 April 1521 and
planted the seeds of Spanish colonization. Rajah Humabon and his wife, baptized
Juana, were Christianized following a blood compact between conquistador and native
king. However, Lapu-lapu, chieftain of Mactan, refused to accept Spanish sovereignty.
Outnumbering the foreigners by 1,000, his men killed Magellan, 8 Spanish soldiers, and
4 of Humabon’s warriors. Duarte Barbosa and Juan Serrano who took command after
Magellan’s death were also massacred along with their soldiers during a goodwill
banquet hosted by Humabon. The remnants of Magellan’s expedition under Sebastian
del Cano sailed homeward defeated but proving, for the first time, that the earth is
round.

The second Spanish expedition to the Philippines headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi
and Andres de Urdaneta reached Cebu on 27 April 1565. As in the earlier experience,
the native reception of Legazpi was initially amiable with a blood compact with
Sikatuna, chieftain of Bohol. Later, Tupas, son and successor of Humabon, battled with
the Spaniards who easily killed some 2,000 warriors, who were equipped merely with
wood corselets and rope armor, lances, shields, small cutlasses, arrows, and decorative
headgear. Their native boats, “built for speed and maneuverability, not for artillery
duels” (Scott 1982:26), were no match to Spain’s three powerful warships.

Legazpi, accompanied by four Augustinians, laid the foundation for the fort of San
Miguel on 8 May 1565. This marked the beginning of the first permanent Spanish
settlement in the archipelago. Tupas signed a treaty tantamount to submission on 3
July 1565 for which he was given 13 meters of brown damask. On 21 May 1568,
shortly before his death, Tupas was baptized by Fr. Diego de Herrera—an event
which propagandized Spanish rule. On 1 January 1571, the settlement was renamed
the Ciudad del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus (City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus)
in honor of the image of the Child Jesus found in an unburned house in the wake of
the Spanish invasion of 1565 (the site of the present Augustinian Church). It was
believed to be a relic of Magellan’s expedition, the same image given to “Queen Juana”
upon her baptism.

Cebu was the capital of the Spanish colony for six years before its transfer to Panay
and then to Manila. Many Cebu warriors were recruited by Legazpi, Goiti, and
Salcedo to conquer the rest of the country.

In the 1600s, Cebu had been one of the more populous Spanish settlements in the
country, usually with about 50 to 100 Spanish settlers residing there (not including
the religious). However, this dwindled sharply after 1604, when Cebu’s participation
in the galleon trade was suspended. Cebu had annually outfitted and dispatched a
galleon to New Spain. Profits were minimal because of restrictions imposed on the
items that could be loaded, at the instigation of Spanish officials who wished to
maintain the Manila- Acapulco trade, which was the more profitable venture.
Moreover, one galleon from Cebu sank in 1597.

The nonparticipation of Cebu in the galleon trade greatly diminished its importance,
and by the late 1730s, there was only one or two Spaniards who lived in Cebu City
who was not a government official, soldier, or priest. Few Spaniards owned land in
the countryside, a situation further buttressed by a decree that forbade the Spaniards
from living among the Filipinos until 1768.

The Italian traveler Gemelli Careri in the late 17th century and French scientist Le
Gentil both noted Cebu’s commercial poverty. The island had become a mere outpost.
Interisland trade was further restricted by two factors: the threat of so-called Moro
raids from Mindanao and Moro pirates on the seas, which continued way into the late
1790s; and the attempts of the alcaldes mayores or provincial governors to
monopolize domestic trade for their own personal economic advantage. These
alcaldes mayores were allowed to purchase the special license to trade to make up
for the fact that the Spanish central administration perennially lacked funds to give
as salaries to its local officials and bureaucrats.

As Spanish officials recovered from the short-lived British occupation of Manila from
1760 to 1762, they began to institute reforms which eventually made the atmosphere
more conducive to trade. Cebu’s trade slowly rejuvenated.

The opening of the Philippines to world trade in 1834—and of Cebu in 1860—

stimulated economic activity in Cebu. Sugar and hemp became important cash crops
for Cebu’s economy. Sugar had been grown in Cebu even before Magellan arrived.
Identified as one of the four varieties of sugar to be found in the Philippines during the
Spanish period was a strain called “Cebu Purple.”

The vastly increasing demand for cash crops meant, as in most other areas of the
Philippines, a big change in land ownership patterns. Land was increasingly
concentrated in the ownership of a few hands, usually through the method of pacto de
retroventa, where land was mortgaged by its original owners to new cash-rich
landowners on the condition that it could be bought back at the same price on a certain
date. This system, which favored the creditors, created a new class of wealthy
landlords and a mass of landless agricultural wage laborers, both groups of which began
to agitate against the Spanish administration and the power of the religious. This
pattern was familiar to the rest of the country.

The Cebu revolutionary uprising was led by Leon Kilat, Florencio Gonzales, Luis
Flores, Candido Padilla, and others. On 3 April 1898, they rose against the Spanish
authorities in Cebu. Furious fighting took place on Valeriano Weyler (now Tres de
Abril) Street and other parts of the city. The revolutionaries drove the Spaniards
across the Pahina River and finally to Fort San Pedro. They besieged the fort for three
days but withdrew when the Spaniards sent reinforcements from Iloilo and bombaded
the city.

Spanish rule in Cebu ended on 24 December 1898, in the wake of the Treaty of Paris
signed on 10 December. The Spaniards, under Cebu politico-military governor
Adolfo Montero, withdrew from the city and turned over the government to a
caretaker committee of Cebuano citizens. The Philippine Government was formally
established in Cebu City on 29 December 1898, and revolutionary head Luis Flores
became the first Filipino provincial governor of Cebu.

The American occupation ended the republican interregnum. Under threat of US

naval bombardment, Cebu City was surrendered to the Americans on 22 February
1899. However, a province-wide war ensued under the leadership of Juan Climaco
and Arcadio Maxilom. Cebuano resistance to US rule was strong but had to submit
to superior American arms with the surrender of the Cebuano generals in October 1901.

In 1901, Julio Llorente was elected governor of Cebu under American auspices. The
Americans introduced public education, promoted industry, and reorganized local
government. Previous laws and ordinances were permitted to continue, although the
position of provincial governor was no longer filled by appointment but through an
expanded system of popular elections.

Cebu became a chartered city on 24 February 1937. Vicente Rama authored and
secured the approval by Congress of the Cebu City Charter. The Charter changed
the title of presidents to mayor. Alfredo V. Jacinto served as mayor by presidential
appointment.

On 10 April 1942, the Japanese landed and seized Cebu. Over half the city was
bombed. Cebu’s USAFFE (United States Armed Forces in the Far East) and
Constabulary forces and some ROTC units and trainees staged a brief and
unsuccessful offensive. A few surrendered to the Japanese on orders of General
Wainwright, supreme commander of the United States forces in the Philippines.
Many fled to the mountains and later reorganized into guerrilla bands which harassed
the Japanese throughout their occupation and facilitated the American “liberation” of
the province. As elsewhere in the country during wartime, suspected collaborators
were tortured and killed.

Notorious for such summary executions of suspected collaborators in Cebu was the
group led by Harry Fenton, who held sway in northern Cebu while James Cushing
controlled those operating in central and southern Cebu. For his many abuses against
comradesand civilians, Fenton was executed by the guerrillas on 1 September 1943.
James Cushingassumed command of the anti-Japanese resistance movement in Cebu,
which was one of the most effective in the country. By the time General Douglas
MacArthur returned tothe Philippines in October 1944, Cushing had about 25,000
men, half of whom werearmed and trained.

Juan Zamora administered the city of Cebu during the war. Upon the return of the
Americans in March 1945, Leandro A. Tojong was appointed military mayor of
Cebu. Following the post-“liberation” general elections on 23 April 1946, Manuel
Roxas was elected Philippine president. In 1946, he appointed Vicente S. del Rosario
as mayor of Cebu, the first to serve the city at the dawn of the Third Republic. The
Charter of the City of Cebu was amended in 1955, to make the post of mayor elective.
Sergio Osmeña Jr. was overwhelmingly elected mayor.

The present City of Cebu recovered impressively from the wreckage of the last World
War, and has grown to be the second largest metropolis in the nation.

Economy

Long established as a distribution center of the Central Visayas even before the
colonial era, Cebu’s economy continues to rely on nonagricultural sectors. This
emphasis, brought about by the lack of wide expanses of arable land, has
propelled Cebu to sustained economic prosperity, especially in the last two
centuries.

The many industries in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-lapu take
advantage of the fine harbor protected on the east and south by Mactan Island
and on the north and west by the Cebu mainland.

The port of Cebu, now an international port, is headquarters for 22 shipping

firms, among them some of the leading interisland shipping companies in the
country, like Aboitiz Shipping Corp., William Lines, Sulpicio Lines, George &
Peter Lines, and Sweet Lines. More ships of domestic tonnage call at Cebu Port
than in Manila.

The other major point of entry to the province is Mactan International Airport,
on Mactan Island which is connected to Cebu City by the 864-meter-span
Mandaue-Mactan Bridge. The airport, the hub of air transportation in the
south, links Cebu not only to the rest of the country but to such points as
Hongkong, Singapore, Guam, and Tokyo.

Cebu’s position as a transport-and-communications center underlies its

principal economic activities. Primarily a center of trade and commerce (around
90 percent of business establishments in Cebu City are in these sectors), Cebu is
also developing as a manufacturing and industrial center. It is the site of the
Mactan Export Processing Zone established in 1980. Metro Cebu has Lu Do &
Lu Ym Corporation, a world leader in the processing and export of coconut oil
and coconut, corn, and cassava-based products, and such establishments as
Aboitiz & Co., International Pharmaceuticals, Norkis Industries, and the Cebu
plants of corporations like San Miguel Brewery. Other enterprises engage in the
manufacture of liquor and beverages, paper products, ceramics, chemicals, metal
products, and rubber and plastic products. It is also a center in the production
of export crafts and giftware made of rattan, shell, wood, bamboo, stone, and
others.

Danao, a city of some distance away from the Cebu-Mactan hub, has a cement
factory, a paper bag factory, and a sugar mill. Toledo City is the site of Atlas
Consolidated Mining, the biggest copper mining corporation in the Far East and
the third largest in the world. In addition to copper, Cebu boasts of rich coal
and cement deposits with the possibility of some untapped oil resources. In
more modest quantities are to be found gold, silver, molybdenum, limestone,
dolomite, feldspar, and rock phosphate.

Cebu has drawn many large commercial firms and banks from Manila and foreign
countries, and houses a branch of the Central Bank. Further indication of
Cebu’s progress is its growth of per capita gross domestic product, the highest
of all regions from 1988 to 1989, i.e., 18.23 percent compared to the 14.05
percent national average. Unlike other provinces, Cebu has no serious labor
problem. Starch, soy sauce, garment, shoe, slipper, paper, tile, brick, and glass
factories and some foundry shops, tanneries, fertilizer, ice, bottling, truck and
car assembly plants generate employment.

Not all of Cebu’s industries are concentrated on manufacturing. Mandaue City

is the home of traditional Cebuano crafts like mats, brooms, rattan furniture,
shell craft, and ceramics both for export and domestic use. Argao and the
southern parts are weaving centers. Mactan is recognized as the country’s
source of handmade guitars, ukuleles, bandurrias, and violins, which are sold
locally and to Japan, Australia, and Germany.

Cebu’s extensive fishing industry commercially processes sardine, herring,

salmon, mackerel, and anchovy in the northwestern parts. Fish is a mainstay of
the Cebuano diet together with corn, although locally produced corn cannot
adequately feed the provincial population. Cebu also grows sugar, tobacco, and
coconut, and fruits like Toledo’s bananas, Carcar’s pomelos and grapes, and
mangoes from Guadalupe in Cebu City. Native delicacies include dried mangoes,
turrones, and Rosquillos biscuits.

The educational capital of the south, Cebu attracts students from Mindanao and
the Visayas who attend its private and state-owned institutions, notably the
University of San Carlos, University of San Jose Recoletos, University of the
Visayas, and the Cebu campus of the University of the Philippines (UP). Cebu
City has some 60 public schools and 65 private schools, seven of which have
university status.

Tourism is another income earner. Cebu City, the oldest Catholic city in the
Orient, is both cosmopolitan and historic; its quaint horse-drawn carriages called
tartanillas persist amid luxury hotels and department stores. Among Cebu’s
Spanish colonial landmarks are Magellan’s Cross, the Santo Niño Basilica, the
Fort San Pedro, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Legazpi Monument on Plaza
Independencia, and the Moro watchtowers at Boljoon and other areas. Tourists
can also seek modern amusements like golf courses and country clubs,
restaurants and discotheques, and numerous beach resorts in Mactan, Argao, and
Danao.

With Cebu as its center, the Central Visayas is one of the most economically
vibrant regions in the country. Investments for Central Visayas registered with
the Board of Investments (BOI) totaled 6.68 billion in 1991, four times bigger
than the figures for 1989. Exports from Central Visayas in 1991 totaled US$752
million, a 14 percent growth rate compared to 1990. The leading exports of the
region in 1990-1991 were copper concentrates, semiconductors, sugar products,
electronic watches, rattan furniture, and dried seaweeds.

Political System

Archaeological evidence indicates that present-day Cebu City was already a

settlement as early as the 10th century. From the mid-14th century to the time
of Spanish contact, Cebu expanded as a trading and administrative center linked
to other settlements on the island of Cebu and other places in Visayas,
Mindanao, and beyond. Interregional and long-distance trade led, among others,
to increasing complexity in the social and political structure of Cebu, such that,
by the 16th century, the port settlement of Cebu was ruled by a rajah
(Humabon, Tupas) who exercised influence over a large number of followers,
retainers, and lesser datu (chieftain). While Cebu was developing into what has
been called a “super barangay,” the general situation in Cebu and the Central
Visayas was one characterized primarily by a large number of relatively
autonomous barangay or balangay, loosely linked together by relations of trade
and exchange.

Spanish colonization, beginning in the 16th century, revised the political

landscape as the Spaniards embarked on the creation of a unitary colonial state
out of the territories they annexed. This, of course, was a long drawn-out
process.

Cebu was site of the first Spanish settlement in the archipelago and the capital
of the colony-in-the-making until the transfer of the Spanish seat of government
to Manila in 1571. On 8 May 1565 Legazpi took “formal possession” of Cebu
and called the Spanish settlement “Villa de San Miguel.” On 6 August 1569,
King Philip II issued a decree granting the title of “Governor and Captain-
General” of Cebu to Legazpi. On 1 January 1571, Legazpi reestablished the
settlement of Cebu, renaming it Ciudad del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus,
appointing “city officials,” and distributing to Spaniards encomiendas in Cebu
and neighboring islands.

The creation of a colonial political system was slowed down by a host of

factors: lack of Spanish personnel and resources, geographic and cultural
particularism, and native resistance to Spanish rule. It was only in the 19th
century that the colonial state took a more full-bodied shape. In large part, this
was due to economic changes ushered in by the “opening up” of the countryside
to world trade, and to population growth. In Cebu, 44 towns were established
in the 19th century as against only 13 towns founded in the centuries prior to
1800. This was the pattern as well in the rest of the Central Visayas.

Cebu was one of the earliest “provinces” to be organized in the archipelago. It

was already an alcaldia or civil province in the 16th century. Throughout much
of the 16th and 17th centuries, the province of Cebu encompassed such areas as
Bohol, Leyte, Samar, Negros, Masbate, and Mindanao. The island of Negros
became a corregimiento, an unpacified province under a military governor in
1734 and an alcaldia in 1795. On 25 October 1889, a royal decree established
Negros Oriental as a separate province, with Dumaguete as capital. Earlier,
Bohol was separated from Cebu and became a province on 22 July 1854.
Siquijor, at various times a part of Cebu, Bohol, and Negros Oriental, became an
independent province on 1 January 1972.

The Americans reorganized provinces by abolishing towns or creating new ones.

However, the basic political organization of the Spanish period remained. The
important innovation was the introduction of popular suffrage and the
“Filipinization” of government, such that Filipinos occupied not only the
municipal positions they had under Spanish rule but provincial and national
positions as well.

Today, Cebu is administratively divided into 8 congressional districts, 5 cities,

48 municipalities, and 1,201 barangays. Negros Oriental has 3 congressional
districts, 3 cities, 22 municipalities, and 556 barangays. Bohol has 3
congressional districts, 1 city, 47 municipalities, and 1,114 barangays. Siquijor
has 1 congressional district, 6 municipalities, and 134 barangays.
The four provinces constitute Region VII, with Cebu City as the seat of the
regional offices of government line agencies and of the Regional Development
Council (RDC), which is charged with the function of integrated development
planning for the region.

Region VII has more than 2 million registered voters (out of a current population
of 4.6 million) and, as an ethnic group, the Cebuano constitute a major percentage
of the country’s voting population. Hence, the Cebuano have exercised a significant
influence on the national leadership. The region has produced two Philippine
presidents, Sergio Osmeña of Cebu and Carlos P. Garcia of Bohol.Social Organization and
Customs

Many traditional customs continue to color the life of many Cebuano, from the
day they are born and even well after they are buried. Children are trained as
early as possible on proper conduct, with the stress placed on obedience,
respect for elders, and honesty. Some of this training have applications in daily
life, like when children touch the hands of elders to their foreheads after praying
the Angelus. The education of children is considered the highest priority in
most families, and is looked upon as the means to achieve upward social
mobility. Girls are also expected to learn domestic skills like cooking, weaving,
laundering, and childcare to prepare them for marriage. Parents often start
raising pigs once their sons reach 10 years of age to prepare for what should be
slaughtered on their wedding days.

Once a man has chosen his mate, he must undergo a long process of courtship.
This includes many customs which date back to pre-Christian tradition, but
which are still practiced today to a lesser extent in more remote areas.
Pangolitawo or paninguha includes serenading the girl during courtship.
Romance is enhanced by reciting love verses by the girl’s window at night or
sending billetes or love letters through an intermediary.

The suitor visits the girl’s house with her parents’ permission, dressed in his
best clothes, and bringing homemade delicacies prepared by his mother or other
simple gifts for his beloved and her relatives. The serious suitor begins to render
service at the girl’s house by helping to plow the fields, fetch water, chop
firewood, or feed livestock in the practice called pangagad. Later on, the
mamae, a respected man of the community, represents the boy’s parents and
discusses arrangements with the sagang, the representative of the girl’s family.
This is usually followed by a debate between the two speakers and a feast.
Before the evening is over the date of the panuyo, the visit of the boy’s family
to the girl’s house, is set.

In the practice of pangasawa (marriage), the boy’s parents openly express the
son’s intentions to the girl’s parents. Otherwise, the suitor may decide on
visiting the girl’s house himself and begging for her hand from her parents, in the
practice called pagluhud. A gift called hukut is given by the prospective groom
to his bride-to-be as a sign of good faith. This is usually a ring or any precious
object, which is returned if the wedding does not take place. Engagements are
cancelled when the suitor’s service during the pangagad is deemed unsatisfactory
by the girl’s parents, or when there is a change of heart.

As the wedding day approaches, the likod-likod is held. This is a special

festivity on the eve of the wedding which allows the relatives of both families to
get acquainted. At this point in time the parents address each other as mare for
the mothers and pare for the fathers. On the wedding day itself, utmost efforts
are spent to beautify the bride. The bride is taken to the church where the groom
awaits her at the altar. After the ceremony, the reception is usually held at the
bride’s house. During the reception, the newlywed couple, each holding a
lighted candle, is led to an altar in the house where they listen to a sermon by the
bride’s parents on the duties and responsibilities of husbands and wives. After
the sermon, the couple rises and kisses the hands of the parents. The bride’s
veil is removed and the banquet begins. A wedding dance called alap or
alussalus is performed, during which the guests throw coins on a plate placed
near the feet of the newlyweds as they dance. The festivities continue with more
dancing and singing. A package of leftover food called putos is prepared and
given to the departing guests for members of the families who were unable to
attend. Other guests remain for the hugas, the practice of helping in the cleaning
of the house and washing of utensils after the reception.

Some pagan elements are found in the Christian marriages of Cebu. During the
marriage ceremony, two candles of equal height are lighted simultaneously for
peace to reign in the house of the newlyweds. The guests must not drop
anything during the ceremony as this will bring bad luck. Wedding guests should
not be dressed in black. The bride must step on the foot of her groom so neither
will dominate the other. Upon reaching the reception, the couple is given a glass
of water to drink to ensure a calm and peaceful life. The glass from which the
couple drinks is thrown to the ground and the broken pieces are not to be picked
up. The bride is given a comb to run through her hair to ensure an orderly
wedded life. The couple is showered with rice to assure them a prosperous life.
In some towns, the newlyweds are locked up for three days in a room of the
groom’s house. Meals are delivered to their room. They should not leave the
house lest an evil wind blow on them.

Cebuano social organization is rooted in the family. Out of a strong familial

orientation developed a folk welfare society. Kinship ties, traditionally strong,
have been enhanced by the limitation of living space brought about by an
unusual increase in population. The marriage rite and the events that
immediately precede as well as follow it ensure the generation of this folk
welfare society. Parents often see to it that their children by their marriages will
not burden themselves, their parents, or the community. The customary bugay
or bride-price is an array of material property, in the form of land, cash, animals,
and so forth, mutually agreed upon, which both parents must present to each
other. This dowry serves as an appreciation of the bride’s parents for having
raised the daughter worthy to be the wife of any promising young man in the
barrio. During the marriage ceremony, both families attempt to outdo one
another in raising the dowry. Careful planning, joyous celebration, and
sumptuous eating are the hallmark of any successful wedding. Interestingly, the
first few days and nights of married life are spent apart, with each one staying in
his/her in-law’s house. The newlyweds may elect to reside with any of their
parents until they feel that they can be independent. The bugay provides for
this, and the family income may be supplemented by the husband’s wages.
When substantial, the bugay may be used as inheritance for the couple’s future
children. When there are several children involved, the addition of an annex to
the parental house may provide a simple solution to housing problems. Married
children can make their new home on a nearby lot, which enables them to look
after their aging parents.

Like most other regions of the Philippines, Cebu has a generally patriarchal
family system. However, in the home the wife takes complete charge of running
the household. There is a unique way of addressing people: the first names of
husband and wife are joined together in a compound noun to identify the married
spouses.

Folk beliefs govern the period of pregnancy, birth, and early childhood. A
pregnant woman must be selective with the food she eats when she is
conceiving. Dark-colored food produce a dark-skinned baby, a resinlike gum
from jackfruit envelops the baby and hampers childbirth; twin bananas bring
forth twin babies; boiled rice endangers the lives of mother and child; and
chicken gizzard and other heavy foods cause difficult delivery.

For the sake of the unborn child, the mother should not gaze at the sun during an
eclipse or the child will be born with a harelip; leave the house without a cloth
over her head or around her shoulders or the child will be abnormal; sit directly
below the lintel of the door, on heaps of palay, or on the stairstep or the child
will have a flat head; talk with handicapped persons or walk over strung cord or
rope as this will deform the child; go out when the hawk is about; listen to
horror stories; sew as this will entangle the child in the umbilical cord; carry
rosaries nor wear earrings, rings, or bracelets for this will choke the child; curl
her hair or the child will die.

The pregnant woman should take other preventive measures. When walking
outside at night, she should bring suwa or biyasong (a citrus fruit) to drive away
the fetus-eating wakwak (a vampire in the form of a bird). Her bedroom must
have a bagakay (a bamboo stick) to ward off evil spirits.

There are numerous other beliefs pertaining to mothers before, during, and after
delivery. Should she be nauseous or wanting in appetite, she should step over
her husband while he sleeps to transfer the discomfort to him. For easy and
normal delivery, no bamboo container should be covered nor any coconut shell
ladle placed crosswise on a clay jar; hens should not be killed to prevent bleeding
during delivery. To avoid labor pains, she should not step on the rope of a
grazing animal. During a first pregnancy, her stomach should be anointed with
monkey’s oil to hasten delivery. She should grip the handle of a bolo to bear the
pains of childbirth. Upon delivery, she should be fed a mixture of ground cacao
and pulverized shell of the first laid egg of a pullet while prayers are being
recited. This is done so that she will recover strength as quickly as a young hen
after laying an egg. The placenta should be placed inside a clay pot or a coconut
shell and buried under the eaves of the house for the good health of mother and
child. The placenta should be buried separately so that one will not overpower
the other. Thorny twigs of lemon and a bagakay should be placed around the
house to safeguard the child from evil spirits.

A Christian baptism, which should ideally take place soon after the child’s birth,
is regarded not only as a sacrament but as a means to keep away the malignant
enkanto. The baby is customarily named after a grandparent, a deceased
relative, or a saint on whose feast day he is born. Shortly before baptism, few
strands of the child’s hair are cut and his/her fingernails trimmed. These are
placed inside a guitar or hollow top cover of a fountain pen to make the child
bright and musical. Similarly, the child is made to take three tentative steps
before the christening so that he/she will learn to walk much sooner. During the
baptism, the mother should carry a banana and a fish called lisa to protect the
child from infectious diseases.

Forty days after the birth of the child, mother and child go to church for the
paglahad or bendisyon. The priest approaches them with a cord tied to his
waist. The mother, holding the cord, follows the priest to the altar where she
kneels with the child almost throughout the mass. The ceremony is a petition
for the child’s good health and long life. As the child grows, evil spirits are kept
away when the mother says “pwera buyag,” specially when the child is
admired.

On the occasion of death many old practices and beliefs still persist. The
deceased is untouched within an hour after his/her death for it is believed that
his/her soul is still facing the Lord. After an hour, he/she is dressed in his/her
best clothes. During the wake, the floor is left unswept to prevent bad luck.
The pabaon (last prayer) is prayed at the end of the wake.

Burials are held after several days of mourning. The coffin is lifted and the
family members pass under it to prevent any misfortune from befalling them.
Only after the coffin has been removed from the house may the floor be swept.
In the church rites, a tolling bell, agoniyas, signals the mourning for the dead.
During the mass, family members offer something to the Lord for the soul of the
departed. After the mass, they take a last look at the body. Before the casket is
lowered, a sad song may be sung and the deceased is eulogized. During the
burial, the relatives throw lumps of earth on the grave for the repose of the
deceased. A meal may be served to parents and relatives by the family of the
deceased after the burial. A nine-day novena is held for the dead, although
prayers are said until the 40th day. A party called liwas is held after the novena
for those who attended the prayers. The bayanihan spirit, called alayon or
tinabangay in the Visayas, is best manifested during mourning as relatives and
friends give donations to the family of the deceased. On the first anniversary of
the death, all mourning clothes are given away and all wreaths burned. On All
Souls Day, family members visit the cemetery.

Religious occasions are important social events in Cebu. Fiestas to honor the
saints feature dances, games, and sports, and sometimes even beauty contests
for civic or charitable causes. Dramas and band concerts are held in the public
plazas. Cultural shows, fireworks, and the sinulog add spectacle to the Feast of
the Santo Niño, which is marked in Cebu City on the third Sunday of January
and is the region’s premier religious ritual. The Christmas season includes
yuletide parties, caroling, and the noche buena or Christmas eve feasts.

Religious Beliefs and Practices

Many Cebuano, especially the less Westernized and the rural, continue to be
firm believers in the existence of spirits. Despite the fact that this belief stems
from pre-Christian animist tradition, it persists to this day and blends
comfortably with Catholicism.

There is a strong belief in spiritual beings who are capable of assuming any form
and causing illness to those who offend them. The evil spells they cast on
people can be driven away by performing rituals, reciting prayers in Spanish or
Latin, making offerings, using the crucifix and holy water. Oftentimes the folk
healers or mediums like the babaylan, tambalan, and mananapit are asked to
perform rituals to drive away the spirits. Spirits may appear as: the tamawo, a
fairy that dwells in big trees, and occasionally falls in love with mortals, who
upon death enters the spiritual world of the tamawo; the tumao, the creature
with one eye in the middle of its face that goes out only during new moon; the
cama-cama, a mountain gnome of light brown color, whose great strength may
cause great pain on all mortals who displease it; and the aswang, an evil spirit
which can be disguised as a man or a woman at night, helped by its agents like
the tictic and silic-silic birds.

Birds often act as agents or messengers of the spirit world. When the sagucsuc
bird sings “suc, suc, suc,” it announces rain. A kind of owl, the daklap, is
believed to conceal its nest on the seashore so cleverly that anybody who finds
the eggs but keeps the secret becomes a curandero or healer. The hooting of the
owl is considered a bad omen, especially if it comes from the roof of the house
of a sick person. When the kanayas (sparrow hawk) appears, a typhoon is
anticipated as they are the agents of tubluklaki, the god of the winds.

Other animals also serve as portents of good or bad omens. Cats are often
regarded as possessing special powers. Their eyesight enables them to see evil
spirits. Fisherfolk and hunters use the eyes of wildcats as charms to enable
them to have an abundant catch. A talisman is made by a special arrangement of
the bones of a black cat. The arrival of rain is announced when a cat gets wet
during a drought. On the other hand, bad weather is expected when a cat
stretches itself in the morning.

Dogs become more ferocious if fed with wasps’ nests, and see evil spirits like
the tumao when they bark continuously during a new moon. To scare away
aswang, cow/carabao horns or tortoise shells are thrown into red hot coals.

People recite the “ Ave Maria ” backwards to escape the poisonous stings of the
alingayos (wasps). When the dahon-dahon (praying mantis) enters a house, it
foretells misfortune for the occupants.

Almost all aspects of agriculture are governed by beliefs and practices. The
tambalan is often called to perform the practice of bayang or buhat before virgin
lands are cultivated. A dish of white chicken or pork is offered to the unseen
owner. Before planting, a table with cooked rice, chicken, wine or buyo (betel
leaf) is set in the open and offered to the spirits who are asked to grant a good
harvest. If planting is to be done during a new moon in May or June, rice is
toasted and then ground with sugar in a mixture called paduya. The paduya is
then baked, divided into 24 parts, and wrapped in banana leaves and offered the
night before planting to the aswang who protects the field. For harvest blessings
pangas may also be prepared in a basket from a mixture of rice, medicinal herbs,
palm fruit, and a wooden comb.

There are specific practices depending on the crop being planted. During the
planting of rice, one must not hurt or kill the taga-taga, an insect with
protruding antennae believed to be the soul of the palay, or else this will cause a
bad harvest. A good harvest is likely when its tail points upwards.

In planting corn, the first three rows should be planted at sundown. This is the
time when chicken and other fowl are in their roosts and if they do not see
where the seeds are planted, they will not dig up the seeds. If it rains while the
farmer is planting, it is a sure sign that the seeds will not germinate. Persons
with few or broken teeth should not plant corn to prevent the corn from bearing
sparse and inferior grains.

In coconut planting, so that the nut will grow big and full, seedlings must be
placed on open ground during a full moon. They should be planted at noontime
when the sun is directly overhead and shadows are at their shortest. This is so
the coconut trees will bear fruit soon, even if they are not yet very tall. While
planting coconuts, it would help if one is carrying a child so that the tree will
yield twice as many nuts.

Bananas should be planted in the morning or at sunrise with young plants

carried on the farmer’s back so the branches will have compact and large
clusters.

Sticks should not be used when planting cassava lest the tubers develop fibers
which are not good to eat. Ubi (purple yam), on the other hand, is a sacred root
crop. If it is dropped on the ground, it has to be kissed to avoid divine fury
called gaba. Planters must lay clustered fruits on three hills for an abundant
harvest of camote or sweet potato.

It is believed that planters must remove their shirts, lie on the ground, and roll over
several times during a full moon. Crops planted near the diwata’s place or
during thunderstorms will be infested with rats.

During harvest time, if the crops are poor, the farmers prepare biku, budbud,
ubas, tuba, guhang, 12 chickens, pure rice, tobacco, and tilad. These they place
under dalakit tree in the fields as offering to the spirits.

Rice harvesting entails more intricate rituals. A mixture called pilipig is prepared
from seven gantas of young palay added to grapes, bayi-bayi (ground rice),
grated coconut, and sugar. This mixture is pounded in a mortar and brought out
at midnight. At midnight, the farmers call the babaylan to chant prayers while
they surround him/her with smoke.

Fisherfolk have their own ways of soliciting the favors of the other world.
During a full moon, a mananapit is asked to pray for a good catch and to bless
the fishing nets and traps with herbs and incense. To cast off evil spirits,
fisherfolk at sea mutter tabi meaning “please allow me to fish.” They keep a
small yellow copper key under their belts to protect themselves from being
devoured by big fish. Divers eat the flesh of cooked turtle for greater stamina
underwater. Fisherfolk avoid bad luck by neither sitting nor standing in front of
their fishing gear and by returning home by way of the route used when setting
out to sea. To avail of future bounty, fisherfolk using new traps must throw
back half of their first catches.

Spirits who are believed to roam the world of the living must be considered in
building houses. Spirits like dwelling in caves and ought not to be disturbed by
the construction of a house nearby. A good site for a house is determined by
burying 3 grams of rice wrapped in black cloth at the center of the lot. If a grain
is missing when they are unearthed three days after, the site is not suitable for it
will cause illness. February, April, and September are the months to build
houses. To bring prosperity and peace to the owners, coins are placed in each
posthole before the posts are raised. The ladder of the house should face east to
ensure good health. A full moon symbolizes a happy homelife when moving to
a new house. For the moving family to be blessed, they should boil water in a
big pot and invite visitors to stay overnight in their new house. A ritual is also
performed against evil spirits during the inauguration of public buildings,
bridges, and other structures.

The Cebuano, like other Catholic Filipinos, are devoted to their patron saints.
Their most popular devotion is to the Santo Niño of Cebu whose statue,
venerated in the Augustinian Church in Cebu City, is the oldest Christian
religious image in the Philippines. The Holy Child is believed to be a savior
during fires and natural calamities and a performer of miracles big and small,
from shielding the island from foreign invaders in earlier times to playing
harmless pranks. A grand week-long celebration during the feast of the Santo
Niño is highlighted with sinulog dances and a candlelit evening procession.
During other fiestas, novenas are prayed, candles are lit inside the churches, and
the image of the patron saints kissed in homage and thanksgiving. The masses
are preceded by processions to prevent misfortunes during the year. From 16 to
24 December, the misa de gallo, a dawn mass, is held for nine consecutive days.
There are solemn Lenten rituals, long processions, and religious dramas.

Christian folk religiosity is most apparent and typical in the lenten procession
of Bantayan Island, held on Holy Thursday and Good Friday. In this major
lenten spectacle, the Bantayanon garb their children in angel and saint costumes
and follow the carriages of their favorite saints. Apart from the lifesize statues
of San Vicente, San Jose, Santa Teresa, San Pedro, and Santa Maria Magdalena,
there are around 20 other floats depicting scenes from Christ’s passion.Architecture and
Community Planning

In prehispanic times, what would later become the city of Cebu was a lineal
settlement by the sea—a cluster of rather large but not too populous barangay
and a port. This roughly encompassed the 6-hectare area bounded by the
present-day streets of Magallanes, Juan Luna, Manalili, and Martires. Here
stood variations of the Cebuano nipa hut which still characterizes rural Cebu.

The native hut is basically divided into two sections: the sala, a hall combining
living, dining, and sleeping quarters; and the abuhan or kitchen. However, the
local dwelling may have a third section, the sulod, a room for sleeping and
storage. Sometimes a porch graces the entrance leading into the sala. Tropical
weather requires walls of light materials, such as coconut or nipa ribs, buri
palms, cogon grass, and bamboo, floors of bamboo slats with gaps between
them; awning type windows; and low room dividers. Evident are features of
other lowland Filipino houses as distinct from upland houses: the use of natural
lumber instead of hewn timber, rattan or vines to hold the building materials
together, and long poles dug deep into the ground to support the roof.
Precolonial houses were built near rivers, fields, or forests. Farmers also erected
makeshift structures called balai-balai or bugawan in their fields. When the
Spaniards arrived, native settlements were transformed by the reduccion policy
of concentrating the natives in organized pueblos or towns, a landmark of
Spanish colonization. In the Cebu port area the natives were moved to San
Nicolas, a town south of the Pagina River. This came to be identified as “Old
Cebu” to differentiate it from the original center which was converted into the
colonial city of San Miguel. The Spaniards lived within a triangular settlement
composed of the Augustinian church and convento, and Fort San Pedro. Both
the city plans of 1699 and 1738 pictured a rectangular grid system of square city
blocks. By the 17th century, churches, convents, and colonial style houses
surrounded the main plaza, Maria Cristina (now Plaza Independencia). The
18th-century city had formidable edifices and wide open spaces, and was
encircled by arrabales (suburbs) for native dwellings. Thus to the west of the
poblacion de europeos or settlement of Europeans called Villa de San Miguel or
Ciudad de Cebu lay the poblacion de naturales or settlement of natives of San
Nicolas, and on its north and linked to the sea by an estuary, the old Chinese
ghetto called the Parian.

The Parian emerged from Spain’s policy of ethnic segregation. It was

established in 1590 when Cebu began its brief participation in the galleon trade.
Initially a market and trading center, it grew into a residential district of mestizos
possessed of landed wealth and absorbed into hispanic culture. The stature of
the Parian as trading center diminished in the 19th century with the shift of port
activities and the Chinese population to the district of Lutao in Cebu City.

The street patterns of the Spanish city partly correspond with the present
street locations, particularly in the southeast corner of Cebu City. Legazpi and
Gomez Streets have retained their names; Magallanes was the south shoreline,
MacArthur Boulevard was the north-south coastline; Juan Luna was Felipe II;
Gullas was Manalili; M.J. Cuenco was Martires; Jakosalem was Norte America.

Early Spanish houses in Cebu were of tabique, i.e., walls of bamboo or boards,
reinforced by a lime and sand mixture. The 19th century gave rise to the bahay
na bato— a house of stone, brick, and wood. Besides fireproof measures, frames
of wooden posts reinforcing the exterior walls are added in anticipation of an
earthquake. A typical house has a brick-and-stone first level, and a
predominantly wooden second level with sliding windows adorned with
lampirong or capiz shells or Placuna placenta panes. Floors are hardwood
planks set on huge beams. In earlier times, the ground floor would often be
uninhabited because of the damp; a portion of it could be raised above the
ground as an entresuelo (mezzanine) serving as an office or servant’s room. The
upper story contains the house proper comprising a caida (spacious hall),
comedor (living and dining rooms), comun (toilet), baño (bathroom), and cocina
(kitchen). The azotea at the side of the house is a modification of the native
batalan or pantaw. As in other parts of the country, the bahay na bato in Cebu
has a sloped roof, wide eaves, profuse windows, high ceilings, broad halls, and
raised floors. Now a public museum and administered by the Ramon Aboitiz
Foundation, Casa Gorordo, on the corner of Lopez Jaena and Ballesteros Streets
in the Parian district, represents this style as adapted for a moderately wealthy
residence of the period. More imposing bahay na bato were those owned by
Don Mariano Veloso on the corner of Juan Luna and Martires, fronting Plaza
Independencia; Don Manuel Cala on Juan Luna; and Don Pedro Cui on Sikatuna
in Parian. These houses have not survived. Rare were the full stone houses
such as the partly extant 18th-century Parian residence of the Jesuits.

The Spaniards left a considerable architectural legacy in Cebu. Notable

landmarks are Santo Niño Church, Cebu Cathedral, Recoletos Church, and the
churches of Argao, Bantayan, and Carcar, St. Catherine’s School, the Emergency
Hospital and Dispensary building in Carcar, and the forts in Daanglungsod and
Boljoon.

Cebu City acquired a cosmopolitan character in the 20th century. In the first
quarter of the century, the city abounded with foreign establishments, e.g., the
Chinese Yap Anton and Co., the Japanese Bazaar Sakamoto, the Indian British
Indies Bazaar, the Spanish Muertegui y Aboitiz, the American Bryan and
Landon Co., and the German Botica Antigua. Firms were generally situated
together according to the type of business. Export and shipping firms lined the
port area, and Colon Street (formerly called Calle del Teatro) featured the
cinemas Oriente (formerly Teatro Junquera), Empire, and Royo. Although the
seat of the city government has shifted several times, it has always remained in
the original Spanish ciudad.

The city was renewed by the Philippine Commission’s 1905 urban program.
Streets were realigned, widened, and straightened out; new buildings given a
special elevation; sidewalks cemented and uniformed. San Nicolas merged with
the city proper in 1901. The American era also saw modern landmarks and
structures including Fuente Osmeña, Jones and Mango Avenues, and the
upmarket residences in the new suburbs of Sambag, Cogon, and Lahug.

Transport and communication improved remarkably with the construction of a

line of the Philippine Railway Company, later destroyed in World War II. The
Parian shrank and eventually lost its aristocratic quality. Fires changed the face
of the city as the downtown area was razed in 1898, 1903, and 1905.

The postwar period saw the further expansion of the city as outlying areas were
integrated into the metropolis. Factory sites and residential areas developed to
the south, north, and west of the city. Rolling, elevated areas west of the city
were carved out for new residential subdivisions such as Beverly Hills and
Maria Luisa Estate, and the city shoreline was reclaimed (in the Cebu North and
South Reclamation projects) to create space for new urban development.
Today, Metropolitan Cebu consists of three cities (Cebu, Mandaue, and
Lapulapu) and five municipalities (Talisay, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela,
and Cordoba).

Churches continue to be major architectural landmarks in the postwar period. In

addition to the old churches that survived the war like the Santo Niño Church
and the Cebu Cathedral, postwar churches include the Redemptorist Church,
Santo Rosario Church, Sacred Heart Church, and the Lourdes Church in Punta
Princesa. Outstanding examples of civic architecture—in particular, the Cebu
Provincial Capitol Building—were also built in the postwar period. Together
with a few surviving prewar structures like Vision Theater on Colon Street,
modern commercial and residential buildings were erected, among them the Cebu
Plaza Hotel, Robinson’s Department Store complex and Metrobank Building on
Fuente Osmeña, and White Gold Department Store. Today, with an upsurge in
urban development, the establishment of the Cebu Business Park, and the
development of the Cebu Reclamation Area, the architectural face of the city is
changing at an even faster rate. Contemporary architecture in Cebu confront
several challenges. There is the problem of underutilized local talent since many
buildings are put up by Manila-based corporations who hire Manila-based
principal architects thereby reducing their Cebuano colleagues to mere
supervisory roles. On the other hand, there is a growing sense of self-awareness
as a community on the part of Cebuano and Cebu-based architects. This has
been fostered by local schools of architecture like the University of San Carlos
and Cebu Institute of Technology, by professional associations, and by the
work of such pioneering Cebuano architects as Santos Alfon, Cristobal Espina,
and Filomena Perez-Espina. Cebuano architects are not only taking an active
part in local urban planning but have taken a more visible and decisive role in the
design of new buildings. Young Cebuano architects are coming into their own
and aim to make their own distinctive contribution to the architectural
profession in the Philippines.

Visual Arts and Crafts

Cebu’s liturgical art manifests its deeply rooted Catholic tradition. Relief or
three-dimensional santos or holy images, murals and paintings for altarpieces,
gold and silver vestments, and altar accessories have always been Cebuano
expressions of religiosity.

Cebuano folk art includes basketry and the handcrafting of jewelry and musical
instruments. Basketry was developed by the interisland trade which regularly
demanded cargo containers. Baskets and planters are made of coco midrib,
rattan, bamboo, or sigid vine. The island’s furniture industry is related to this
art. Chairs of rattan and buri ribs are fashioned using basket-weaving
techniques. Mactan produces guitars and ukuleles from langka or soft jackfruit
wood. Cebu’s abundant shells and coral can be transformed into ornaments,
some of which are set with precious metals. Popular Cebuano arts of the 19th
century like sinamay weaving, dyeing, and pottery (especially the alcaaz or
water jars of fine red clay), have since declined. Such is the creativity of local
artisans, however, that new crafts, e.g., stoneware, are constantly being
developed.

Painting was the first secular art that appeared in the mid-19th century. Initially
unsigned and undated, they were personal rather than professional. Gonzalo
Abellana of Carcar, Canuto Avila from San Nicolas, Raymundo Francia of
Parian, and Simeon Padriga were early painters and sculptors who actively
participated in the period of transition from religious to secular art. Aside from
their works, Cebuano masterpieces include Diosdado Villadolid’s (“Diovil”)
finger paintings, Oscar Figuracion’s paintings of the Bilaan community of
Davao, Julian Jumalon’s lepidomosaic art, Silvester “Bitik” Orfilla’s historical
mural entitled Ciudad del Santissimo Nombre de Jesus (City of the Most Holy
Name of Jesus), and Carmelo Tamayo’s tartanilla series.

Aside from these painters, others contributed to the flourishing of Cebuano

visual arts in the 20th century: Mary Avila, Jose Alcoseba, Vidal Alcoseba,
Virgilio Daclan, Sergio Baguio, Emeterio Suson, and Jesus Roa.

Martino Abellana is the “dean of Cebuano painters.” Though primarily a

figurative-impressionist, his later works nevertheless show a desire to reconcile
the figurative and the abstract. Notable of his works are The Farmer’s Son, Job
Was Also Man, Rocks, and Korean War. Cebu and the Central Visayas have
also contributed to the Manila art scene such artists as Manuel Rodriguez Sr.
and National Artist Napoleon Abueva, who are distinguished for their
pioneering ventures in Philippine graphic arts and modernism in sculpture,
respectively.

An important catalyst in the development of the Cebu art scene was the
founding of the Cebu Art Association (CEARTAS) in 1937 by Julian Jumalon,
in association with artists like Oscar Figuradon, Jose Alcoseba, Emilio Olmos,
Fidel Araneta, and others. CEARTAS promoted community awareness of the
visual arts as well as the exchange of ideas among artists.

In the postwar period, the older practitioners were joined by younger artists like
the Mendoza brothers (Sofronio, Teofilo, and Godofredo), Romulo Galicano,
Gamaliel Subang, Fr. Virgilio Yap, Jose Yap Jr., Tony Alcoseba, Gig de Pio, and
Mardonio Cempron. Some of these artists—notably, Sofronio Y. Mendoza
(“SYM”) and Romulo Galicano—later moved to Manila and foreign countries to
gain a much wider reputation and audience.

Today, Cebu has what is probably the largest community of artists outside of
Manila. Although many of the young practitioners have inherited the Cebuano
artist’s predilection for landscapes in the Abellana style, they are also influenced
by various modern styles in the country, like those of Jose Blanco of Angono
and the late Vicente Manansala, as well as from abroad.

Today’s crop of artists includes Isabel Rocha, Mariano Vidal, Boy Kiamko,
Fred Galan, Wenceslao Cuevas, Manuel Patiares, and Rudy Manero. The town
of Carcar, hometown of Martino Abellana, has produced a new generation of
artists led by Gabriel Abellana, Martino Abellana Jr., and Luther Galicano.

The opening of the Fine Arts Program of University of the Philippines (UP) in Cebu, the first
formal fine-arts
school south of Manila, has dynamited the Cebuano art scene. Soon after its
founding, Manila Artist Jose Joya initiated in 1978 the Annual Joya Art
Competition, which has showcased new talents from UP Cebu, such as
Raymund Fernandez, Javy Villacin, Edgar Mojares, Arlene Villaver, Janine
Barrera, and Karl Roque.

Although present-day Cebuano art is concentrated on painting, sculpture has

had its noteworthy practitioners in the past, notably Fidel Araneta and Ramon
Abellana. Today, young artists like Jet Florendo are making their own
innovative expression in this art form.

There are support institutions and networks in Cebu that keep interest in the
visual arts alive. Apart from the Cebu Art Association and UP Cebu’s Fine
Arts Program, Cebu City has a good number of art galleries. Painting exhibits
are regularly held in such places as Casa Gorordo Museum, College Assurance
Plan (CAP) Center, and the City Museum established by the city government in
1992. The city has a fairly large number of art patrons and collectors. The
city’s private collections are varied, ranging from the antique collections of
Lydia Aznar-Alfonso, Leocadia Binamira, and Ramon Arcenas, to the philatelic
collection of Victorino Reynes, the shell collection of Asela Franco, the
photographic collection of Galileo Medalle, and the lepidoptera and
lepidomosaic art collections of Julian Jumalon. A good number of local art
patrons, however, have collections of modern art, creating a market which
enables local artists to survive. Cebu is well on its way towards becoming a
viable center for contemporary art and no longer is it necessary for local artists
to move to Manila to practice and develop their art.Literary Arts

Cebuano literature is a major component of Philippine literature. Produced in a

language which is the mother tongue of a quarter of the country’s population, it
compares in volume to Ilocano literature and comes second only to that in
Tagalog. Writing in the language was done as early as the 14th century, albeit in
a limited way; the first printed works in Cebuano appeared in the 17th century;
and the first printing press, the Imprenta de Escondrillas y Cia, and first
newspaper, El Boletin de Cebu, in Cebu were established in 1873 and 1886,
respectively. Through time, literary works in Cebuano, Spanish, and English
have been produced by the Cebuano.
Cebuano poetry is embedded in the very qualities of the local language itself.
Seventeenth-century Jesuit chronicler Francisco Alzina (1668 III:16,18) found
Visayan highly expressive, nuanced, and complex, with an “abundance of
metaphors” even in ordinary conversation. Such qualities were raised to an even
higher level in Visayan poetical compositions.

Early chroniclers like Alzina and Francisco Encina (who wrote the first formal
treatise on Cebuano poetry in his 1801 Arte de la lengua Zebuana) speak of
such types of Visayan poetry as ambahan, balak, bikal, siday, parahaya, awit,
garay, gabay, bagay, inagung, uriyan, cachorinon, comintang, and guya. The
lack of specimens, however, makes it extremely difficult to document these
forms, beyond noting such common features as the use of assonantal rhyme, a
syllabic measure of from 5 to 12 syllables per line (with the heptasyllabic as the
most common), the use of couplets and quatrains as units of verse, and the
prominence of “enigmas” or metaphors.

The Spaniards introduced printed poetry in Cebuano, mostly devotional verses,

but the best poetry throughout the Spanish period was poetry in the oral
tradition, composed in forms like the ambahan, balitao, and duplo. The first
known Cebuano poets were mostly priests—such as Jose Morales del Rosario,
Alejandro Espina, and Emiliano Mercado—writing religious verses in Spanish or
Cebuano.

“Modern poetry” developed with the rise of printing and publishing in Cebu at
the turn of the present century. The first important Cebuano poets—Vicente
Ranudo, Tomas Bagyo, Potenciano Aliño, Escolastico Morre —appeared in the
wake of the publication of the first newspaper in Cebuano, Vicente Sotto ’s Ang
Suga, 1901-1911. As journalism expanded in the early 20th century, so did the
volume of published Cebuano poetry. It is estimated that more than 10,000
Cebuano poems were published between 1900 and 1941.

Vicente Ranudo, “the Father of Cebuano Poetry,” stamped Cebuano poetry with
the character of classical speech: highly elevated, formal, romantic, tending towards
the sentimental and the mystical. Even as this mode of poetry became the norm,
Cebuano poetry remained versatile: it encompassed a range from comic, folksy
verses, to philosophic poetry with mystic undertones, to poems of patriotism
and social comment. Among the outstanding prewar poets were Nicolas Rafols,
Fernando Buyser, Amando Osorio, Elpidio Rama, Vicente Padriga, Emiliano
Batiancila, Napoleon Dejoras, and Vicente Ybañez.

Even as Cebuano poetry hewed close to the traditional, the influence of Spanish
and Anglo-American poetry stimulated experimentation, as seen in Buyser’s
sonanoy and Diosdado Alesna’s siniloy, Cebuano adaptations of the sonnet.
The postwar period also saw the wide use of “free verse.” Important poets
included Priscillo Campo, Brigido Alfar, Marciano Camacho, Marciano
Peñaranda, S. Alvarez Villarino, Lucas de Loyola, and Francisco Candia.
In the 1960s, younger poets, equally at home in Cebuano and English, and
influenced by American and European authors as well as Filipino poets in
English, attempted to extend Cebuano poetic traditions by writing poems that
were sparer, unsentimental, and more intellectually complex. They included
Leonardo Dioko, Junne Cañizares, Melquiadito Allego, and Ricardo Patalinjug.
They were followed by poets like Ernesto Lariosa, Pantaleon Auman, and
Lamberto Ceballos—poets who have introduced a contemporary sensibility to
Cebuano poetry

Today, much poetry in an older, conventional mode is written and remains

popular. New directions, however, are being taken by poets like Rene Amper,
Temistokles Adlawan, Melito Baclay, and Ester Bandillo, who are seeking new
ways of melding the resources of native Cebuano poetry with the temper and
substance of contemporary experiences.

A history of Cebuano narratives would encompass various forms of mythic and

folk narratives extending back to precolonial times (a study of which has not yet
been attempted). The novel and the short story, however, are distinctly modern
forms. What may be considered the first novel in Cebuano is Recollect Antonio
Ubeda de la Santisima Trinidad’s La Teresa, 1852, a novel that deals with
contemporary problems and is set in Bohol with Boholano characters. It is,
however, an isolated achievement since it is not until the beginning of the 20th
century, after the appearance of printing and publishing in Cebu, that the ground
was set for the rise of the novel. Though there is a passing reference to an
unfinished novel by Filemon Sotto in the pages of his newspaper, Ang
Kaluwasan, 1902-1903, the restrictive format of the early papers did not
encourage the printing of long narratives. Thus, it was not until the second
decade of the century that the first Cebuano novels appeared: Juan
Villagonzalo’s Walay Igsoon (No Siblings), 1912; Uldarico Alviola’s Felicitas,
1912; Vicente Duterte’s Ang Palad, Palad Gayud (Fate, Ah Fate), 1912;
Amando Osorio’s Daylinda, 1913; and Nicolas Rafols’ Ang Pulahan (The
Pulahan), 1918.

By the late 1920s, the novel form had become popular. It was at this time that
the word sugilambong (“elaborated narrative”) was coined as the Cebuano term
for the “novel.” Prewar novelists included Vicente Rama, Florentino Suico,
Natalio Bacalso, Vicente Flores, Angel Enemecio, Vicente Arias, Tomas
Hermosisima, Jacinto Alcos, Angel Campo, and Candido Vasquez. Perhaps the
most popular novelist of the time was Sulpicio Osorio (“Sulposor”), whose
best-known work was Mga Bungsod nga Gipangguba (Destroyed Fish
Corrals), 1929, a controversial anticlerical novel. At this time, readers were also
exposed to Cebuano translations of novels by Alexandre Dumas, Charlotte
Braeme, Marie Corelli, Rafael Sabatini, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The novels
of Jose Rizal were made widely available in translations done by Tomas Alonso,
Juan Quijano, and Isidro Abad.
Most novels were written for weekly serialization in popular magazines. This
made for loose, episodic novels written-on-the-run. Despite this, however, the
Cebuano novel reached a maturity of form in the works of Flaviano P.
Boquecosa (“F. Bok”), whose Ang Palad ni Pepe (Pepe’s Fate), 1937, and Ang
Anak ni Pepe (The Child of Pepe), 1939, are well-crafted popular romances.

After the war, novels continued to be a staple in magazines. Leading postwar

magazines included Lamdag, 1947-50; Alimyon, 1952-63; Silaw, 1961-64;
Bagong Suga, 1963-71; and Bisaya, founded in 1930 by Liwayway
Publications’ and the only surviving Cebuano magazine today. Also noteworthy
was Liwayway Publications’ Saloma, launched in 1948 as a monthly pamphlet
that carried novels in full or serial form, both Cebuanooriginals and translations
of Tagalog novels by writers like Nemesio Caravana and Susana C. de Guzman.
Saloma, which lasted for almost 10 years, had a peak circulation of 22,000
copies. Postwar novelists included Martin Abellana, Maximo Bas, Fausto
Dugenio, Lina Espina-Moore (Austregelina Espina), and Hilda Montaire.

Starting in the 1950s, there appeared novels that were consciously modern in
their themes and styles, using such Western devices as the stream-of-
consciousness technique. Noteworthy were Godofredo Roperos ’ Paghugpa
sa Kangitngit (Descent of Darkness), 1951, and Tiburcio Baguio’s Parnaso
(Parnassus), 1959.

To date, around 200 novels in Cebuano have been published. The development
of the Cebuano novel, however, is hounded by problems of outlet and lack of
criticism. While Cebu and the Central Visayas have produced accomplished
novelists in other languages, such as Antonio M. Abad in Spanish and
Edilberto Tiempo and Lina Espina-Moore in English, and while there are fine
writers of short stories in Cebuano, the best Cebuano-language novels still lie
in the future.

The Cebuano short story germinated in the 19th century out of folk narrative
tradition and, more particularly, out of such early prose narratives or
protonarratives as the exemplum (Spanish ejemplo, Cebuano pananglitan),
saints’ lives (Spanish vida, Cebuano bida or kinabuhi), and narrative sketches of
manners called cuadros. Examples of these early forms are the illustrative tales
in Fr. Blas Cavada de Castro’s Ang Suga (The Light), 1879.

A beginning in the short-story form in Cebuano came with Vicente Sotto’s

Maming, which appeared in Sotto’s newspaper, Ang Suga, 16 July 1901, and
is considered the first Cebuano short story. Sotto went on to write other stories
and was joined by early fictionists like Juan Villagonzalo, Pablo Aguilar, Leoncio
Avila, and Uldarico Alviola. The early stories did not often go too far beyond
the narrative sketch, dealing with manners and social issues. The short story
was simply called sugilanon (story) or mubong sugilanon (short story), while
anecdotes and quick sketches in prose were called pinadalagan (run-through)
and binirisbiris (scribblings).

The short story became a popular form in the 20th century. Prewar
practitioners include Vicente Rama, Nicolas Rafols, Fernando Buyser, Vicente
Flores, Sulpicio Osorio, Pantaleon Kardenas, Vicente Garces, Angel Enemecio,
Maria Kabigon, Natalio Bacalso, Florentino Tecson, Rufino Noel, Celerino Uy,
Fausto Dugenio, and Gardeopatra Quijano. Notable published story collections
include Buyser’s Dungog ug Kamatayon (Honor and Death), 1912; Rafols’
Damgo (Dream), 1918; Kardenas’ Sa Akong Payag (In My Hut), 1919; Rama’s
Larawan (Image), 1921; and Sotto’s Mga Sugilanong Pilipinhon (Filipino
Stories), 1929.

Marcel M. Navarra’s Ug Gianod Ako (And I was Borne Away), 1937, is

considered the first modern Cebuano short story because of its conscious
cultivation of style and its attempt at psychological realism through the use of
the first-person point-of-view. Navarra turned out even better stories in the
postwar period, becoming the best short-story writer of his generation.

Postwar short-story writers included Florentina Villanueva, Eugenio Viacrucis,

Luis Ladonga, Tiburcio Baguio, Martin Abellana, Maximo Bas, Laurean Unabia,
Fornarina Enemecio, Hermogenes Cantago, Nazario Bas, Porfirio de la Torre,
Gumer Rafanan, Alex Abellana, Benjamin Montejo, Arturo Peñaserada,
Temistokles Adlawan, and Gremer Chan Reyes. The field was also enriched by
the works of bilingual (English-Cebuano) writers like Estrella Alfon, Lina
Espina-Moore (Austregelina Espina), Felino Diao, Godofredo Roperos, and,
sometime later, Junne Cañizares, Dionisio Gabriel, and Ricardo Patalinjug.

While the Cebuano short story increased in refinement through the present
century, there were factors that made for stagnation. The commercialization of
magazines and the influence of competing media like movies, radio, and comic
books favored the production of quick, formulaic fiction. Art was frequently
subordinated to the demand-and-supply dynamics of a mass entertainment
market. While Cebuano literary organizations and literary competitions tried to
elevate the writer’s craft, publishing conditions and the lack of literary criticism
militated against the artistic development of the Cebuano short story.

The Cebuano has excelled in the short-story form in the other languages: in
Spanish, with Buenaventura Rodriguez and Antonio M. Abad; and in English,
with Estrella Alfon, Lina Espina-Moore, Renato Madrid, and others. In
Cebuano itself, there is a great deal of notable work today. However, while
much has been accomplished, much more can be done.

The essay in Cebuano is a form sired by the introduction of printing in the late
19th century. Since the church dominated early print communications, the first
authors of prose in Cebuano were Spanish priests like Tomas de San Geronimo,
Mateo Perez, Tomas de San Lucas, and Ramon Zueco de San Joaquin, and,
sometime later, Cebuano clergymen like Blas Cavada de Castro, Jose Morales
del Rosario, Alejandro Espina, Emiliano Mercado, and Juan Alcoseba. They
produced such texts as spiritual meditations, saints’ lives, and sermons.

More important in the rise of the essay form was journalism. With the advent
of Cebuano-language periodicals in the 20th century starting with Vicente
Sotto’s Ang Suga in 1901, and, particularly, of Cebuano magazines which were
more congenial to the essay because of a format more capacious compared to
tabloids, articles and essays became popular forms. Magazines like Bag-ong
Kusog (New Strength), 1915-1941; El Boletin Catolico, 1915-1930; The
Freeman, 1919-1941; Nasud (Nation), 1930-1941; Babaye (Woman), 1930-
1940; and Bisaya, 1930, spurred the writing of articles and essays in Cebuano.

As a literary form, the essay developed slowly and unevenly. What proliferated
were journalistic articles, utilitarian, harried, topical, and perishable. These
included commentaries on local politics, history, culture, places, and
personalities. Interest in the cultivation of form was not pronounced since
many of these pieces were largely informational or polemical. They were called
artikulo (article). Words like pinadalagan (quick texts), tampo (contribution), or
simply, sinulat (writings) were used to label these texts.

Among the early writers of articles and essays in Cebuano were Vicente Sotto,
Filemon Sotto, Vicente Rama, Tomas Alonso, Vicente Flores, Marcos Trinidad,
and Maria Kabigon. There were published book-collections of articles and
essays: Vicente Sotto’s Mga Handumanan sa Sugbu (Reminiscences of Cebu),
1926; Pantaleon V. Kardenas ’ In Memoriam, 1937; and Naglantaw sa
Kagahapon (Looking Towards the Past), n.d.; as well as collections by such
English-Cebuano authors as Jose Ma. Cuenco, Vicente Gullas, and Cayetano
Villamor.

There were also ensayos (essays) in Spanish written by the likes of Buenaventura
Rodriguez, Celestino Rodriguez, Antonio M. Abad, Jose Ma. del Mar, Vicente
Padriga, and Ines Villa. A notable work in this respect is Manuel C. Briones ’
Discursos y Ensayos: Temario y Vida Filipina (Speeches and Essays: Philippine
Themes and Life), 1955.

In the postwar period, magazines like Lamdag, 1947-50; Alimyon, 1952-63;

Silaw, 1961-64; and the venerable Bisaya, carried assorted prose texts in
Cebuano. Important writers, particularly on the topics of life and letters,
included Flaviano Boquecosa, Martin Abellana who has published a collection
of short essays— Sentido Komon (Common Sense), and Francisco Candia,
D.M. Estabaya, and others. Notable essays in English (through the medium of
magazine or newspaper columns) have also been done by contemporary writers
like Napoleon G. Rama, whose editorial essays are collected in A Time in the
Life of the Filipino, 1990; Resil B. Mojares, and Simeon Dumdum Jr.
In Cebuano, the conscious cultivation of the prose style has been more manifest
in such types as oratory and “love letters” rather than in the essay form itself.
Writers seem more predisposed towards the oral forms of persuasion and
exposition. The popularity of oratory is shown in the number of published
collections of speeches (actual speeches or model texts), authored by writers like
Fernando Buyser, Angel Enemecio, Cayetano Villamor, and Vicente Florido.
Compilations of model love letters or amoral (texts for “wooing”) are also
popular.

The essay remains a largely undeveloped form in Cebuano. An immediate

reason for this is the matter of medium. Newspapers and magazines generally
carry journalistic articles, editorials, and columns, rather than more reflective,
cultivated literary essays. Book publishing opportunities are limited. A
tradition of orality also inclines writers to more oratorical rather than essayistic
forms of writing.

The Cebuano term gumalaysay has been coined to refer to the “essay.” In
practice, however, the gumalaysay is inadequately distinguished from the
journalistic article. Cebuano writers themselves have not yet arrived at a clear
consensus, whether in practice or in theory, as to what the gumalaysay—as a
distinct literary form—means or requires. Performing Arts

Rarely can a Visayan be found, “unless he is sick, who ceases to sing except
when he is asleep”—thus remarked 17th-century Jesuit chronicler Francisco
Alzina on the prodigious activity of Visayans in the field of music. He noted,
with much amazement, not only the fact that Visayans seemed to be singing all
the time but that they played musical instruments with such dexterity, they
could—by just playing such instruments as the kudyapi (guitar or lute) and
korlong (fiddle) —“speak and make love to one another” (Alzina 1668, 111:64,
678-69).

The field of Visayan and Cebuano music is vast. This is indicated by the array
of native musical instruments in the Visayas, which include percussion tubes
called bayog and karatong, drums called guimbal and tugo, ribbon reeds called
pasyok and turutot, lutes or buktot, violins or litguit, jew’s harp or subing,
clarinets or lantoy, flutes or tulali (Takacs 1976:126-127).

Ubiquitous too was vocal music since songs called ambahan, awit, or biyao were
sung for many purposes and occasions. Songs included saloma (sailor songs),
hila, hele, holo, and hia (work songs), dayhuan (drinking songs), kandu (epic
songs), kanogon (dirges), tirana (debate songs), the balitao romansada (song
form of the balitao) as well as religious chants, courtship and wedding songs,
lullabies and children’s songs, and songs that accompanied various types of
dances and performances. Note an excerpt from a saloma (translation by Simeon
Dumdum Jr.):
 Tapat ako magsakay
Nga dili sa dagat nga malinaw
Kay unos dili ako malunod
Malunod ako sa mga kamingaw.

I’d rather ride the waves

Than the calm of the sea
Because no storm can sink me
More surely than solitude.

Spanish colonial rule exposed Visayans to Western musical traditions. Alzina

(1668, III: 66) notes that in the 17th century, Visayans could already play
Spanish musical instruments with “notable skill.” The Spanish guitar called
sista in Cebuano, superseded indigenous string instruments akin to it and became
so popular that the Visayas, particularly Cebu, has acquired a reputation not
only for guitar players but for the manufacture of fine guitars. Other
instruments, like the alpa (harp), also became widely diffused in the Visayas.

The Spaniards also introduced the Christmas carol called dayegon and a more
Latin touch to the serenade or harana. Below is a representative of the Cebuano
harana (translated by Erlinda K. Alburo):

Jazmin preciosa
Ning kasingkasing
Nga ginapaniba sa kalanggaman
Ginadugok kay bulak nga mahumot
Uban sa hinuyuhoy
Ning tun-og sa kagabhion.

Precious jasmine
Of this heart
Supped by the birds
Whose fragrance attracts many
Wafted by the breeze
In the cool night.

Catholic liturgical music and associated religious songs also became an important
part of the music tradition of the Visayas. Little is now known of Cebuano
composers of early liturgical music and no adequate study has been undertaken
on the adaptation of this music to the Visayas or of its influence on secular
music in the region. While there was a tendency towards rigidification in
liturgical practices in the Spanish period, artistic cross-fertilization undoubtedly
took place. After all, the early missionary accounts themselves frequently cite
how the Spanish missionaries appropriated native songs and reformed their
content to facilitate the communication of new messages. At the very least,
Catholic liturgy—with the important role played in it by songs and chants—
nourished the native passion for music.
American rule also introduced new musical influence into the Visayas,
particularly through the public schools, the stage (as in the case of vaudeville or
bodabil), the phonograph, movies, and radio.

The first half of the 20th century saw a flowering of Cebuano music
composition. A major factor was the rise of Cebuano theater in the early 1900s,
with the sarswela or musical play as the most popular dramatic form. Hence,
there was a demand for music-and-song performances. Teatro Junquera (later
Oriente) in Cebu City showed Cebuano sarswela and Spanish zarzuelas, Italian
opera, and American-style bodabil in the early 1900s. Plays by Buenaventura
Rodriguez and Florentino Borromeo were staged with a complement of as large
as a 32-member orchestra. Off-theater, there were open-air plays staged in
Visayan villages as well as neighborhood performances of the Cebuano balitao.
Then, one must also consider that, beginning with the Spanish period, the social
calendar was filled with religious festivities that created occasions for musical
performances. Hence, it was standard for a town, and even many barrios, to
have a local orchestra or band. In later years, Cebuano movies and radio
programs also stimulated the creativity of composers and performers.

The 20th century saw the advent of the music recording industry in the
Philippines. In the 1920s and 1930s, Cebuano songs and singers were recorded
on phonograph discs. In 1929 for instance, the premier Cebuano singer of the
time, Concepcion Cananea, had already cut 27 songs for Disko Odeon while her
husband, composer Manuel Velez, had 12 songs recorded. (Velez also owned at
this time the Santa Cecilia Music Store in Cebu City, which sold musical
instruments, sheets, and phonographs). In 1931, there was an Odeon Palace in
Cebu City selling phonograph records of compositions by Velez, Brigido
Lakandazon, Piux Kabahar, F. Viñalon, and others, sung by such local artists as
Cananea, Velez himself, and Soledad Noel.

Among the notable composers of this period were Lakandazon, Velez, Celestino
Rodriguez, Piux Kabahar, Hermenegildo Solon, Rafael Gandiongco, Ben Zubiri,
Domingo Lopez, and Tomas Villaflor. Lakandazon, a Tagalog who married a
Cebuana and the settled down in Carcar, Cebu, was an all-around music man
who played several instruments, acted as local bandmaster and music teacher,
and composed music for Cebuano sarswela. Songs composed during this period
included “ Sa Kabukiran ” (In the Mountains) by M. Velez, with lyrics by Jose
Galiciano, “ Rosas Pandan ” and “Kamingaw sa Payag” (Loneliness of the Hut)
by Domingo Lopez, “Salilang” and “Dalagang Pilipinhon” (Filipino Lady) by
Celestino Rodriguez, “Wasay-wasay” by Piux Kabahar, “Aruy-aruy” by Tomas
Villaflor, “Garbosong Bukid” (Vain Mountain) by Hermenegildo Solon, and
“Mutya sa Buhat” (Pearl of Labor) by Rafael Gandiongco.

The prolific character of the prewar and immediate postwar period can be inferred
from the large number of Cebuano composers: Vicente Rubi, Emiliano Gabuya,
S. Alvarez Villarino, Diosdado Alferez, Manuel Villareal, Dondoy Villalon, Vicente
Kiyamko, Estanislao Tenchavez, Ramon Abellana, and the Cabase brothers (Siux,
Sencio, Narding, and Mane). In addition, Cebu produced excellent performers and
singers: the couple Manuel and Concepcion Cananea-Velez and their daughter,
Lilian Velez, together with Eulalia Hernandez, Teodora Siloria, Presing Dakoykoy,
Pablo Virtuoso, and Pilita Corrales.

In time, the growing dominance of Western music and the promotion of Tagalog
music (favored by the fact that Manila is the capital of art and entertainment)
eclipsed Cebuano music composition. Musical activity, however, has remained
active in Cebu through the work of such composers, teachers, and performers as
Pilar B. Sala, Rodolfo E. Villanueva, Ingrid Sala-Santamaria, and the Cebu
Symphony Orchestra. Promotional activities by such groups as the Cebu Arts
Council, Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission, Cebu Arts Foundation,
Cebu Popular Music Festival which has done notable work in encouraging
Cebuano composition of popular songs, and local music schools and radio
stations have encouraged composition and performance in Cebu. There are
indications that Cebuano music composition may again be entering a new
energetic phase in its history.

Cebuano dances are varied. This variety features the colorful surtido Cebuano
of Bantayan, the maligonoy of Consolacion, the la berde and the ohong-ohong
of Carcar, the sampaguita of San Fernando, as well as the paso doble. In
Sibulan, Negros Oriental, San Antonio of Padua is honored with the gapnod
dance; and in Cebu the sinulog and Pit Senyor is performed by devotees before
the image of the Santo Niño. Children dance and sing the yuletide pastores, a
portrayal of the shepherd’s adoration of the Child Jesus. The Cebuano
penchant for mime is demonstrated in the mananagat, a dance about fisherfolk
at work, and the dalagang gamay or “little maiden” in which a girl, singing and
dancing with a handkerchief, plays at being a lady. More unique are the la berde
wherein a boy dances not with one but two girls, and the maramyon, another
pantomime which is accompanied by the singing of dancers or the audience. The
ohong-ohong dance of farmers similarly invokes audience participation.
Performers of these dances are costumed as in other Visayan dances; the women
in patadyong (tubular skirt), camisa, and pañuelo, and the men in barong tagalog.
Generally, the outward flings and extravagant movements in Cebuano dances
manifest the carefree and fun-loving outlook of the Cebuano.

Traditional Cebuano dances have been preserved even if their popularity has
declined. Though the balitao was a prewar favorite popularized by Pedro
Alfafara and Nicolasa Caniban, and later, by Antonio Bohol and Pacing Bohol, it is
rarely performed today because of the general preference for Western dance.
There are hopeful signs, however, that traditional dances like the balitao and
sinulog will not only be preserved but creatively adapted by contemporary
Cebuano choreographers and dancers. Opportunities are provided by festivities
like the Sinulog Festival in Cebu City and the work of school-based dance
groups, like those at the University of San Carlos, Southwestern University,
University of Cebu, and University of the Visayas.

There are as well groups dedicated to the promotion of modern dance forms.
The Cebu Ballet Center, established by Fe Sala-Villarica in Cebu City in 1951,
was the first institution outside Manila to promote training in classical ballet and
has produced such artists as Noordin Jumalon and Nicolas Pacaña.

The indigenous matrix of Cebuano drama is formed by a host of dramatic and

quasi-dramatic performances associated with religious rituals, like the paganito
or pagdiwata ceremonial worship, as well as festive occasions, like the pamalaye
and kulisisi debates and the pangasi drinking sessions. Such survivals of
precolonial practices as the sinulog, the Cebuano dance of worship, and the
balitao, the song-and-dance debate, contain mimetic elements of rudimentary
drama.

Formal theater had its start in the Spanish period. Early plays include a
comedia, written by Jesuit Francisco Vicente Puche, presented in the Cebu
Cathedral on the occasion of the inauguration of a Jesuit grammar school in 1598
and a Bohol play, presumably in Cebuano and thus the first recorded Western-
style vernacular play in the Philippines, on the life of Santa Barbara in 1609.
The Catholic religion, with the celebration of the Mass and the rich array of
church-related pageants and performances, inspired theatrical activity in the
Visayas and elsewhere in the Philippines. There were then twin streams of
theater in the region, one associated with indigenous practices and the other tied
to Catholic religious life.

Secular theater in the modern manner did not become significant until the 19th
century. The moro-moro or komedya, or what came to be called linambay in
Cebuano, an elaborate costume play dramatizing plots drawn from European
metrical romances, began to take root in Cebu, first in the Cebu port area and
later in surrounding towns and villages. It reached the height of popularity in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The last two decades of the 19th century are particularly important. The
komedya flourished with the works of such turn-of-the-century playwrights as
Salvador Gantuangco, Rafael Regis, and Benigno Ubas, and others working in
various parts of Cebu and the Central Visayas. Religious plays were staged,
such as Augustinian Antolin Frias’ one-act Spanish play, La Conquista de Cebu
(The Conquest of Cebu), 1890. Later, Cebuano priests Juan Alcoseba, Ismael
Paras, and others also wrote and staged religious and doctrinal plays. The
sinakulo, a dramatization of the passion and death of Christ, did not become as
popular in Cebu as it did in the Tagalog provinces. Nevertheless Cebu’s Lenten
and other Catholic rituals have never lacked dramatic flair. In performing the
kalbaryo, devotees climb Dita, Talamban, as though following Christ’s path up
Calvary. A spectacular procession in Bantayan Island highlights the semana
santa (holy week). Sugat (meeting) dramatizes the reunion of the resurrected
Christ and the Blessed Mother, an integral part of the Easter Day celebration in
Minglanilla. Nativity plays called tambola and pastora are staged during the
Christmas season, at the end of which the Los Tres Reyes pageant graces the
feast of the Three Magi.

In the 1880s, the Spanish zarzuela was introduced into Cebu, performed first by
visiting Spanish troupes from Manila and later by local aficionados. Such
Manila-based zarzuela companies as those of Navarro and Balzofiori performed
in Cebu in the 1890s. From Cebu City, the sarswela spread to other places like
Carcar and Barili in southern Cebu. In the early 1900s, elements of the sarswela
were incorporated into the minoros or opereta bisaya, a shortened and localized
form of the komedya.

An important event was the establishment in 1895 of Cebu’s first permanent

playhouse, Teatro Junquera on Colon Street. Later called Oriente, this theater
became a focus of important activity. It was here that Vicente Sotto staged his
Ang Paghigugma sa Yutang Natawhan (Love for the Native Land)—the first
Cebuano-language play in the modern, realist manner—on 1 January 1902.
Sotto went on to write other plays and his example was quickly followed by
other Cebuano playwrights, creating a period of intense dramatic activity in
Cebu and other places in the region.

Playwrights of the “golden period” of Cebuano theater from 1900 to 1930

included Buenaventura Rodriguez, Piux Kabahar, Florentino Borromeo,
Celestino Rodriguez, Vicente Alcoseba, Alberto Ylaya, Silverio Alaura, Jose
Galicano, Francisco Labrador, Jose Sanchez, Zacarias Solon, and Victorino
Abellanosa. Composers, actors, and other theater artists included Sabas Veloso,
Sebastian Lingatong, Antonio Kiyamko, Eulalia Hernandez, Concepcion
Cananea, Manuel Velez, Isabelo and Jose Rosales. Plays were staged in
makeshift, open-air stages, cockpits, warehouses, and city playhouses. There
were also attempts to organize theater artists into professional groups, the
earliest attempt perhaps being Vicente Sotto’s Compañia de Aficionados
Filipinos, 1902, and troupes that went on performing tours in the Visayas and
Mindanao, thus giving Cebuano playwrights exposure over a large geographical
area.

Cebuano theater artists also played an important role in early attempts in the
prewar period to produce Cebuano movies. They also supplied talent to the
making of soap operas and musical variety programs in Cebu’s radio stations in
the postwar period. However, the advent of these new forms of mass
entertainment—movies and radio—also led to the eclipse of Cebuano theater.

The postwar period failed to recapture the high creativity of the early 20th
century. Old plays continued to be staged, particularly during town fiestas; new
playwrights emerged; and some of the older artists, like Emiliano Gabuya and
Leox Juezan, continued pursuing the art by bringing their companies of
performers to towns and villages in the southern provinces. There continued to
be avid audiences in the towns to the plays of writers like Diosdado Alferez,
Lorenzo Alerre, Galileo Varga, and Anatalio Saballa. The linambay lived on,
albeit fitfully, in the rural areas. Yet, there was a slackening of theatrical activity
as plays in Cebuano lost the prestige of the days of Buenaventura Rodriguez
and Piux Kabahar.

Today, theater has become an occasional activity, kept minimally alive by

colleges and universities staging annual plays, by local art associations, and by
dedicated theater persons. These urban institutions and individuals have also
played a role in presenting to local audiences modern Western plays in English,
such as those by Tennessee Williams, Bertolt Brecht, or Neil Simon.

Cebuano theater still has to fully break out of its postwar stagnation. There are
interesting signs, however, beginning with the 1970s and 1980s, of renewed
interest in Cebuano-language theater with the revival of Cebuano sarswela by
university theater guilds, the efforts of playwrights and theater artists like
Rodolfo Villanueva, Delia Villacastin, Claudio Evangelio, Allan Jayme Rabaya,
and Orlando Magno, and the work of nationalist cultural organizations linked to
other groups in the country dedicated to the promotion of a “national theater
movement.”Film and Broadcast

Cinema came to Cebu in 1902 when films were first shown by the
Cinematografo Electro-Optico Luminoso Walgrah in Cebu City. In the years
that followed, various cinematographs operated out of cockpits, warehouses,
and playhouses in Cebu City. By the second decade of the century, there were
regular cinema houses in Cebu City, like Cine Ideal, 1911; Cine Auditorium,
1922; and Cine Oriente (the old Teatro Junquera).

It was not until 1922-1923, however, that Visayan moviemaking had a start
when a group led by Max Borromeo, Celestino Rodriguez, and Florentino
Borromeo collaborated to make El hijo disobediente (The Disobodient Son), the
first Cebuano full-length silent movie. In 1938, the first talking motion picture
in Cebuano, Bertoldo-Balodoy, was produced by Estudio Americo-Filipino,
Cebu’s first film company, owned by Virgilio R. Gonzalez. Playwright Piux
Kabahar wrote and directed the movie. Gonzalez produced two other films,
Gugmang Talagsaon (Rare Love), 1940, and Mini (Fake), 1940, before the
Pacific War broke out.

After World War II, the Cebuano movie industry entered its most active period.
The first postwar films were Sa Kabukiran, 1947; Timbu Mata, 1948; and
Luha sa Kalipay (Tears of Joy), 1949. Visayan movie companies included Star
Pictures, organized by Manuel Velez; Mutya Productions, owned by Rafael
Ramos and headed by Natalio Bacalso; Azucena Pictures, owned by the Arong
family; and S-R Productions, of the movie couple Mat Ranillo Jr. and Gloria
Sevilla. The industry produced such notable screenwriters and directors as Piux
Kabahar, Fernando Alfon, Natalio Bacalso, S. Alvarez Villarino, Leox Juezan
and Gene Labella. Audiences in the Visayas and Mindanao thrilled to the
performances of such stars as Mat Ranillo Jr., Gloria Sevilla, Esterlina (Ester
Colina-Labella), Eva de Villa, Bert Nombrado, Virgie Solis, Intang Navarro,
Danilo Nuñez, Arcadio Roma, and Caridad Sanchez.

There were around 80 Cebuano movies produced between 1947 and 1960.
These included Leox Juezan’s Dimakaling, 1950; Azucena Pictures’ Pailub
Lang (Be Forebearing), 1951; Natalio Bacalso’s Salingsing sa Kasakit
(Shoots of Pain), 1955, which won a FAMAS (Filipino Academy of Movie
Arts and Sciences) Best Picture nomination and a Best Child Actor award for
Domingo “Undo” Juezan; and S. Alvarez Villarino’s Matam-is ang Pagpaubos
(‘Tis Sweet to Suffer), 1957.

Cebuano-language films were not limited to Cebu. In Davao, an attempt was

made to establish a local industry when playwright Emiliano Gabuya organized
La Suerte Motion Pictures, which produced Bagane, 1954.

By 1960, however, the Cebuano movie industry had started to decline. A few
movies were produced in the 1960s, including Badlis sa Kinabuhi (Mark of
Life), 1969, directed by the Tagalog Leroy Salvador, which won the Best
Actress award for Gloria Sevilla in both the FAMAS and the 16th Asian Film
Festival in Jakarta in 1969. Badlis was also chosen best black-and-white film in
Jakarta and was entered in the Berlin Film Festival of 1969.

Cebuano movie companies could not compete with their Tagalog counterparts’
economies of scale, larger resource base, wider reach, and control of nationwide
theater bookings. While there were moves for the complementation of Tagalog
and Cebuano movie companies, like lease of equipment, exchange of services,
and even the dubbing of films, these did not prevent the decline of the local
movie industry. In 1956 at least two Cebuano films— Salingsing sa Kasakit
and Mutya sa Saging Tindok (Talisman of the Banana Tree)—were dubbed in
Tagalog for national distribution. Cebuano talents gravitated towards Manila.
Gloria Sevilla, Caridad Sanchez, and other Visayan artists made names for
themselves in Tagalog movies. Earlier, there was the case of Rudy Robles, a
Visayan who earned some distinction in Hollywood in the 1940s, starring in
films like Real Glory, Singapore, and Okinawa.

While sporadic attempts have been made to revive the industry, the reemergence
of a Cebuano film industry will rest on a complex of factors not only aesthetic
but economic and political. In the main, this would depend on the extent to
which political and economic decentralization favors the rise of alternative
centers of cultural production outside Manila.

The first radio station in Cebu was KZRC (“The Voice of Cebu”) which was
opened in 1929 with American Harry Fenton as manager. The first radio station
outside Manila, it received transmission from the short-wave transmitter of
KIZR in Manila. It kept broadcasting until 9 April 1942, the day before the
Japanese invasion of Cebu. KZRC resumed broadcasting on 24 August 1947
and changed its name to DYRC in 1949. In 1949 a sister-station, DYBU, was
also established in Cebu City.

Cebuano radio broadcasting expanded in the postwar period. In 1992 there were
12 AM and 14 FM stations, second only to Manila in number of stations. In
addition, six national television networks broadcast through local stations in
Cebu. In 1991 cable television also came to Cebu with the establishment of the
Cebu Cable Television, Inc. Only a small fraction of television time, however, is
devoted to programs produced in Cebu City. For this reason, and in view of the
fact that radio is a much more widely diffused medium, it is radio which has
provided greater opportunities for nourishing Cebuano talents in the broadcast
media.

Radio has promoted such arts as music, drama, and oratory. In the prewar
period, KZRC ran the popular programs Amateur Hour which made Ben “Iyo
Karpo” Zubiri, the program host, a household name; and Sunday Night
Serenade. Both of these were big entertainment events broadcast from Cebu
City’s Freedom Park. In the 1950s DYRC had such weekly programs as Mga
Haranista (Serenaders), directed by Ben Zubiri, and Takna sa Hudyaka (Hour
of Fun), which had popular program host Presentacion “Tikay” Dakoykoy. In
the 1950s and 1960s, Cebu Broadcasting Corporation, which operated DYRC
and DYBU, was home for such talents as Ben Zubiri, S. Alvarez Villarino,
Diosdado Alferez, Cedric Tumulak, Rudy Rubi, Nenita “Inday Nita” Cortes.
Popular programs of the 1960s included Upat ka Badlongon (The Four Brats),
a comedy skit that featured Ben Zubiri, Jose Mercado, and Ester “Esterlina”
Colina-Labella, and was directed by Diosdado Alferez; and Tipaka sa
Kagahapon (Fragments of the Past), a drama series written and directed by
Nenita “Inday Nita” Cortes.

There has been active cross-fertilization among such media as theater, film, and
radio broadcast. Playwrights like Piux Kabahar, Natalio Bacalso, and S. Alvarez
Villarino contributed their talents to radio as writers and program personalities.
Bacalso, Cebuano radio’s most popular “commentator,” enriched the medium
with his gift of language. By airing balitao performances, Cebuano folk and
popular music, and Cebuano poetry, radio has also contributed to the
preservation and promotion of local traditions.

Radio drama or soap opera remains an important form. It is estimated that

around 20 percent of Cebu AM radio time is devoted to drama in Cebuano.
Contemporary radio playwrights include Ben Abarquez Villaluz, Marcos
Navarro Sacol, and Leonilo Estimo. • R. Mojares and M.P. Consing
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