The Cebu-based AboitizLand is investing millions of peso in real estate for the development project in Metro Cebu.

Aboitizland, consider as one of the Philippine’s oldest and biggest business corporations is engaged in the designing and development of distinct communities for residential, industrial and commercial uses.

more on Aboitizland…

As a child, we always experience being scolded by our grandparents, parents or even our own ‘manang’ (elder sisters). They either punish us with asin, belt or even scare us with cebuano mythical creatures like ’sigbin’ just to change the way we behave or to mellow us from an afternoon of non-stop playing. They will always scream their lungs out, “hala sige ki-at naa bayay sigbin diha sa likod”. This type of scolding has worked for me at first but as soon as I grew more ‘horns’, a harsher punishment was done.

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As a child, we always experience being scolded by our grandparents, parents or even our own ‘manang’ (elder sisters). They either punish us with asin, belt or even scare us with cebuano mythical creatures like ’sigbin’ just to change the way we behave or to mellow us from an afternoon of non-stop playing. They will always scream their lungs out, “hala sige ki-at naa bayay sigbin diha sa likod”. This type of scolding has worked for me at first but as soon as I grew more ‘horns’, a harsher punishment was done.

But I have often wondered how a ’sigbin’ looks like. I have heard a lot of stories about it from folks in our province. One of these is that ’sigbins’ are actually spies of aswangs (witches) and that they are kept in ‘banga’ or in jars. They never describe it in details but they say it looks like a kangaroo. Many have claimed to see one but there are no proofs of its existence. Over the years this curiosity of mine about the creature has slowly died out.

Not until the emergence of the band ‘Junior Kilat’ when they included a track from their very well-received critically-acclaimed album called ‘Original Sigbin’, my curiosity was then rekindled. This poses a lot of questions in my mind. According to them ’sigbins’ are stories that are only known around the Visayas provinces particularly Cebu. True enough, some old folks who usually tell stories about ’sigbins’ are found in the Visayas provinces. But are ’sigbins’ originally Cebuano? How does it look? Where can it be found?

I may ask these types of questions about the mythical creature over and over again and it might be that I won’t find any answers to them but all I can say is that the stories of every folk in big towns or hidden barrios are very much well weaved into details that one would feel that these stories actually happened. Stories and myths such as the ’sigbins’ is truly a gem into our rich heritage as Cebuanos and it has added a little pinch of spice into our childhood memories!!!!

(I’m still hoping to see one though..Heheheheh)

“Family Prays Together” by Amper Campaña of Sunstar Cebu

“Kalagkalag sa Nobyembre” by Arni Aclao of Sunstar Cebu

“Mother and Child Light Candle at Calamba Cemetery” by Alex Badayos, Photograher of Sunstar Cebu Newspaper

If you drool at the sight of this sleek machine pictured here and you can’t help but dream on, now it’s your chance to own this ultra-modern aerodynamic car which would surely give you an idea of how a driving comfort is reengineered to suit the discriminating taste of today’s generation.

Just one simple thing to do. Go to SM City Cebu Food Court and dine in at any of the food outlets there and you will get a raffle coupon by showing your receipt at the redemption booth.

That’s it! Simple, right?

Oops! One last thing! Drop in your entries…………and……..yes, DREAM!

Need more details? Click here

Another world-class international event to happen in Cebu is the upcoming International Culinary Congress (Iccon) 2005 to be held at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel on September 22-23, 2005.

The Cebu Visitors and Convention Bureau (CVCB), in partnership with Cebu City government and the Department of Tourism (DOT), with the support of prestigious hotels and restaurants, is holding the Philippine’s first and largest culinary 2-day event that would see the meeting of important personalities and industry leaders in food service industry.

As a way of support, Cebu Pacific Air has announced that special airline rates will be offered to the official delegates to the said event.

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With Cebu’s rapid growth bursting at the seams, the Cebu Ports Authority (CPA) has been touting to move the current site of Cebu International Port from the North Reclamation Area to Cordova in Mactan Island.

With the current volume of shipping activities in the province’s only international seaport, the authority projected that a few years from now, the facility would reach its handling capacity and therefore needs to be expanded to accommodate an expected increase in volume.

Cordova, the only town located in the southern tip of Mactan Island, was eyed to be the future site of a modern international port due to its location in close proximity to Cebu City and the two largest processing zones in Lapu-Lapu City.

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Cebu’s vision to become the country’s IT hub is gaining support from the nation’s largest telecommunications providers. Wireless broadband internet access is now rolled out in Metro Cebu area from Minglanilla in the south to as far north as Danao City.

With fast access to information vital for economic development, Cebuano community can now rely on an efficient wireless telecommunication system unrivalled in other areas in the country. Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), the dominant telecommunications carrier and Smart Communications, its wholly-owned subsidiary, are making these things possible virtually putting Cebu on the road to high-speed internet access.

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Japan used to be Cebu’s major tourist market until Koreans displaced them in recent years. Japanese tourists are reputed to have stayed the longest on average per visit and spend more per capita than any other foreign tourists who visit Cebu. Due to the increased frequency of flights per week between Korea and Cebu, Koreans displaced Japanese as Cebu’s largest foreign visitors although Japanese tourists continue to increase in numbers.

Cebu is the most accessible tourist destination than any other places in the country with international and charter flights to and from Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Qatar, Malaysia, Taiwan, and USA. With its white sandy beaches and turquoise waters, world-class resorts/hotels, world-class dive sites, mild tropical climate all-year round, superb peace and order situation, abundant cultural and historical relics, and generally hospitable people, Cebu continue to attract hordes of foreign and local tourists to its shores.

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In death as in life, Sotto had always wanted to be known as a fighter. In his last will and testament, he directed his heirs to bury his cadaver upright to show that even in death, “he was on his feet to fight for what he thinks is right.”

And even when literally on his deathbed, Sotto found strength to call newspapermen to boycott Malacañang for what he thought were restrcitions on a supposedly free press ( a Manila Chronicle reporter was expelled by then president Elpido Quirino from the premises of Malacañang).

He was one of the practicing Cebuano lawyers and despite the fact that he publicly claimed himself to be very bourgeois, he had counted among his clients, Crisanto Evangelista, imprisoned labor leader and founder of the old Partido Komunista.

As a journalist, he held the record for having La Justicia and El Nacional, both of which were ordered closed by the American colonial authorities for expressing nationalist sentiments and allegiance to the Aguinaldo government. He was also briefly incarcerated in Fort San Pedro for his journalistic activities. He later exiled himself to Hongkong where he continued publishing.

In 1950, Sotto died of leukemia at the age of 72, leaving his term as senator unfinished. After a necrological service held at the session hall of the Legislative building, Sotto’s corpse was returned to Cebu for burial at a family plot at the Municipal cementery. His funeral cortege was said to have been the longest ever with more than a kilometer long of mourners. Sympathizers marched from the Provincial Capitol to the Municipal cementery on San Miguel St.

In a 1950 Free Press Manila article, nationalist statesman Lorenzo Tañada remarked upon death of Vicente Sotto, “We have lost a fighter.”