HISTORIC PARIAN, CEBU - UPDATES

Historic Parian, Cebu Updates

by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Every time I visit Cebu, there is a new development in the Historic District that surprises me. Once it was seeing the Cathedral, grounds, and nearby Cathedral Museum fully restored to their Colonial grandeur; another time it was seeing the Plaza Independencia all dolled up, clean and landscaped; other times it was watching the Yap-Sandiego House and the Jesuit House rise up to become two of the most visited historic sites in Cebu. This time, I was delighted to see that a Chinese Museum is forthcoming in the port area. I'm talking about the old historic building along the wharf, facing the City Hall. It seems appropriate that it will become a Chinese Museum, given the long and colorful history of the Chinese in historic Cebu.

I am a lover of Old Cebu and yearn for the area to experience a revival. Most other countries have preserved their historic districts, creating memorable places for their constituents and tourists alike. The fact is that such historic areas bring in a lot of tourist revenue to the government and locals; consider the income tourists can generate from staying in hotels, eating, buying souvenirs, commuting, and so on – a lot of money. But the government and locals themselves need to make an effort to fix and clean up the historic sites and surrounding areas. It’s a win-win situation, if only people would think about it.

Aside from the forthcoming Chinese Museum, I saw that the Jesuit House has developed a new gallery with an informative exhibit about the findings and history of the area. And plowing ahead with his development of the historic 1703 Jesuit House, owner Jaime Sy is constructing a reproduction of the façade of the Old Colon Houses, with the overhanging tiled “tayamtam.” It will be used as a café, and I assume perhaps a souvenir shop or two, as this project develops.

Jaime Sy and Val Sandiego (who owns the Yap-Sandiego House fronting the Heritage Monument) have been persistent in fixing their historic places, sinking lots of their personal funds in the process.  Cebu should be grateful to people like these who are concerned about preserving historic sites and not than just making money.

I wish more Cebuanos would have such dedication to history and culture. Maybe then, someone with money would buy the vacant lot fronting the Heritage Museum. This would be the perfect place to build a Colonial style building for shops and offices; such a structure would contribute much to the development of historic Cebu.

Talking with friends the other day, we thought it would be lovely if the Aboitiz family, who owns the Casa Gorordo Museum and RAFI Foundation in the historic district, would develop this vacant lot. The Aboitiz family is after all a land developer, among other things, and I am sure such a development would be an easy matter for such a wealthy and powerful family. It would tie their name in further as pioneers in the gentrification of Old Cebu, building on their developments of the Casa Gorordo Museum and RAFI Foundation.

Speaking of the Casa Gorordo, I attended the June 24 fiesta in the Parian District of Cebu.  The patron saint of the community is St. John the Baptist, and as a member of the Cofradia, I participated in the prayers, procession, and dinner at the Casa Gorordo as a guest of Pepit Revilles, member of the Gorordo Family, who owned the Casa Gorordo. When Pepit sold the Casa Gorordo and grounds to the Aboitiz family, they agreed that the June 24 fiesta celebration in the Casa Gorordo will be continued. Pepit described how her family hosted such fiesta dinners every June 24.

Unfortunately this year’s June 24 fiesta dinner was rained on; in addition somewhat perturbing was that instead of having an old-fashioned fiesta dinner as the Gorordo Family would have held, the event turned out to be a corporate affair, complete with two videos about RAFI and a RAFI project (Gabii Sa Kabilin), and a repeated invitation to partners to partner up with RAFI.  This introduction took so much time that by the time Pepit Revilles talked about her family traditional fiesta dinner, the audience was quite confused about the point of the evening.  Perhaps the fiesta dinner ought to stay focused on the point of the event, which is to continue the tradition of having an old-fashioned fiesta dinner after the procession honoring St. John the Baptist, patron of the Parian District of Cebu. An understated mention of RAFI’s role in maintaining this quaint family tradition of the Gorordo family would have been more appropriate, and would have maintained the kind of warmth that the Gorordo family had when they had such fiesta dinners. (Strangely, there were two caterers, one hired by RAFI and the other by Pepit Revilles, for the June 24 dinner.)

Still another place that I visited was the Sugbu Museum, which always impresses me at how well-laid out the exhibits are. My favorites are the galleries with the Pre-hispanic artifacts. Congratulations to Jobers Bersales who continues to maintain this museum at a high standard; it is now rated the best in such tourist books as the Lonely Planet, and in internet sites such as TripAdvisor.

I haven’t had the chance to visit Café Elysa Restaurant, one of my favorites in Cebu, but will do so when I have the chance. I am anxious to see what wonderful things owner Steve Aznar and manager Joy Uy have done to this delightful Restaurant (also ranked highly in TripAdvisor).

Until next time, this is Cecilia Brainard reporting from Cebu City.

tags: Cebu City, Philippines, Cebu tourism, historic Cebu, heritage, Museo Sugbo, Cafe Elysa, Casa Gorordo, 1730 Jesuit House, RAFI, Yap-Sandiego Museum