Feedback to Honorable Mike Rama, Mayor of Cebu

MORE ON PARIAN DEVELOPMENTS
(Feedback to Honorable Mike Rama, Mayor of Cebu)
by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

I have been tempted to write a letter to the Mayor, Mike Rama, but I didn’t want to get entangled with the technicalities of how one should address the Mayor – should that be Honorable Mike Rama, or Mayor Mike Rama, or Mr. Mike Rama? Everyone calls him Mike Rama, and I’ve met him a couple of times, and he’s a very personable guy who’ll sing at the first request. So I decided to blog my feedback to him.

What I want to say to him is this: Thank you for your beautification program that’s going on in Historic Cebu. I live in Old Cebu and I see street cleaners cleaning twice a day – note that’s twice a day. Many of the roads have been re-asphalted. If I’m not mistaken, the river with the historic bridge with a plaque is being dredged. At least it looked that way. And here I note that while a heavy rain was going on, this river flowed, meaning the water is moving and not adding to the flooded streets.

Those of us involved in heritage work in Cebu have always known Mike Rama supported the development of Historic Cebu. Now that he’s mayor, he’s “walking his talk.”

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, or Honorable Mayor, or Mike!

Now I’d like to suggest a few things related to the cleanup beautification program:

1. How about putting out garbage cans so the public can stop throwing trash on the roads and sidewalk? I realize real cans may get stolen, but how about using those gigantic containers made of recycled tire rubber? I believe I saw something like this in the Metro Manila area.

2. How about having some clean public bathrooms, where people can pay a few pesos to use the facilities, and put some of our own people to work by minding those toilets. I saw this in Eastern Europe where they had public bathrooms minded by old women, who kept the bathrooms scrupulously clean, and one had to pay a bit to use the facilities.

3. To encourage building owners in the historic district to participate in this beautification program, how about the local government offer some tax breaks for those who paint their homes or fix up their places?

4. How about we educate some of these building owners in the historic district of Cebu that the days of warehouses and boarders are at a wane and that it’s time to look at improving their buildings with the idea that the area is historic and that tourists visit it?

5. How about the government implement laws against illegal unlicensed structures, hanging over or right next to or even over rivers and creeks? As you know, Mr. Mayor, for the first time, our Fuente Osmena has experienced flooding. Cebu needs clear channels for water to flow to the sea, otherwise the very people living on the banks of these rivers and creeks will be seriously jeopardized when there is flooding, as what happened recently in Davao. They should be relocated and the waterways dredged and cleaned. It is a necessity for the good of all. I’m also speaking about waterways that have been completely built over, in the Tinago area. I also understand some big department stores in the Colon area have built over waterways, using these as part of their properties. Flood water now simply does not have a channel to flow through and thus flows throughout the city. Disaster and tragedy wait ready to happen if these are unattended to. (I’m not even talking about aesthetics and the health hazards of having human waste dumped straight into our rivers.)

6. The irregular sidewalks will kill tourists; so the City should probably do something about these. Maybe I’m asking too much, but how about looking at a section and focusing on that, as they did in Vigan, where they developed just a few streets until the idea caught on? How about the part where tourists do a walking tour – let’s fix up the sidewalks there!


Mr. Mayor, Honorable Mayor, Mike, am I dreaming, or is it a real possibility that the historic district can be beautiful, and that Cebuanos can one day soon be genuinely proud to show off this place to the numerous tourists that come see it anyway?

How many tourists do we get during the sinulog – millions, am I right? And those tourists will spend money in Cebu, and hotels, restaurants, taxis, stores, everyone is going to benefit from the visitors.

Truly, from the bottom of heart, thank you for your beautification

Lola Remedios and Her Sayas, published Zee Lifestyle August-September 2009

LOLA REMEDIOS AND HER SAYAS
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Published in Zee Lifestyle, Aug-Sept 2009

When I was small I used to listen to my mother (Concepcion Cuenco Manguerra) talk about her lola or grandmother, and there was another lola she spoke of, only this one was referred to as “lola sa tuhod.” It took me a long while to figure out that she was talking about her grandmother and great grandmother. The great grandmother she referred to was Juana Lopez who originally came from Naic, Cavite and who did business in Cebu and Leyte. Year ago, when I was gathering genealogical information about my family, an aunt sent me a brief description of Juana Lopez as someone “who loved to dance. “

This surprised me because pictures of her show an oval-faced serious woman with hair severely swept back. In the photos, Juana wears a saya and a camisa, and the black and white photos increase the severity of her looks. She may have been more flirtatious than her pictures suggest because she married a second time, to a Veloso in Leyte. She had children with that second marriage, but I’m guessing that her first child, Remedios, gave her headaches as only firstborns are capable of doing. Consider this: Remedios married my great grandfather when she was only 13. Even though women married early in the olden days, I’m almost certain that Juana was shocked when her daughter announced she’d be quitting her schooling at the Inmaculada to marry the school teacher and poet, Mariano Albao Cuenco. It seemed the marriage was a good one; Remedios bore over a dozen children, although only four survived to adulthood.

Remedios was the grandmother my mother spoke of with great awe. In fact, I believe that Remedios had been her role model, especially when my mother became a young widow. Listen to what my granduncle Archbishop Jose Ma. Cuenco of Jaro, Iloilo said about Remedios as a widow: “My good mother was a woman of strong determination, ready to overcome all obstacles. Besides she was business-minded. With these qualities she was able to relieve our poor condition. Little by little, she bought land on which she built several houses. The high rents of these houses were a great source of income to us.”

Following Remedios’ footsteps, my mother, after my father died, bought properties, built houses on them, and rented them out. She sent all four of us children to college and to graduate schools abroad.

Remedios was widowed at 39, with three sons, a daughter, and the family of her second son staying in her house. She not only invested in real estate, she also ran her husband’s publishing business, Imprenta Rosario, making her the first woman publisher of Cebu. She continued raising her children in the intellectual and religious atmosphere that she and her husband had created. She must have been proud of her children’s accomplishments: the oldest son became an archbishop; the second son became a senator; the third son, a representative; and the daughter a writer.
What astonishes me, is that not only was she excellent at juggling the publishing business, real estate business, and her family, Remedios took meticulous care of her looks. All her pictures show a slender woman, dressed in elaborate and elegant saya, camisa and panuelo.

In a photo taken in 1895, she is wearing an elaborately embroidered panuelo, and a chic black ribbon with a cameo or pendant; she is wearing large earrings. Her hair is pulled back in a bun, and no doubt she had a peineta in her hair, as was the custom of the days.

A photo taken a few years later shows her wearing a printed long skirt and a light colored filmy camisa and panuelo with lace edges. She wears interesting jewelry – necklace, earrings, ring.

In a picture taken around 1909, after she was widowed, we see her wearing an attractive skirt with stripes and the camisa and panuelo pick up the lively pattern.
And in a photo taken when she is an old woman surrounded by her children and one grandson, she is finely dressed in a saya that is richly embroidered. She wears rings, a bracelet and a necklace.
The photos are in black and white but the clothes were no doubt richer in color – indigo blue, emerald green, deep red, glowing yellow perhaps.


In her book, Life in Old Parian, Concepcion G. Briones, has fine descriptions of Remedios from the 1920s:

“I still retain in my mind’s eye the picture of Doña Remedios Lopez Cuenco — the Cuenco matriarch hurrying to her front door to welcome Msgr. Giuguilmo Piani, the Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, who, at that time, was to confer the Vicar-General title on her erudite son, Msgr. Jose Maria Cuenco, at the nearby Cathedral.
“Nyora Medyos wore a satin merino (navy-blue) saya, wide and bouffant, an elegant camisa, and a panuelo which was pinned on her bosom with a magnificent brooch of gold and pearls. Tucked inside the waist of her saya, on the left side, was the golden-chain or porta-abanico which, as the name implies, held her big silk fan. Jewelry? She had the most gorgeous ones, too. Old gold and pearls, rubies and diamonds worn at her throat, on her fingers or on her wrists…”

In another part of her book, Briones writes: “Nyora Medyos used to come very early, mornings, in sayas and kimono to the printing press — her long black curly hair falling down to her waist, freshly shampooed and fragrant with samuyao…”
This is an interesting and vivid description of Remedios with her flowing long hair. The sensual image belies the fact that she would be typesetting and working huge heavy presses that crashed and clanked — a man’s work, really. (My mother told me that the powerful machines shook their residence above.)

It should be understood that Remedios was an unusual woman — she was strong, intelligent, determined, driven, possessed with a devil-may-care attitude about what people thought of her hands smeared with ink from the printing press. She was the matriarch of a family that was demonstrating its leadership in politics as well as in the church, and she and her family displayed the trappings of importance: a home in fashionable Colon Street furnished with fine things; her sons studied abroad; and family members took the time to clothe themselves in fine silks, satins, piña, with embroidery and lace. Shoes matched. There were different sets of jewelry for daytime, nighttime, casual occasions, as well as rock-size diamonds for important events and for investment.

It was a different era then — a time of gentility, of gallantry, of romance, of elegance, a time when people sat on the azotea to catch the breeze, a time when neighbors dropped by for afternoon visits. We, who are used to our current-date city life, who rush about in our jeans and pants and T-shirts, no longer know this life.
Remedios did not remarry. She was an attractive, good-looking, dynamic woman, and there must have been men who were interested in her. But she devoted her life to her family and her businesses. Remedios died in 1945 at the age of 75.

Curiously, my own mother who was also fond of dancing and beautiful dresses never remarried either. She too devoted her life to her children and businesses. Even when she became old, my mother continued to dress elegantly, copying perhaps her role model, Remedios Lopez Cuenco. ~~~ end (copyright 2009 by Cecilia Brainard)
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Read also
Life in Parian Now
Cebu's 1730 Jesuit House 
The Secret Hall of Angels 
A Story of Hope
Finding Jose Rizal in Cebu
Lola Remedios and her Sayas
Lunch with F. Sionil Jose
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tags: Cebu, Sugbo, Philippines, travel, tourism, history, women, politics, Cuenco Family

SAN JUAN BATISTA FIESTA OF PARIAN, OLD CEBU

The Parian district of historic old Cebu just celebrated the fiesta of its patron, St. John the Baptist. I am waiting to hear how it turned out, but here's an early quick report from Atty. Lynley Ocampo who attended the event with the Osmena Canoys (mother and daughter). I'll continue to paste reports as they come in. The old pictures show the Parian triangle and Parian church as these once appeared. The old church was torn down and there is a small chapel that stands in its place. Now under the care of the Cofradia de San Juan Batista, the chapel was where tridium prayers and the fiesta Mass were held. Cardinal Vidal said the Mass. Knowing the Cofradia people, headed by Louie Nacorda, the chapel was decorated nicely, and the antique statues of San Juan, Jesus, and Angel held court in there.


More as news comes in.

From Lynley Ocampo:
Thank you very much for the invitation. We had a very lovely evening. It
was also very interesting to see Ng Titang Diola for the very first time.
It was a different experience for me. The Canoys also give their thanks.

During the short program, Louie told us that he petitioned San Juan if he
could please stop the rain - or not make it rain from 9am to 9pm since it
had been raining for two days already. When Louie realized that the
program started late, he asked for an extension of one hour. It hasn't
rained even up to this morning. We were unable to join the procession and
went straight to dinner. Am looking forward to next year's festivities.



From Louie Nacorda:
...we had the most grandiose feast ever yesterday! The Mass and procession were well attended; we had three carrozas, three bands, and Casa Gorordo was full house, up to the balcony! The weather was cool and dry. St. John the Baptist must have been very happy. Even the Gorordo ghosts made manifestations to some people in the azotea!

Viva Señor San Juan Bautista!

CLEAN UP RIVERS, CREEKS, CANALS IN OLD CEBU!

The recent January Sinulog festival in Cebu City drew approximately a million people. That's a lot of people. There were quite a lot of foreigners - Europeans, Americans, balikbayans. The city was packed with people.

Anyway, one day during the Sinulog week, I walked down Logarta Street in Historic Cebu, and I saw a foreigner, a young man, gawking at the creek or canal under the historic bridge there. I forget the historic designation of this particular bridge, but there is a plaque beside it that Mayor Tommy Osmena put up a number of years ago.

To my great embarrassment, this foreign young man looked with horror at the filth in the canal; and indeed it was dirty. It had every bit of imaginable filth in there - plastic, paper, dead things, no doubt excrement from the slum houses that jut out over the canals. Really, I was filled with such shame. I have been very enthusiastic about the gentrifying of historic Old Cebu, and have lauded the efforts of the Aboitizes with their work in Casa Gorordo Museum and RAFI, and the tireless enthusiasm and creativity of Val Sandiego; and the Cathedral Museum people are also doing their share. In fact the Cathedral is sprucing up the church, sidewalks, and lot in front of the church. There is so much improvement going on, and I've been so proud of it, but my stomach churned when I saw the expression of disgust on this foreigner's face, and frankly the canal was repulsive. You could have caught every disease on earth if you fell in it. Such filth near human beings is not sanitary. Even animals know to defecate and urinate far away from where they sleep. I've heard of cases of dengue in Cebu - haven't people considered that dirty places such as these rivers and canals just may be responsible?

I mentioned Cebu's dirty rivers, creeks, and canals to some people. The answer I got was that the dirt is coming from higher areas, not just from the downtown Cebu. I'm not sure about this, because I can see that the rickety houses with makeshift rooms hanging over the creeks are probably using these creeks as their toilets. They do not think twice about throwing garbage into these creeks, or on the streets for that matter.

Cebu officials ought to do something about this problem. It's one thing to be poor, another to be dirty. One can be poor and clean. It is inexcusable, unpardonable to be dirty. In fact it is unsanitary to the point of risking the lives of children when such filth is right under people's noses. Germs live there; germs cause diseases.

For starters, is it not possible for someone to rake the floating debris off the water? Even that effort could make the creeks look 80% better. If Cebu has street sweepers, how about canal cleaners?

And if the debris is coming from higher areas, can't the people who live there, as well as those who live downtown, be educated about cleaning our rivers and creeks?

In 2000, Manila decided to clean up the equally filthy Pasig River. I remember that the Pasig River used to be so dirty, no fish lived in it. It was covered with plant life, which meant the river itself was dead. Well, Manila got a financial assistance package of $176 million, approved by the Asian Development Bank. I can say that the program definitely worked. I have taken the ferry down the Pasig and have seen fish in the Pasig. The river is for the most part sparkling clean. There are slogans painted on walls, constant reminders that the river is our life. Click here to read about the clean-up program of Pasig.

I say that if the Pasig River could be cleaned up, the rivers and creeks of Cebu can also be cleaned up. But we need government involvement, and we need public participation. We need education, a heightened consciousness that there is a problem, and that each one can do something to solve the problem.

I understand there is now a cleanup program for the Guadalupe River (click here to read article City Uses Korean model for river rescue plan); why don't we extend that cleanup program to include the downtown creeks? If Korea cleaned up their river in three years and turned it into a major attraction for locals and tourists, so can Cebu.

Water is vital to life. I hope that the people of Cebu, whether they be in the government or private sector pay attention to this problem. Maybe City officials who are now starting to see the tourist potential of Historic Cebu can do something to clean up our rivers, creeks, and canals. It's not just about tourism; it's basic hygiene. These rivers, creeks, canals are serious health hazards. Imagine where the water from these rivers, creeks canals go - straight to the sea; imagine fish and other living things in that sea bombarded by all that filth; imagine our fishermen catching fish from that sea; imagine that same fish on your dining table. It's just all a cycle.

I'm posting some clean canals in other places: Bangkok, Amsterdam,Venice, Norway, and yes the Pasig. They are clean, they are tourist spots. If they can have clean rivers and creeks, so can Cebu.










For more information, read below:
MMDA Plans to Clean-up and Rehabilitate Metro Manila's Rivers
President Orders Pasig River Rehab
How to Organize a River Cleanup

The Freeman published this article in their Opinion Section - here

Zee Quarterly & my article on Parian

This was also a google alert. It mistakenly says I come from San Francisco instead of Santa Monica.

Zee Lifestyle on luxury living
Updated November 23, 2008 12:00 AM

Zee Lifestyle Cebu, the only glossy magazine outside Metro Manila, dedicates its November issue to luxury. What better way to send off 2008 than with an issue that celebrates all the best that life has to offer?

This year, Zee Lifestyle’s luxury issue has an all-white theme. There are stories on white truffles, vintage champagne, white catamarans, and white jewelry. Also in the November pages are features on the old world luxury of the Parian, Cebu’s premier address of yore, by San Francisco-based writer and part-time resident of the area Cecilia Brainard; the minimally decadent appointments in the newly-opened rooms of Abaca Boutique Resort; and the relative luxury offered by the call center industry photographed at architect Alex Medalle’s supremely modern Blue Blade Call Center. This issue’s home feature is also indicative of luxury. See how an ‘80s-era house was revamped to cater to a family’s dynamic, contemporary lifestyle, channeling the owner’s European roots mixed with island style. Cebu power couple Joanna and Michael Lhuillier grace the cover, epitomizing luxury that is elegantly laidback.

Grab your copy of Zee Lifestyle’s November Luxury Issue at National Bookstore, Powerbooks and Fully Booked branches.

CEBU OCTOBER 11 FASHION SHOW & MUSICALE IN THE PARIAN

I just learned from my sister-in-law the following:

From Terry Manguerra: "Val Sandiego and some of his friends are planning a big happening on Oct. 11 with a fashion show and a musical all to be held somewhere near his house. They are trying to get the Lim Bonfing bldg. if they can manage to fix it. Ace Durano the tourism secretary and the cardinal will grace the occasion. Hope this will be the start of the Parian rehabilitation. We, of course , at the Cathedral Museum are all for it."

I'm delighted to know about this. The Zee Quarterly Magazine, a slick magazine in Cebu is also running an article of mine entitled, Life in Parian Now, with pictures of Parian sites and some women ancestors of mine.

I am so excited at the gentrification of the Parian in Old Cebu!

~~~
Top Photo shows a mural of Colon Street, on the 17th century Yap-Sandiego House;
Bottom Photo shows a painting of Colon Street in my apartment in the Parian, Cebu; it is criticized because the figures are from different historical periods, but I call the painting "The Ghosts of Colon Street."

More from Cebu

My goodness, an honest-to-goodness typhoon blew into Cebu, Philippines - wild rain, wilder wind, cool weather - it was fantastic! Hadn't experienced that in a long time. People brought out their sweatshirts and coats! This typhoon was only a Number 1 - the lowest caliber, although I heard there is a boat sinking right now, somewhere. If this was a mild typhoon, I dread to think what a Typhoon #3 is! Believe me streets were drowned, trees strained against the fierce wind.

The tridium prayers for St. John the Baptist in Old Cebu's Parian District began last night - typhoon or no typhoon. This year, the prayers were held in a covered area; we couldn't have it on the gorgeous open air balcony. Louie Nacorda had dressed the santoses: Jesus, St. John, and angel; and there they stood on the altar, resplendent in their gold braided velvets and satin. Louie also presented two statues of baby John the Baptist and baby Jesus. He found them in an antique shop in Manila. He first saw the St. John the Baptist baby statue. He wanted the buy it but wanted a stand and a sheep made; the owner didn't have the wood, couldn't comply, Louie did not buy it. But when he returned a year later,there was a new statue of Baby Jesus, and according to Louie, he immediately understood why the St. John statue did not wish to be purchased the first round. He waited for the Jesus statue.

Aside from the members of the Cofradia of St. John the Baptist, there were some guests, members of the Urdaneta 500, a commission lining up events to celebrate Fray Urdaneta's anniversary here in the Philippines. I am not sure which anniversary specifically, but Urdaneta came here with Legazpi in the 16th Century.

I heard that it's official: there are now tourism police patrolling the Old Historic Cebu District. I find this thrilling because now visitors can feel safe as they visit the five museums in the area: Casa Gorordo, Yap-Sandiego House, Cathedral Museum, Santo Nino Museum, and Fort San Pedro Museum. I don't know if the exhibit is still there apparently the Fort San Pedro Museum had displayed galleon artifacts uncovered by Jacques Costeau.

All for now,
Cecilia

(Photo shows Louie Nacorda and devotee of St. John the Baptist)

Cebu's Old Jesuit House of 1730

There is in Old Cebu a historic site tucked away in the Parian District of Cebu City, like a secret gem waiting to surface one day. It is an old Jesuit House or Convent built in 1730. Located on Zulueta Street near Mabini, this historic site has not been restored and is currently the Ho Tong Warehouse. But in the midst of the piles of steel and lumber, one can find vestiges of this ancient place. It is surprising but tourists from all over the world seek out this place, asking permission from the Ho Tong employees to see what is left of the place; the Ho Tong people generously oblige.

The history of the Jesuits in Cebu is fascinating. The Jesuits, also known as the Black Robes, came to the Philippines in 1581. By 1595, the Jesuits were in Cebu.

It was the Jesuit superior, Antonio Sedeno himself who founded a house in Cebu. Sedeno was a veteran missionary of 46. Like St. Ignatius, he had been in the military when he was young. He had gone to England as a page of the Duke of Feria when Mary Tudor was queen. On March 13, 1568, he sailed for Florida with a group of Jesuits headed by Juan Bautista de Segura. In 1572, Sedeno was the first Jesuit sent to Mexico, and it was while he was acting Rector of the college there that he was informed he was chosen as superior of the first Philippine Mission. Traveling with three companions, he sailed from Acapulco on the galleon San Martin on March 29, and arrived Manila in July. There Sedeno and his company learned Tagalog. After much hemming and hawing as to whether the Manila Jesuits would head the entire Far East or the Philippines, and as to what type of work they would actually do there, the King of Spain sent an order for the Jesuits to establish a Jesuit College where they would teach not only Spanish boys but also mestizos and sons of the ruling class.

Cebu, the site of the first Spanish settlement was not forgotten, and by June 30, 1595 Sedeno himself headed a small group composed of Alonso de Humanes, Mateo Sanchez and a lay brother to Cebu for the purpose of founding a Jesuit house there. The people received them warmly and promptly donated 500 pesos to them, which they used to buy a house near the beach. The city corporation donated adjacent land for a yard and garden. The trip to Cebu had been on an uncovered sailboat, exposing the Jesuit passengers to the stormy weather for three weeks. Father Sedeno became ill and passed away in Cebu on September 2, 1595. They buried him in the domestic chapel on the ground floor of their first house, but three years later, Father Pedro Chirino transferred Sedeno’s remains to the new Jesuit church.

The Jesuits went on and founded a free primary school that taught Spanish, Visayan, and Chinese students Catholic doctrine, reading, writing, arithmetic, and deportment. Grammar was added upon the Since 1596, the Jesuits had been administering a free primary school teaching Spanish, Visayan, and Chinese students Christian doctrine, reading, writing, arthimetic, and deportment, grammar.

In 1599 the Chinese Christians built a Catholic church in the wealthy Parian district in Old Cebu. This church was said to have been decorated with gold and silver. The Bishop of Cebu ordered the Jesuits to administer this church, which they did for a while. This was the Parian Parish church that stood at the intersections of Mabini, Espana, and Zulueta. The Jesuit convent was across the street on Mabini and Zulueta.

When the Jesuits were expelled from the Philippines in 1768, the Jesuit House in Cebu ended up in the hands of others, including the Alvarez and Sy families. At some point, it had even been exclusive club in Cebu.

Here are some pictures of Cebu's Old Jesuit House of 1730, including the cut-coral wall. Here's a great link to Arnold Carl's site. Arnold has a great writeup about the architecture of this Old Jesuit House and more pictures and writeups about Old Cebu sites.




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A lot of the information above about the Jesuits came from the Book by Father Horacio Dela Costa, The Jesuits in the Philippines.