Waving a small bunch of unlit candles, the saffron-frocked woman hops from foot to foot, muttering prayers at the dark timber cross towering above her.
The prayers are different for each candle – red for love, green for success, yellow for health and blue for travel – and here at the Magellan pavilion in Cebu, pilgrims and tourists flock to have their names and custom prayers "danced" like this, at only 10 pesos (25¢) a candle.
We are in Cebu, the Philippines, and the woman, known as a heritage keeper, is praying under the original Magellan's Cross, which arrived here with Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, in 1521.
But the dance itself goes back even further, having been adapted by Christianity from pre-existing pagan rituals designed to appease local river gods.
Cebu is the Philippines' oldest city and, situated in the 7000-island archipelago's geographical centre, it's also regarded as the nation's cultural heart.
It's home to the Philippines' oldest Roman Catholic church, the Basilica del Santo Nino, and the oldest Spanish settlement, Fort San Pedro.
It's also known for lechon (roast pork), mangoes, handmade guitars and, every January, the Sinulog Festival, a religious street party that attracts revellers in the millions.
But something new is happening to this old city.
With the median Filipino age at just 23.5, young people are beginning to transform Cebu, riding a technological wave and breathing a youthful spark into city life.
According to our knowledgeable, if dad-joke-fuelled guide, Al Cuizon ("the lechon in Cebu is 'cholesterol free' … cholesterol comes free with your meal," he quips), after tourism, IT is now the biggest industry in Cebu and it's getting bigger.
Already home to 50 call centres that employ 100,000 people Telstra is among their clients, tech start-ups and business hubs are popping up everywhere. And, following closely behind, is a new wave of Cebuano restaurants and bars, like the Isla Ora Pizza Co.
Its co-owner, American Joseph Ferrisa, arrived here in 2013 planning a diving trip. It coincided with one of the deadliest Filipino typhoons on record, so Ferris decided to help the local community in nearby Bantayan island instead.
He helped raise US$30,000 and formed NGO Young Pioneer Disaster Response, hauling trash, repairing schools and rebuilding homes.
Since then he married a Filipina, became a dad and now co-owns Isla Ora, a chain of three new wave thin-crust Italian pizza restaurants.
The food scene is developing quite quickly, which is interesting, says Ferris, over local Cebruery craft beers at his bamboo-clad headquarters in Kasambagan.
You have that younger vibe starting here, centred around technology. In a way, I think it's the city of the future of the Philippines. So, it's exciting to be here as that starts up and while that energy is here."
Closer to the centre of town, is Casa Gorordo, a two-storey house built in the 1850s and transformed into a fascinating museum of antiquities that affords a glimpse into well-heeled Spanish colonial Cebuano life.
Downstairs you learn about the complex blending of cultures here: indigenous Filipino, Chinese, Spanish and, later, American.
Then, chanting oro, plata, mata "gold, silver, death" we walk up the timber stairs, auspiciously and by design landing at the top on oro. Our uni-student-volunteer-guide, Hannah Librando, 21, tells us to make a wish. We do. And what does she wish for? To graduate and get a decent job, she says.
Casa Gorordo, built in the 1850s, was home to four generations of Spanish merchant Isidro Gorordo's family and survived two revolutions and the Second World War before being acquired by a cultural organisation and restored.
Its immaculately presented rooms and authentic furniture and fittings were opened to the public as a museum in 1983.
While Cebu has an international airport, there are no direct flights from Australia, so most fly via Manila; Cebu is just over an hour from Manila.
Qantas, Philippine Airlines (PAL) and budget airline Cebu Pacific can all get you there. PAL flies frequently from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin to Manila.
Accommodation is plentiful in this domestic tourism hub. Mactan Island, just a few kilometres from Cebu city and connected to it by two bridges, is a popular resort destination.
For example, Plantation Bay Resort & Spa offers several restaurants, artificial lagoon swimming and beach activities, including coral snorkelling.
Beach and lagoon view rooms start in low season from US$190 to US$1100 for a Quantum Villa, which includes four detached private bedrooms with a private villa.
CEBU City is P1.23 billion richer than it was in 2016 and is still the fourth richest city in the country in terms of total assets, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
From P32.62 billion in 2016, the City's assets rose to P33.86 billion the following year, based on the COA's 2017 annual financial report.
Cebu City, though, also ranked first in terms of liabilities at P24.72 billion, leaving it with a net worth of P9.14 billion.
According to the COA, this is mainly due to the City's other deferred credits or unearned income of P15.72 billion, which represents 63.59 percent of its total liabilities.
Deferred credit or unearned income refers to money received in advance before it is earned. It usually stems from complicated transactions where a credit amount arises, but the amount is not revenue.
In layman's terms, kwarta na nato nga nadawat, pero wa pa nato na-realize ang income. Dili na utang. It's just an accounting term. Mga kwarta na nato nga na-receive pero wala na-realize. Ang uban sad ana, mga dues nga wa pa na-bayaran or na-claim, said Cebu City Treasurer Veronica Morelos.
That's money we received, but has not been realized as income. That's not debt. The others are dues that haven't been paid or claimed
She attributed this to supplies that had yet to be paid, or claims of City Hall employees that had yet to be settled, among others.
"Na-obligate na nato, pero wala mabayari kay basin naay problema sa papers," she added. (Those are liabilities legally incurred and committed to be paid for, but haven't been paid for yet because there may have been problems with the papers.)
The development drew contrasting views from reelectionist Councilor Joel Garganera and Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan vice mayoral bet Councilor Mary Ann de los Santos.
I think it's a misnomer when we call ourselves as one of the richest cities when we have that much liabilities. We should get rid of that title. What determines the overall state of our city is reflected in what's going on around us, Garganera said.
For de los Santos, the findings in the financial report show a positive development.
This goes to show that two years into Mayor (Tomas) Osmeña's leadership, the City is on the right track. We have a robust city economy.
Also, note that we still have billions of unearned income. Giving Mayor Osmena another three years with his team is simply the right thing to do, she said.
Osmena himself, asked to comment on the matter on Tuesday, Nov. 6, replied, No comment.
City Treasurer Morelos stressed that the only loan the City Government has is the one it contracted for the South Road Properties (SRP) project.
Based on the COA's report, Cebu City had a loan amounting to 12.315 billion yen with the Land Bank of the Philippines and Japan International Cooperation Agency to finance the SRP project which started in 1995.
At that time, it was equivalent to P4.65 billion. It is payable within 30 years or until 2025.
In a privilege speech last September, opposition Councilor Joy Pesquera said records from the City Accounting Office as of Feb. 20 show that the City Government had already paid a total of P6.56 billion.
This includes payment of principal amounting to P3.56 billion, interest of P2.8 billion, P26 million in documentary stamps and P51,968 in bank charges. Some P1.03 billion was incurred in foreign exchange (forex) losses.
The forex loss was attributed to the City Government still needing to buy US dollars to be exchanged to Japanese yen to pay off the loan. (The US dollar-Philippine peso exchange rate in 1995 was US$1=P37. The exchange rate as of Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, was US1=P53.269.
As of calendar year 2017, the COA said the City Government had an outstanding balance of P1.09 billion on the SRP loan.
City Hall paid its loan amortization last Aug. 20. The City has been paying for its loan twice a year, on Feb. 20 and Aug. 20. The City began paying for the SRP loan in August 2005.
The executive department has also allocated P448.9 million for the amortization of the SRP loan in the proposed 2019 annual budget.
Of the amount, P347.9 million is for foreign loan payments, P97.6 million for interest expenses and P3.5 million for documentary stamp and other charges.
For Garganera, one of the mayor's critics, it would have been wise if the City Government used the payment, made by a consortium of three developers that bought 45 hectares of land in the SRP in 2015, to settle its 23-year-old loan.
I'm very much alarmed by the fact that the administration failed to understand the urgency of paying our debts. All the more with the increasing amount of interest and the fluctuating rates of foreign exchange.
We're at the losing end here with all these liabilities and increasing interest. We should put our effort in faithfully settling our dues as soon as possible, he said.
The mayor, though, has been firm in his stand to recover the property, saying the sale was illegal because Michael Rama, who was mayor then, was not authorized to dispose of the lots.
Earlier, Osmena lamented that while the City has P12 billion in cash, his administration will not touch it "because it came from an illegal sale."
Meanwhile, with total assets of P196.6 billion, Makati is still the richest city in the country, followed by Quezon City with P68.33 billion and Manila with P38.68 billion.
Other cities with the biggest amount of assets include Pasig with P33.7 billion, Taguig with P19.64 billion, Caloocan with P17 billion, Pasay with P16.66 billion, Davao with P13.18 billion and Calamba with P12.41 billion.
Aside from cities, the COA also classified the provinces with the biggest amount of assets in the same report.
From P32.43 billion in 2016, Cebu Province's assets rose to P34.14 billion the following year, making it the richest province in the country by assets for four consecutive years.
In terms of liabilities, Cebu Province ranked fifth with P2.94 billion, leaving it with a net worth of P31.2 billion.
But being number one isn't enough for gubernatorial candidate Gwen Garcia.
In a text message, the third district representative said Cebu, even during her stint as governor, was always rich above all other provinces.
But she questioned if the progress during the current administration of Gov. Hilario Davide III was felt in all parts of the Province.
“Ang pangutana mao: kini ba natagamtam sa mga Sugbuanon? Titles are empty if these do not translate to real and meaningful benefits for the people of Cebu. Buhat ang pasulti-on (Let your actions speak for themselves),” Garcia said.
But for Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who will be running against Garcia in next year's gubernatorial race, the recent accolade proved that Cebu, as a whole, enjoyed total progress through the programs and projects they introduced.
We may not have big ticket projects like the almost a billion-peso Cebu International Convention Center (CICC), but we have introduced projects that would be felt by all of our constituents, even the poorest of the poor, Magpale said.
The programs include the Paglaum Scholarship for poor college students in the province and crop insurance for affected farmers.
In a separate interview, Davide said the COA report only showed that his administration’s good governance, prudent spending and observing procurement laws paid off.
Unlike in her (Garcia) time, we would not push through with a project without going through the proper process,” Davide said, referring to Garcia’s graft charge for the anomalous procurement of the CICC back in 2006 and the illegal backfilling of the controversial Balili property in 2012.
Wala tay Balili, wala tay CICC, pero dato gihapon ta (We don't have Balili, we don't have CICC, but the Province is still rich, Davide added.
Negros Occidental is the province with the highest amount of liabilities at P5.18 billion.
Based on the COA's 2017 list of loans or credit lines availed of by local government units, Cebu Province had a transaction with Land Bank for the acquisition of light and heavy equipment at P51.3 million and another P29.7 million from the same institution.
Meanwhile, the second richest province in the country is Compostela Valley with P18.9 billion in assets, followed by Batangas with P15.6 billion.
Also included in the top 10 provinces in terms of assets is Rizal with P14 billion, Negros Occidental (P12.9 billion), Zambales (P10.4 billion), Bulacan (P10.4 billion), Palawan (P10.1 billion), Iloilo (P10 billion) and Pampanga (P9.5 billion). (With JKV)
Tourism Observer
