Cebu: City of Culture. Still special | Sun.Star

Still special | Sun.Star By Princess Dawn H. Felicitas, Sunday, July 17, 2011 -----CEBU City unveiled yesterday a marker to celebrate its designation as a City of Culture by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The marker now stands across another marker that memorialized the 12th Asean Summit held in Cebu in 2007.

This, as one of the members of the Asean City of Culture committee clarified that Cebu City is “the core city” among nine other cities in the Philippines that have been given the same title.

This is because Cebu City has been hailed as an Asean City of Culture not only in one but in three fields.

During the unveiling of the marker yesterday, Eva Mari Salvador of the Cultural Center of the Philippines pointed out that Cebu City is the Asean City of Culture in the creative industry as well as in cultural heritage and history.

“Cebu City really is the core city. The other cities that have been given the same title have been declared Asean City of Culture in only one field, unlike Cebu City that got three,” she said in Tagalog.

Salvador apologized for the confusion.

Her statement came after the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced during the acceptance ceremony last Friday that Cebu shares the Asean City of Culture title with nine other cities in the Philippines, which caught Cebuano officials by surprise.

Other cities of culture

Other Asean City of Culture cities are Manila, Angono in Rizal, Angeles in Pampanga, Batangas, Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental, Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte, Roxas in Capiz, Tagbilaran in Bohol and Tarlac.

It was earlier reported that three of the nine cities are considered the core group. These are Manila, the country’s capital, Pampanga and Cebu.

To sum up the distinction given to the city, the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission (Chac) headed by Councilor Margarita Osmeña unveiled the Asean City of Culture marker yesterday at the Asean Friendship Park. This is located at the Metropolitan Cebu Water District’s (MCWD) Family Park in Talamban.

The unveiling was witnessed by ambassadors of Brunei Darussalam, Malay Halimah Yussof; Indonesia, Yohanes Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo; Laos, Malayvieng Sakonhninhom; Thailand, Prasas Prasasvinitchai; and Vietnam, Nguyen Vu Tu.

For MCWD officials, the new marker will be another source of pride for Cebuanos and another attraction in the Family Park.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 17, 2011.