Gabi-i sa Kabilin: Cebu Cultural Heritage At Its Best

If there is one event that other cities in the country should copy, this annual event in Cebu is definitely IT!

Last May 31st, I had the wonderful opportunity to see for myself how alive and kicking our love for our cultural heritage is here in Cebu City. Several of us from the study center and from our office trooped to the pegged heritage sites all over Cebu to witness the richness of the Filipino's cultural past here at the heart of Central Visayas.

Now on its 7^th year, “Gabi-i sa Kabilin: A Night of Heritage,” is a yearly cultural event sponsored by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI), in celebration of the Philippine National Heritage Month and International Museum Day. This provincial-wide event was made possible by the active cooperation of those from the national and local government i.e. Department of Tourism and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and from the different museums and heritage sites found here in the province. Aside from Cebu City, other participating cities included Mandaue, Talisay, and Lapu-Lapu.

The rain right before we left our office didn’t dampen our excitement and enthusiasm to go and participate actively in this unique activity. It was so good to sense palpably how Cebu’s families supported this event.

We got to visit the Sto. Nino Shrine, Magellan’s Cross, The Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral’s Museum, Plaza Independencia, and Fort San Pedro. The last venue was where we took the Tartanilla i.e. calesa ride, much to our enjoyment. The last time I took the calesa was around seven years ago, in Vigan, Ilocos Sur where we had one of our excursions in our annual seminar held in Baguio City's South Drive.

Of course pictures had to be taken --- from anywhere, and everywhere! This had to be documented because we don’t have the likes of this activity every month. For only Php 150, we could go to ALL the participating heritage sites i.e. Casa Gorordo, Museo Sugbo, Cebu City Museum, Cebu Cultural Center, Museo Parian sa Sugbo, etc. the list goes on! What really mattered to me most was the value we were getting in this enriching cultural fete.

Last Friday night was definitely Cebu’s Cultural Night of Heritage at its best!

For more information about this annual event, please visit. www.rafi.org.