|
I have mixed emotions about the revolutionary changes
that Cebu has been continuously undergoing in the past 10 years. I
miss the Cebu of 10 years ago.
The Cebu I know is green, with
lots of open spaces. The houses were mostly vintage and regal. There
were not that many people and cars. Cebuanos and guests moved like
they were “walking under the moon” even in busy streets like
Mango, Gorordo and Carbon. I remember that I would be chatting with
my friends while we strolled around Fuente Osmeña. I continued
walking and talking only to realize that my friends were now one
block behind me. They complained that I walked too fast for them and
laughed that I seemed to be always racing or running after
something. I remember the jokes and stories that surrounded Hongkera
Street. I remember going to Carbon Market to buy those pasalubongs
at prices much lower that those in the grocery stores. There were no
malls then, definitely no SM.
I remember commuting to Talisay
to buy danggit and other dry seafoods. I have fond memories of
having lunch in Tangke—those restaurants that stood on the stony
shores of Talisay. The children were waiting in the waters for the
few coins that you threw and they dove for. I remember driving to
Ming-lanilla for whatever reason. Of course, the ihaw-ihaw stalls
around Fuente Osmeña, the seafood restaurants in Maragondon, the
Cebu lechon in Lapu-lapu City, the guitar stores in Mactan, the corn
fields and cooked corn and fruit stands near Montebello Hotel. There
were also Carlo’s Batchoy, the blue-and-white porcelain factory
and 7D mango products factory in Mandaue. The meaty chicharon and
R&M dried mangoes in Guadalupe.
Most of all, I miss Magellan
Hotel where room 326 was permanently reserved for me. I used to be
in Cebu two weeks in a month facilitating organization development
interventions and training workshops for the employees of Philippine
Airlines. My team (Marivic Vergel-Roldan and Cecile Macatangay-Muñoz)
and I designed this program we dubbed Pal Professional Program, part
1, for all employees of PAL at all levels and functions consisting
of six short courses on professionalism and work attitude,
personality development, teamwork and productivity, written business
communication, presentation skills and interpersonal communication.
Plus the part 2 and other programs One of our internal clients was
the Cebu Station, particularly Maintenance & Engineering and
Communications Departments. So the three of us alternately came to
Cebu to handle the workshops.
When Magellan knew that I was
coming, they would put lots of plants inside my room and one of the
waiters in the coffee shop would prepare his own herbal tea for me.
The owners and the whole Magellan staff really took care of me. The
only thing I could not do is to bring fresh durian inside the hotel.
My participants from Davao used to bring me real sweet durians and I
could only eat them in the guardhouse of the hotel.
The Cebu now is fast modernizing
with new high-rise buildings sprouting here, there and everywhere.
There are many new hotels all around. Restaurants offering different
international cuisines—Korean, Japanese, Italian, German—you
name it, they have it. Where Magellan and the golf club used to be
are now the Ayala Mall and other office buildings. Cebu has
definitely progressed in leaps and bounds. With it comes monstrous
traffic even in side streets and, I was warned, lots of street
crimes. I think, nobody anticipated these revolutionary changes and
so are not prepared for it. Except for a few flyovers, there is not
much changes in the old road structures.
Savoring callos, steak and red
wine with my friend Lito Pascual at the Casino Español is a
wonderful treat. Also, where I am staying now, there is Internet
connectivity. But I hate the air freshener they so lavishly spray
inside the rooms and all over the hotel. On my first night here, my
room really reeked and I couldn’t sleep. I had to open the windows
and ordered an electric fan and charcoals to remove some of the
offensive odor. Now I understand how those who work in that luscious
soap store must be enduring everyday they work there. And the prices
of their food in their not-so-impressive coffee shop are not
proportionate to the taste. Their hot choco is the consistency of
tea where you have used the teabag for the 5th time. I will not come
back to this hotel. But I will definitely come back again and again
to Cebu.
www.learningandinnovation.com,
innovationcamp@yahoo.com
|
