Three Cebu cities to join ‘Gabii sa Kabilin’
ABOUT 14 heritage sites in the cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay in Cebu will be open for visitors in the Gabii sa Kabilin set for the end of this month.
Hosted by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi) in celebration of the National Heritage Month, the event will now be on its sixth year. It was inspired by the Lange Nacht der Musee or Long Night of the Museums in Germany.
Dr. Jocelyn Gerra, Rafi’s Executive Director for Culture and Heritage, said they are preparing 7,000 tickets in anticipation of more visitors to the museums joining the event.
Included in the venues to be featured in the Gabii sa Kabilin are the Cebu Cultural Center, Iglesia Filipina Independiente Cathedral of the Holy Child, San Pedro Calungsod Chapel and Sugbo Chinese Heritage Museum.
In Lapu-Lapu City, the venues include the Mactan Shrine, Muelle Osmeña, Nuestra Senora Virgen de la Regla Parish Church and Plaza Poblacion.
“There will be furniture and guitar exhibits, reenactment of the Kadaugan sa Mactan and food festival in Lapu-Lapu the whole night,” Lapu-Lapu City Tourism Officer Hembler Mendoza said.
In Talisay City, there will be uway-weaving and tours in the National Historic Shrine Liberation Monument as well as the 176-year-old Sta. Teresa de Avila Parish Church.
Photo-blogging and Filipiniana cosplay contests will highlight this year’s Gabii sa Kabilin.
The mechanics of the contest will be posted in Rafi’s Facebook page.
Dr. Gerra said there will also be seven interactive heritage destinations for children.
These include story-telling and tablea-making in Casa Gorordo Museum and beadwork in the Cathedral Museum.
There will be six routes for 30 buses that would ferry tourists in the 33 heritage sites.
About 30 tartanilla (horse-drawn carriage) will also be available within the city’s old district.
The Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (Citom) said there will be full road closures in the streets of Bonifacio, Lopez Jaena, Colon and Burgos as well as Osmeña Boulevard from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight.
Citom operations chief Rafael Yap said parking spaces will be available at Fort San Pedro and Cebu City Hall.
Ticket prices are pegged at P150.
Ticket holders can also avail of unlimited Gabii sa Kabilin-themed bus rides and one tartanilla trip within the city’s old district.
