Halloween Special Dark tourism in Cebu?

CEBU, Philippines - Influenced by the Western world, the Philippines has come to scare one another on November 1 more than to remember the martyrdom of saints.

Even the media have come to feature more articles on foul ghouls and old houses offering horror and haunting a la "The Conjuring" more than highlighting the life and times of saints we've come to venerate.

And as Halloween observances like trick-or-treats and grisly costume parties further advance the gory and the gruesome, outshining the religious significance of our observance of the Todos los Santos (All Saints Day), dark tourism is suggested. This is, in part, embracing the visiting of houses or places associated with a dead person of significance to the country and the community – be it because of a spiritual crusade or a communal cause.

Here are initial two suggestions:

San Pedro Calungsod

Visayan proto-martyr canonized by the Vatican on October 21, 2012 as a saint is traced to be a child of Ginatilan. A proto-martyr means the first Christian martyr in a country or among a particular group. In an assignment in Ginatilan last year, I went up to Barangay Cagsing about seven kilometers from the town proper in the southwestern portion of the Cebu Province.

There was a portion there cleared up by the Calungsod clan, believed to have held a footing of the Calungsod ancestral house. Saint Pedro was killed on a missionary work in Guam with Father Diego Luis de San Vitores. His remains were believed thrown to the sea.

For assistance, you may drop by the Municipal Hall near the town plaza and Parish Church of St. Gregory the Great. The tourism officers will lead you there. They also serve as annotators when the history of Saint Pedro's lineage is traced and investigated, leading up to his canonization.

Tomb of Archbishop Teofilo Camomot

Father Lolong was known for his spiritual gifts of healing – and bilocation or the ability to be in two places at the same time. Wikipedia documented that Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Vidal said there were several testimonies about Camomot's bilocation or there were people who would see him in two places at the same time.

The archbishop himself has signed an affidavit in relation to a witness' account on this phenomenon when Camomot was beside him at a meeting of the College of Consultors. Vidal wrote: "I have already authenticated his presence at a meeting. But a woman said at that time, he was in a mountain barangay (in Carcar) giving the last sacrament to a dying person. He was at my left, and Archbishop (Manuel) Salvador, discussing about the pastoral (thrust) of the diocese, at my right.

Archbishop Camomot's tomb is at the back of the chapel of the Daughters of Saint Teresa Convent in Valladolid, Carcar City, southeast of Cebu. Near his tomb, a museum has also been set for the conservation of things he used during his lifetime.

Daughters of St. Teresa Convent landlines: 487.9233/487.8021 (FREEMAN)