8th Gabii sa Kabilin draws crowd

CEBU, Philippines - Cebuanos paid homage to its rich history and culture as heritage sites and structures around the metropolis simultaneously opened doors for a night full of information. 

The “Gabii Sa Kabilin” (Night of Heritage) has been advocating heritage awareness that translates into sense of pride in a diverse cultural and spiritual identity for eight years now and this year’s theme revolves around “Rise of the Queen.”

Cebu City is referred to as the Queen City of the South and the theme depicts the evolution of now a global city tracing its roots from the opening of Cebu’s ports to the rest of the world in 1860 up to the pre-war era of the 1930s.

Since Cebu is the only place in the country that initiated this, national heritage officials joined local counterparts in the event that opened at Plaza Parian right in front of the Cebu Heritage Monument.

Among the guests were National Commission for Culture and the Arts president Felipe de Leon, National Museum director Jeremy Barns and national artist for literature Virgilio Almario.

Gabii Sa Kabilin is a brainchild of Ramon Aboitiz  Foundation, which currently manages Casa Gorordo Museum, and has involved 35 museums, art galleries and numerous heritage sites and structures from an initial three (Casa Gorodo, Cathedral Museum, Santo Niño Museum) when it started in 2007.

A number of heritage sites on Friday opened its doors to learners, including 22 sites in Cebu City, four in Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City and five in Talisay City.

While some roads were closed, City Traffic Operations Management described the event as smooth with no untoward incident or heavy congestion reported.

CITOM executive director lawyer Rafael Christopher Yap said only the downtown access road experienced heavy traffic shortly during the 6 p.m. to 12.m.n. activity.

“Ni heavy ang traffic along D. Jakosalem Street from 6 to 7 p.m. kay mao ra ang allowed exit point. Afterwards, very normal. No other reported congestion points. No reported accidents within and immediate vicinity of GSK (Gabii Sa Kabilin). No reported crowding of people also because of lack of buses,” Yap told The FREEMAN.

Among the closed roads were E. Aboitiz Street/Lopez Jaena Street (from Mabini Street to MJ Cuenco Avenue), Mabini Street from corner Bonifacio to Urdaneta Street, Ballesteros Street from Urdaneta up to Aboitiz Street, Colon street from D. Jakosalem up to Mabini Street.

Aside from city government buses which ferried participants from one site to another, tartanillas (horse-drawn carriages) also transported people from Fort San Pedro to Cebu Chinese Museum beside Senior Citizen’s Park and behind Cebu City Hall.

The month of May has been observed as heritage month and its culmination is the German-inspired activity which lets people personally experience what it’s like to live in the past.

Likewise, the Cebu City Council passed a resolution declaring the last Friday of May for the Gabii Sa Kabilin.

Yesterday, a Eucharistic celebration at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño closed the month-long celebration of Heritage Month.  (FREEMAN)