HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu, is a highly urbanized city in the
Central Visayas Central Visayas (; or ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. With only two Provinces of the Philippines, provinces: Cebu and Bohol, as well as three Cities of the Phi ...
region of the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 964,169 people, making it the sixth-most populated city in the nation and the most populous in the
Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...
and the Central Visayas Region. It serves as the capital of
Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
wherein it is geographically situated and grouped under the province by the
Philippine Statistics Authority The Philippine Statistics Authority (; PSA) is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes statistical information on economic, social, demographic, political affairs, and gene ...
, but is one of three cities (together with
Lapu-Lapu Lapulapu (fl. 1521) or Lapu-Lapu, whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan, an island now part of the Philippines. Lapulapu is known for the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where he and his men defeated Spanish forc ...
and
Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...
) that are administratively independent of the provincial government and also the largest city within that province. It also serves as the regional center of Central Visayas, and its
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
exerts influence on commerce, trade, industry, education, culture, tourism, and healthcare beyond the region, over Central and Eastern Visayas and partly over
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...
. It is the Philippines' main domestic shipping port and is home to about 80% of the country's domestic shipping companies. Additionally, Cebu City is the prime trading center of the southern Philippines. Cebu City is bounded on the north by the town of
Balamban Balamban, officially the Municipality of Balamban (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 95,136 people. Balamban is known for its shipbuilding industry. History Th ...
and the city of Danao, on the west by the city of
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...
, on the east by the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue and the towns of
Liloan Liloan, officially the Municipality of Liloan (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 153,197 people. Making it t ...
,
Consolacion Consolacion, officially the Municipality of Consolacion (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 148,012 people. ...
and Compostela and to the south by the city of Talisay. Located at the center of the eastern seaboard of
Cebu Island Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
, it is the core city of
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...
, the second largest
metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...
in the Philippines, which includes the cities of
Carcar Carcar, officially the City of Carcar (; ), is a component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,453 people. History Before Spanish colonization,Carcar was known as "Kabkad" and ...
, Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Naga and Talisay and the municipalities (towns) of Compostela, Consolacion, Cordova, Liloan,
Minglanilla Minglanilla, officially the Municipality of Minglanilla (; ), is a municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 151,002 people. It is known as the "Sugat Capital of the South" (wher ...
and
San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
. Metro Cebu had a total population of 3,165,799 as of the 2020 census. The current political boundaries of the city are an incorporation of the former municipalities of Cebu, San Nicolas, El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban and Banilad in the Commonwealth period. The city has experienced rapid economic growth since the 1990s, a phenomenon also known as "
Ceboom Ceboom (sometimes spelled in all caps) is a portmanteau of "Cebu" and "boom", and has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of Cebu from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The economic miracle After Emilio Mario Osmeña won the Ceb ...
". Owing to its economic importance and influence in modern times, Cebu City is also popularly referred to as the ''Queen City of the South''.


Etymology

The word ''sugbú'' in Cebuano means "to dive into water", and also in Tagalog, Hiligaynon, Aklanon, and Mansaka languages with more or less the same meaning. The name is probably derived from the
Proto-Philippine The Proto-Philippine language is a reconstructed ancestral proto-language of the Philippine languages, a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages which includes all languages within the Philippines (except for the Sama–Bajaw languages) ...
word *''sug(e)bu'' meaning "to wade into water". As with most settlements in the Philippines whose common origin is either derived from an abundance of plants, for example,
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
and one of the most common names of cities in the Philippines, Talisay and settlements near a body of water, for example,
Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...
and the island of
Mindanao Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...
. Early iterations of the name include Çubu, and Zubu, and then eventually "Cebu". Thus, the modern name is either probably a 16th–17th century Spanish pronunciation of the native name or as how it was heard by early chroniclers in that time period. The Selden Map records the island known to the Ming dynasty as ''sokbu'' (束務), a Hokkien pronunciation of the name (in Mandarin Chinese "''suwu"''), in the early 17th century.


History


Pre-Hispanic period

Very little is known about when the site was first settled prior to colonization, but artifacts have been discovered near the city, if not exactly at the site in what is now Cebu City dating back to at least the 14th to 15th centuries CE. Other geological and archaeological studies revealed that Cebu as a settlement began sometime during the 10th century CE. Though there are artifacts detailing the settlement of the island as early as 2000 BCE, the exact date of when the village was settled and named "''Sugbu"'' is unknown, since prior to colonization most
Visayans Visayans ( Cebuano: ''mga Bisayà'' ) are a Philippine ethnolinguistic family group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, to the southernmost islands south of Luzon, and to a significant portion of Mindanao. They are composed of numerous d ...
were illiterate up until the later half of the 16th century. The city's only reliable historical record started with Portuguese explorer,
Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...
's landing in the island in 1521 CE and then after the
Battle of Mactan The Battle of Mactan (; ) was fought on a beach in Mactan Island (now part of Cebu, Philippines) between Spanish forces led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan along with local allies, and Lapulapu, the chieftain of the island, on th ...
, it is then followed by a brief period of silence and almost nihility, and back again in 1565 CE when
Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...
led an expedition back to the island. When Magellan and crew arrived in 1521 CE, the Europeans did not mention or state a thriving city in a European or Chinese sense and nor it was ever been described as a "kingdom" as there were no kingdoms in pre-colonial Philippines other than it was merely a simple fishing and trading village. However, this notion is challenged by a new translation of ancient Chinese Annals, a kingdom called ''Suwu'' was mentioned in the 1225 Chinese Annals, the Zhufan Zhi (諸蕃志), and during the 17th Century this was the same name used for Cebu among Chinese traders to the Philippines, thus, it is presumed to be the same location. Cebu was referenced in association with Boni (
Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...
) wherein it was written: There is a popular myth that the city was supposedly founded by "Sri Lumay" and that the place was once "Kang Sri Lumayng Sugbo". However, the authenticity of this source is highly debatable and should not be taken seriously. There are no existing documents predating Spanish chroniclers that made a reference to the island, and there was no mention of the so-called "Sri Lumay". Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina's ''History of the Bisayan Islands'' does not even mention the epic or any reference to that person. Also, in the compilation of Spanish accounts by esteemed American historian specializing in Philippine history, William Henry Scott, there is no mention of any scorched earth tactics in Visayan warfare. It is likely then that the "legend" is an invention by Jovito Abellana. The supposed capital city, "''
Singhapala Singhapala (Baybayin: , , , Old Malay: ''Kota Singapura'') was an ancient fortified city or a region, the capital of the Indianized kingdom of Cebu. The location of this ancient city is what is now the modern Barangay Mabolo in the northern dist ...
"'', was also not mentioned as a capital city. Instead,
Antonio Pigafetta Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was a Venetian scholar and explorer. In 1519, he joined the Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the world's first Magellan's circumnavigation, circumnavigation, ...
, a chronicler in Magellan's crew, records ''"Cingapola"'' as a
town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
, whose chiefs are ''Cilaton, Ciguibucan, Cimaninga, Cimaticat,'' and ''Cicanbul''''.'' If it were a rich city, it would be very unlikely to be ignored by the chronicler, and also by the absence of Indian stone structures were not found nor erected before the late 16th to the 17th century. Despite the smallness of the polity of Cebu it borrowed a considerable degree of Indo–Malay culture as its more well-developed advanced neighbors like
Butuan Butuan (pronounced ), officially the City of Butuan (; Butuanon: ''Dakbayan hong Butuan''; ), is a highly urbanized city and the regional center of Caraga, Philippines. It is the '' de facto'' capital of the province of Agusan del Norte ...
in Southeast Asia which it had dynastic links to, as Rajah Siagu of Butuan was the cousin of Rajah Humabon, and also proven by the titles of native Cebuano nobility, wherein Chief Humabon (mistakenly referred as a "king" in Pigafetta's writings) was addressed in the Sanskrit title of "
Rajah Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The title has a long ...
". Tupas, also known as
Rajah Tupas Rajah Tupas (baptized as Felipe Tupas; 1497 — 1568) was the last Rajah of Cebu in the Pre-Hispanic Indianized polity of Philippines. He was the son of Sri Parang the Limp, and the cousin of Rajah Humabon. He is known to have been baptized un ...
who was the chief of Cebu in 1565, descended from the brother of Rajah Humabon who was a "Bendara" which means "Treasurer" or "Vizier" in Sanskritized Malay"The Genealogy of Hari' Tupas: An Ethnohistory of Chiefly Power and Hierarch in Sugbu as a Protostate". Astrid Sala-Boza
, p. 280.
and is a shortening of the word "Bendahara" (भाण्डार) which means "Storage house" in Sanskrit."Becoming Indian: The Unfinished Revolution of Culture and Identity" by Pavan K. Varma p. 125


Spanish period

On April 7, 1521,
Portuguese explorer Portuguese maritime explorations resulted in numerous territories and maritime routes recorded by the Portuguese on journeys during the 15th and 16th centuries. Portuguese sailors were at the vanguard of European exploration, chronicling and mapp ...
at the service of the Spanish Crown and leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the world,
Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...
, landed in Cebu. He was welcomed by
Rajah Humabon Rajah Humabon (also ''Hamabao'' or ''Hamabar'' in other editions of the " First Voyage Around the World") later baptized as Don Carlos Valderrama, was one of the recorded chiefs in historic polity of Cebu who encountered Ferdinand Magellan i ...
. Magellan, however, was killed in the
Battle of Mactan The Battle of Mactan (; ) was fought on a beach in Mactan Island (now part of Cebu, Philippines) between Spanish forces led by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan along with local allies, and Lapulapu, the chieftain of the island, on th ...
, and the remaining members of his expedition left Cebu soon after several of them were poisoned by Humabon, who was fearful of foreign occupation. The last ruler of Sugbo, prior to Spanish colonization, was Rajah Humabon's nephew,
Rajah Tupas Rajah Tupas (baptized as Felipe Tupas; 1497 — 1568) was the last Rajah of Cebu in the Pre-Hispanic Indianized polity of Philippines. He was the son of Sri Parang the Limp, and the cousin of Rajah Humabon. He is known to have been baptized un ...
(d. 1565). On February 13, 1565, Spanish and (probably some) Mexican conquistadors led by
Miguel López de Legazpi Miguel López de Legazpi (12 June 1502 – 20 August 1572), also known as ''Adelantado, El Adelantado'' and ''El Viejo'' (The Elder), was a Spanish conquistador who financed and led an expedition to conquer the Philippines, Philippine islan ...
together with Augustinian friars whose prior was
Andrés de Urdaneta Andres or Andrés may refer to: * Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US * Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) Andres or Andrés is a male given name. It can also be a ...
, left New Spain (modern Mexico) and arrived in Samar, taking possession of the island thereafter. They Christianized some natives and Spanish remnants in Cebu. Afterwards, the expedition visited
Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...
, Cabalian, Mazaua,
Camiguin Camiguin, officially the Province of Camiguin (; ; Kamigin: ''Probinsya ta Kamigin''), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about off the northern coast of mainland Mindanao. It is geographically part of Region ...
and
Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...
where the famous ''
Sandugo The Legazpi-Sikatuna Blood Compact, or ''Sandugo'' ( Spanish: ''Pacto de Sangre''), was a blood compact, performed on the island of Bohol in the Philippines, between the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, chieftain of ...
'' or blood compact was performed between López de Legazpi and
Datu Sikatuna Datu Sikatuna (or ''Catunao'') was a Datu or chieftain of Bo-ol in the island of Bohol in the Philippines. He made a blood compact ('' sanduguan'') and alliance with the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi on March 25, 1565 at Hinawanan Ba ...
, the chieftain of Bohol on March 16, 1565. The Spanish arrived in Cebu on April 15, 1565. They then attempted to parley with the local ruler, Rajah Tupas, but found that he and the local population had abandoned the town. Rajah Tupas presented himself at their camp on May 8, feast of the Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel, when the island was taken possession of on behalf of the Spanish King. The Treaty of Cebu was formalized on July 3, 1565. López de Legazpi's party named the new city "Villa de San Miguel de Cebú" (later renamed "Ciudad del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús)." In 1567 the Cebu garrison was reinforced with the arrival of 2,100 soldiers from
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...
(Mexico). The growing colony was then fortified by
Fort San Pedro Fort San Pedro () is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in the area now called Plaz ...
. Aside from these Mexican soldiers, the city of Cebu was founded by 80 Spanish colonists from Spain. By 1569, the Spanish settlement in Cebu had become important as a safe port for ships from
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and as a jumping-off point for further exploration of the archipelago. Small expeditions led by
Juan de Salcedo Juan de Salcedo (; 1549 – 11 March 1576) was a Spanish conquistador. He was the grandson of Spanish general Miguel López de Legazpi. Salcedo was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish conquest to the Philippines in 1565. He joined th ...
went to
Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ), it has a population of 1,408,454, as of the 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of ...
and
Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
, where he and
Martín de Goiti Martín de Goiti (c. 1534 – 1575) was a Spanish conquistador and one of the soldiers who accompanied the Spanish voyage of exploration to the East Indies and the Pacific in 1565, in search of rich resources such as gold, spice and settlements. ...
played a leading role in the subjugation of the Kingdoms of Tundun and
Seludong Maynila, also known commonly as Manila, was a major Islamic Tagalog '' bayan'' ("country" or "city-state") situated along the modern-day district of Intramuros in the city of Manila, at the southern bank of the Pasig River.Abinales, Patric ...
in 1570. One year later, López de Legazpi departed Cebu to discuss a peace pact with the defeated Rajahs. An agreement between the conquistadors and the Rajahs to form a city council paved the way for the establishment of a new settlement and the construction of the Christian walled city of
Intramuros Intramuros () is the historic walled area within the city of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is administered by the Intramuros Administration with the help of the city government of Manila. Intramuros comprises a centuries-old hist ...
on the razed remains of Islamic Manila, then a vassal-state of the
Sultanate of Brunei Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
. In 1571, the Spanish carried over infantry from Mexico, to raise an army of Christian Visayan warriors from
Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...
and
Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...
as well as mercenaries from the Tagalog region and assaulted the Sultanate of Brunei in what is known as the
Castilian War The Castilian War, also called the Spanish Expedition to Borneo, was a conflict between the Spanish Empire and several Muslim states in Southeast Asia, including the Sultanates of Brunei, Sulu, and Maguindanao. It is also considered as part of ...
. The war also started the Spanish–Moro Wars waged between the Christian Visayans and Muslim Mindanao, wherein Moros burned towns and conducted slave raids in the Visayas islands and selling the slaves to the Sultanates of the
Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
and the Visayans fought back by establishing Christian fort-cities in Mindanao, cities such as
Zamboanga City Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (; ; Subanen languages, Subanen: ''Bagbenwa Sembwangan''; Sama–Bajaw languages, Sama: ''Lungsud Samboangan''; ; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city i ...
.On August 14, 1595,
Pope Clement VIII Pope Clement VIII (; ; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 January 1592 to his death in March 1605. Born in Fano, Papal States to a prominen ...
created the diocese of Cebu as a suffragan to the
Archdiocese of Manila In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
. The years: 1603, 1636, 1670, and 1672; saw the deployment of 86, 50, 135, and 135; Latin-American soldiers from Mexico at Cebu.Convicts or Conquistadores? Spanish Soldiers in the Seventeenth-Century Pacific By Stephanie J. Mawson
AGI, México, leg. 25, núm. 62; AGI, Filipinas, leg. 8, ramo 3, núm. 50; leg. 10, ramo 1, núm. 6; leg. 22, ramo 1, núm. 1, fos. 408 r −428 v; núm. 21; leg. 32, núm. 30; leg. 285, núm. 1, fos. 30 r −41 v .
In 1608, Muslim Moros from Magindanao raided the nearby Visayan province of Carigara in Leyte. Cebu under Commander Salgado led an expedition of 70 Spanish and 60 Pampango marines that had intercepted and destroyed them. On January 6, 1635; under orders by Juan de Alcarazo the Alcalde-Mayor of Cebu, a force of 50 Spanish and 1,000 Visayan troops, battled rebels who had uprisings at and settled in Bohol. At April 5, 1635: Cebu sent a force of 300 Spanish and 1,000 Visayan troops to settle and colonize
Zamboanga City Zamboanga City, officially the City of Zamboanga (; ; Subanen languages, Subanen: ''Bagbenwa Sembwangan''; Sama–Bajaw languages, Sama: ''Lungsud Samboangan''; ; ; ) is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city i ...
under the command of Captain Juan de Chavez. In the 1700s, Cebu housed 625
Spanish Filipino Spanish Filipino or Hispanic Filipino ( Spanish: Español Filipino, Hispano Filipino, Tagalog: Kastílang Pilipino, Cebuano: Katsílà) are people of Spanish and Filipino heritage. The term may also include Filipino mestizos of Spanish ances ...
families and 28,112 native families"Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas Tomo Segundo" By Joaquín Martínez de Zúñiga (Original Spanish)
/ref> On April 3, 1898, local revolutionaries led by the
Negrense The Negrenses (; ) are the native Cultural identity, cultural group of the Provinces of the Philippines, Philippine provinces of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor. Overview Negrense (English language in the Philippines, English: '' ...
Leon Kilat Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
rose up against the Spanish colonial authorities and took control of the urban center after three days of fighting. The uprising was only ended by the treacherous murder of Leon Kilat and the arrival of soldiers from Iloilo and Manila. On December 26, 1898, the Spanish Governor, General Montero, evacuated his troops to Zamboanga, turning over government property to Pablo Mejia. The next day, a provincial government was formed under Luis Flores as president, General Juan Climaco as military chief of staff, and
Julio Llorente Julio Llorente Gento (born 14 June 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back. Club career Born in Valladolid, Castile and León, Llorente finished his development with La Liga giants Real Madrid, makin ...
as mayor.


American occupation and World War II

The signing of the Treaty of Paris at the end of the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
provided for the cession of Cebu along with the rest of the Philippine Islands to the United States until the formation of the Commonwealth Era (1935–46). On February 21, 1899, the
USS Petrel (PG-2) The third USS ''Petrel'' (PG-2) was a 4th rate gunboat in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was named for a Petrel, sea bird. ''Petrel'' was laid down on 27 August 1887, built by the Columbia Iron Works and Dry Do ...
deployed a landing party of 40 marines on the shores of Cebu. Cebu's transfer to the American government was signed by Luis Flores although others, most notably General
Arcadio Maxilom Arcadio is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * José Arcadio Buendía, fictional patriarch in the novel ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez * Arcadio Arellano (1872–1920), notable arch ...
and Juan Climaco, offered resistance until 1901. Governor
W. H. Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices ...
visited Cebu on April 17, 1901, and appointed Julio Llorente as the first provincial governor. Juan Climaco was elected to that office in January 1904.


Cityhood

With its city status granted by the King of Spain in 1594 invalidated by the change of colonial administration, in 1934 the neighboring municipalities of El Pardo, Mabolo, Talamban, Banilad, and San Nicolas were dissolved and merged to become the revived City of Cebu, which received its renewed official Charter on February 24, 1937. These former towns were broken up into several barangays, including their town centers which assumed their names (in contrast, Manila and Iloilo preserved their incorporated towns as geo-political districts) resulting this in expansion of its territory. Many other Philippine cities such as Dansalan (now
Marawi Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao language, Maranao: ''Bandar a Marawi''; ; Jawi script, Jawi ''(Batang Arab)'': ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the ...
),
Iloilo City Iloilo City, officially the City of Iloilo (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region of the Philippines, located on the southeastern coast of th ...
, and
Bacolod Bacolod, officially the City of Bacolod (; ; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Negros Island Region in the Philippines. With a total of 600,783 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it is th ...
were also incorporated at the same time (see
Cities of the Philippines A city ( or ) is one of the units of local government in the Philippines. All Philippine cities are chartered cities (Filipino: ), whose existence as corporate and administrative entities is governed by their own specific municipal charters in a ...
). Alfredo V. Jacinto was then serving as mayor when the city's status was restored by law.


Japanese occupation

Along with the rest of the country, Cebu came under
Japanese occupation of the Philippines The Japanese occupation of the Philippines (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Pananakop ng mga Hapones sa Pilipinas''; ) occurred between 1942 and 1945, when the Empire of Japan, Japanese Empire occupied the Commonwealth of the Philippines during Wo ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The Japanese encountered opposition from guerrillas and irregular forces led by Col. James Cushing and the Cebu Area Command. A Japanese businessman established Cebu's first "comfort station" during the war, where Japanese soldiers routinely gang-raped, humiliated, and murdered kidnapped girls and teenagers who they forced into sexual slavery under the brutal "
comfort women Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. The term ''comfort women'' is a translation of the Japanese , a euphemism ...
" system. It was finally liberated with the
Battle for Cebu City The Battle for Cebu City (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Labanan sa Lungsod ng Cebu''; Cebuano language, Cebuano: ''Gubat sa Dakbayan sa Sugbo''; Japanese language, Japanese: セブシティーのための戦い) was a major engagement of World W ...
in March and April 1945. The military general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and 8th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary, active from January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, was stationed in Cebu City during World War II.


Post-war years

The war virtually razed Cebu City to the ground. Reconstruction, however, was rapid. The city's central business district, which had been confined largely to the coast and the area around the port before the war, had expanded inland.
Colon Street Colon Street (, , ; , ) is a historical street in Cebu City. Located in the city's downtown, Colon Street is often called the oldest and shortest national road in the Philippines. It is named after Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus). Built ...
, the oldest national road in the Philippines, which was once a residential area in the pre-war years, became the center of a dense and compact area in
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
Cebu City, becoming home to many shopping and business activities, including the city's most fashionable shops, restaurants, and movie houses. In 1962, construction of the Cebu City North Reclamation Area commenced, finishing eventually in 1969, which expanded the
port of Cebu Port of Cebu () is a seaport located in Cebu City, Philippines. It serves the Metro Cebu Area and is managed by the Cebu Port Authority. It is the largest domestic port in the Philippines, mostly serving routes in the Visayas and Mindanao. Lo ...
and provided the city with more developable land close to the city center. During this time, Cebu also became a prominent educational center for the Visayas and Mindanao regions, and new schools were established in Cebu's uptown areas, such as the Talamban campus of the
University of San Carlos The University of San Carlos (USC or colloquially San Carlos) is a private, Catholic, research, coeducational basic and higher education institution administered by the Philippine Southern Province of the Society of the Divine Word missionarie ...
.


During the Marcos dictatorship

Cebu became a key center of resistance against the
Marcos dictatorship At 7:15 p.m. on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the Philippines under martial law, stating he had done so in response to the "communist threat" posed by the newly founded Communist Party ...
, first becoming apparent when the hastily put-together lineup of Pusyon Bisaya defeated the entire slate of Marcos'
Kilusang Bagong Lipunan The New Society Movement (, KBL), formerly named the New Society Movement of United Nationalists, Liberals, et cetera (, KBLNNL), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing political party in the Philippines. It was first formed in 1978 as an umbrel ...
(KBL) in Region VII. Among the Cebuanos immediately arrested by the Marcos dictatorship when Martial law was announced on September 23, 1972, were columnist and future National Artist
Resil Mojares Resil Buagas Mojares (born September 4, 1943) is a Filipino historian and critic of Philippine literature best known as for his books on Philippine history. He is acclaimed by various writers and critics as the ''Visayan Titan of Letters'', due ...
and human rights lawyer and Carcar Vice Mayor Democrito Barcenas, who were both detained at Camp Sergio Osmeña. One of the Marcos Martial Law desaparecidos from Cebu was Redemptorist priest Fr. Rudy Romano, a prominent Marcos critic and executive secretary of Cebu's Coalition against People's Persecution, who was accosted by armed men in Tisa, Labangon, Cebu City, on June 11, 1985, and never seen again. Levi Ybañez, Romano's colleague in the Coalition against People's Persecution, was abducted on the same day as Fr. Romano, and was also never heard from again. Later, Cebu would play a key role in the days leading up to the 1986
People Power revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
and the ouster of Marcos. It was from Fuente Osmeña circle in Cebu City that the opposition forces relaunched a civil disobedience campaign against the Marcos regime and its cronies on February 22, 1986. After that, the Carmelite Monastery in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, served as a refuge for opposition candidates Aquino and Laurel during the first day of the People Power revolution, because it was not yet safe to go back to Manila.


Economic boom and contemporary history

In 1990,
Typhoon Ruping Typhoon Mike, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Ruping, of 1990 was the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Typhoon Irma (1981), Typhoon Irma in 1981 Pacific typhoon season, 1981 and Typhoon Nina (1987), Typhoon Nina in 1987. F ...
(international name ''Mike'') hit
Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...
and Cebu in particular, causing considerable damage to the infrastructure of the city and province. The typhoon cut off many of the city's communication lines, and was virtually cut from the outside, causing delays for aid from the national government in
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
. This forced local authorities to rethink governmental priorities, and enforced some radical measures, such as food, water, and fuel rations. However, the city quickly recovered, and by the end of the decade, it was experiencing rapid economic growth, dubbed
Ceboom Ceboom (sometimes spelled in all caps) is a portmanteau of "Cebu" and "boom", and has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of Cebu from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The economic miracle After Emilio Mario Osmeña won the Ceb ...
. The economic growth of the city also spread economic growth to its neighboring cities and municipalities, which spreads from Danao from the north all the way to
Carcar Carcar, officially the City of Carcar (; ), is a component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,453 people. History Before Spanish colonization,Carcar was known as "Kabkad" and ...
to the south. Within the city, economic growth was observed in other areas as well, and much of the business activity shifted from the old and derelict downtown area to the more modern and more diverse business districts located in other areas of the city, including areas around Fuente Osmeña (colloquially known as "Uptown Cebu"), the
Cebu Business Park Cebu Business Park (CBP) is a 50-hectare master-planned development in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. Cebu Holdings, an affiliate of Ayala Land, is currently responsible for the development of Cebu Business Park. Integrating business, residential ...
, and the
Cebu IT Park The Cebu IT Park (formerly known as ''Asiatown IT Park'') is a business park in Cebu City, Philippines. The park is envisioned to attract locators in the information technology industry. It is developed by Cebu Property Ventures and Development ...
, among other areas. The opening of the aforementioned Ayala Mall and
SM City Cebu SM City Cebu (also known as SM Cebu, and sometimes both known locally as SM Mabolo and SM City), is a large shopping mall located in Mabolo, Cebu City, Philippines. It is the 4th shopping mall owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, the count ...
had also shifted significant retail activities away from Colon, though it remained to serve as an important transit point for public utility
jeepney A jeepney (), or simply a jeep (), is a type of Public transport, public utility vehicle (PUV) that serves as the most popular means of Transportation in the Philippines, public transportation in the Philippines. Known for its crowded seating ...
s (PUJ) covering arterial routes within the city. In 2002, the
South Road Properties The South Road Properties (SRP), also known as the South Reclamation Project, is a land reclamation, reclamation area in Cebu City, Philippines. The area, which is reclaimed from Mactan Channel, is located off the coast of the Cebu City's 2nd ...
(SRP) was completed, initially with the intention of being a hub for
light industries Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced fo ...
but gradually shifted to be a hub for
mixed-use developments Mixed use is a type of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning classification that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions a ...
. The Cebu South Coastal Road, which traverses through SRP, has helped alleviate the city's traffic by serving as an alternative to the
Natalio Bacalso Avenue Natalio Bacalso Avenue, also known as Cebu South Road and informally as Cebu South Expressway, is a highway from Cebu City, Cebu to Samboan in Cebu, Philippines. It is currently Cebu's longest road, stretching around . It is named after Natalio ...
.
SM Seaside City Cebu SM Seaside City (also known locally as SM Seaside and formerly but still officially known on exterior signage as SM Seaside City Cebu), is a large shopping mall owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings in South Road Properties, Cebu City, Phili ...
opened in 2015, and was one of the
largest shopping malls in the Philippines This article lists the largest shopping malls in the Philippines by gross floor area. SM Prime, SM Prime Holdings is the largest shopping retail operator in the Philippines with 78 operating malls totaling a gross floor area of 4.5 million ...
upon opening. The opening of the
Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway The Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX), also known as the Cebu–Cordova Bridge and the Third Cebu–Mactan Bridge (or simply, the Third Bridge), is an toll bridge expressway in Metro Cebu, Philippines. The bridge connects the South Road P ...
in 2022, which links the city to Cordova in Mactan, is poised to unlock the SRP's potential as the city's next economic hub. Other infrastructure projects, such as the
Metro Cebu Expressway The Metro Cebu Expressway is a controlled-access highway, expressway in Metro Cebu, Philippines. Once completed, it will connect Cebu North Road (N8 highway (Philippines), N8) in Danao, Cebu, Danao to Naga–Uling Road (N81 highway (Philippines), ...
and the
Cebu Bus Rapid Transit System The Cebu Bus Rapid Transit System (branded as CEBRT) is a mass transit system under construction in Cebu City, Philippines. It is expected to become the first operational bus rapid transit project in the Philippines.Valentina Lopez (July 2010)� ...
, are also in place to help facilitate the city's future growth.


Geography

Cebu City has a land area of . To the northeast of the city is
Mandaue City Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...
and the town of
Consolacion Consolacion, officially the Municipality of Consolacion (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality in the Philippine Province, province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 148,012 people. ...
; to the west is Toledo City and the towns of
Balamban Balamban, officially the Municipality of Balamban (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 95,136 people. Balamban is known for its shipbuilding industry. History Th ...
and
Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
; to the south is Talisay City and the town of
Minglanilla Minglanilla, officially the Municipality of Minglanilla (; ), is a municipality in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 151,002 people. It is known as the "Sugat Capital of the South" (wher ...
. Across Mactan Strait to the east is Mactan island where Lapu-Lapu is located. Further east across the
Cebu Strait Cebu Strait (Tagalog language, Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Cebú''; also Bohol Strait) is a strait in the Central Visayas region in the Philippines. Geography The Cebu Strait (and its 3 channels, the Mactan Channel, Mactan, the Olango Island Group, Ol ...
is the island of Bohol.


Barangays

Cebu City is politically subdivided into 80 barangays. Each barangay consists of
purok A ''purok'' () is an informal division within a barangay in the Philippines. While not officially considered a local government unit (LGU), a ''purok'' often serves as a unit for delivering services and administration within a barangay. ''Pur ...
s and some have
sitios A ''sitio'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "site") in the Philippines is a territorial enclave that forms part of a barangay. Typically rural, a ''sitios location is usually far from the center of the barangay itself and could be its own bar ...
. These barangays are grouped into two
congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...
, with 46 barangays in the northern district and 34 in the southern district. As of the 2020 census, 58 barangays are classified as urban barangays where 888,481 (92.15%) of Cebu City's population lives, while the remaining 22 rural barangays are home to 75,668 residents, representing 7.85% of the total population. The most populous barangays in the city, as of the 2020 census, are Guadalupe (70,039), Tisa (47,364), and Lahug (45,853), while Kalubihan is the least populous barangay with only 663 residents.


Climate

Cebu City has a
tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...
under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
. The city has a lengthy
wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...
and a short
dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...
, with only the months of March and April falling into the latter season. Average temperatures show little variance during the year with average daily temps ranging from to . The city on averages experiences roughly of precipitation annually.


Demographics

The city's population reached 799,762 people in 2007, and at the time of the 2010 census, the population had grown to 866,171 people, who formed at least 161,151 households.


Religion

The city is considered the birthplace of Christianity in the Far East. The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu The Archdiocese of Cebu (more formally the Archdiocese of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Cebu; ; ; ; ) is a Latin Church Diocese, archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and one of the ecclesiastical provinces of the Catholic Chur ...
is currently the largest archdiocese in the Philippines and in Asia. There are plans to divide the archdiocese, which covers the entire civil
Province of Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a s ...
, into three dioceses, of which two are
suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...
s of the archdiocese. Christianity in the form of Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion in Cebu for about 95% of the population, making it the 2nd most Roman Catholic affiliated city among the already majority Roman Catholic nation. The remainder of the religious population includes various Protestant faiths (
Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
, Methodists, and
Presbyterians Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
),
Non-denominational A non-denominational person or organization is one that does not follow (or is not restricted to) any particular or specific religious denomination. The term has been used in the context of various faiths, including Jainism, Baháʼí Faith, Zoro ...
groups, the
Philippine Independent Church The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the ...
,
Iglesia ni Cristo The (INC; ; ) is an independent Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church founded in 1913 and registered by Felix Manalo, Félix Manalo in 1914 as a corporation sole, sole religious corporation ...
,
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
,
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...
,
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...
and other Christian groups. Other religions include
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
,
Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...
and
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
. Within the city is the
Cebu Taoist Temple Cebu Taoist Temple ( zh, s=宿雾定光宝殿, t=宿霧定光寶殿, p=Sùwù Dìngguāng Bǎodiàn, poj=Siok-bū Tēng-kng Pó-tiān) is a Taoist temple located in Beverly Hills Subdivision of Cebu City, Philippines. History The temple wa ...
, a Taoist temple located in the
Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...
subdivision of Lahug.


Languages

The most recent census data on ethnicity and language (from the 2010 census) shows that the vast majority of the city's population speaks Cebuano as the primary casual
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
language. English is also used as the primary
formal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements ( forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal atti ...
medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...
in schools, besides Filipino
class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
which teaches Filipino ( Tagalog) across schools in Cebu and is also understood by the populace through Filipino
mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...
. There are also a few speakers of Hiligaynon from nearby Hiligaynon-speaking provinces in Panay and in
Soccsksargen Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; ), formerly known as Central Mindanao, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region XII. Located in south-central Mindanao, its name is an List of g ...
region in Mindanao and other speakers of other
Visayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Mo ...
from nearby regions. Minority speakers of other Philippine languages are also residents in the city, one of them are
Ilocanos The Ilocano people (), also referred to as Ilokáno, Iloko, Iloco, Iluku, or Samtoy, are an Austronesian ethnolinguistic group native to the Philippines. Originally from the Ilocos Region, located on the northwestern coast of Luzon, they hav ...
, a Luzon ethnic group whose native language is the eponymous
Ilocano language Iloco (also Iloko, Ilocáno or Ilokáno; ; Iloco: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language primarily spoken in the Philippines by the Ilocano people. It is one of the eight major languages of the Philippines with about 11 million ...
; Ilocanos form a minority in Cebu City, where they formed an organized association for Ilocano residents and their descendants there, including nearby cities and towns within Cebu Province.
Chinese Filipino Chinese Filipinos (sometimes referred as Filipino Chinese or Chinoy/Tsinoy in the Philippines) are Filipinos of Chinese descent with ancestry mainly from Fujian, but are typically born and raised in the Philippines. Chinese Filipinos are one ...
s also privately use
Philippine Hokkien Philippine Hokkien is a dialect of the Hokkien language of the Southern Min branch of Min Chinese descended directly from Old Chinese of the Sinitic languages, Sinitic family, primarily spoken vernacularly by Chinese Filipinos in the Philippine ...
among fellow speakers of the language, while
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
(
Standard Chinese Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the republican era (1912–1949). ...
) is also taught in Chinese class of Chinese Filipino schools and few other schools in Cebu.


Economy

The term
Ceboom Ceboom (sometimes spelled in all caps) is a portmanteau of "Cebu" and "boom", and has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of Cebu from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The economic miracle After Emilio Mario Osmeña won the Ceb ...
, a portmanteau of "Cebu" and "boom", has been used to refer to the rapid economic development of both Cebu City and Cebu Province from the early 1990s to the early 2000s. Cebu City is considered to be the prime trading center of the southern Philippines. With Cebu City's proximity to many islands, beaches, hotel and resorts, diving locations, and heritage sites, high domestic and foreign tourist arrivals have fueled the city's tourism industry. Due to its geographic location in the middle of the country, accessibility by air, land and sea transportation, Cebu City has become the tourist gateway to central and southern Philippines. Its port,
Port of Cebu Port of Cebu () is a seaport located in Cebu City, Philippines. It serves the Metro Cebu Area and is managed by the Cebu Port Authority. It is the largest domestic port in the Philippines, mostly serving routes in the Visayas and Mindanao. Lo ...
, is the country's second largest seaport. The city is a major hub for the business process outsourcing industry of the Philippines. In 2013, Cebu ranked 8th worldwide in the "Top 100 BPO Destinations Report" by global advisory firm Tholons. In 2012, the growth in IT-BPO revenues in Cebu grew 26.9 percent at $484 million, while nationally, the industry grew 18.2 percent at $13 billion. Aboitiz Equity Ventures, formerly known as Cebu Pan Asian Holdings, is the first holding company from Cebu City publicly listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Ayala Corporation, through its subsidiary Cebu Holdings, Inc. and Cebu Property, both publicly in the PSE Index, developed the Cebu Park District where the mixed-used development zones of the
Cebu Business Park Cebu Business Park (CBP) is a 50-hectare master-planned development in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. Cebu Holdings, an affiliate of Ayala Land, is currently responsible for the development of Cebu Business Park. Integrating business, residential ...
and
Cebu IT Park The Cebu IT Park (formerly known as ''Asiatown IT Park'') is a business park in Cebu City, Philippines. The park is envisioned to attract locators in the information technology industry. It is developed by Cebu Property Ventures and Development ...
are located. Both master planned areas are host to regional headquarters for various companies in the banking, finance, IT and tourism sectors among others. Shipbuilding companies in Cebu have manufactured bulk carriers of up to deadweight (DWT) and double-hulled fast craft as well. This industry made the Philippines the 4th largest shipbuilding country in the world. With a revenue growth rate of 18.8 percent in 2012, the real estate industry is the fastest growing sector in Cebu. With the strong economic indicators and high investors' confidence level, more condominium projects and hypermarkets are being developed in the locality. List of largest shopping malls in the Philippines
Colon Street Colon Street (, , ; , ) is a historical street in Cebu City. Located in the city's downtown, Colon Street is often called the oldest and shortest national road in the Philippines. It is named after Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus). Built ...
, the oldest national road in the Philippines, as well as its neighboring streets and surrounding areas, collectively known as Downtown Cebu, is an important center of commerce for the city. It is home to many malls, stores, and stalls selling various goods and services. Carbon Market is the city's oldest and largest farmer's market, and is set to be redeveloped to include other lifestyle and mixed-use developments. The redevelopment is scheduled to be finished by 2025. The Pasil Fish Market, located in Barangays Pasil and Suba, is a major fish wholesale market, sourcing fresh catch from different parts of the
Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...
. The
South Road Properties The South Road Properties (SRP), also known as the South Reclamation Project, is a land reclamation, reclamation area in Cebu City, Philippines. The area, which is reclaimed from Mactan Channel, is located off the coast of the Cebu City's 2nd ...
(SRP) is a prime property development project on a reclaimed land located a few metres off the coast of Cebu's central business district. It is a mixed-use development that will feature entertainment, leisure, residential and business-processing industries. It is registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation(JBIC). Traversing the property is a , four-lane highway known as the Cebu Coastal Road that provides the motorists with a good view of Cebu's south coast and the nearby island of Bohol.


Shopping

Cebu City, and
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...
as a whole, is one of the Philippines' major shopping destinations. The Gaisano family, which operates Gaisano Capital, Gaisano Grand Malls, Gaisano Malls, and the Metro Retail Stores Group, traces its roots to the city. There are four major Shopping mall, super-regional malls in the city.
SM City Cebu SM City Cebu (also known as SM Cebu, and sometimes both known locally as SM Mabolo and SM City), is a large shopping mall located in Mabolo, Cebu City, Philippines. It is the 4th shopping mall owned and developed by SM Prime Holdings, the count ...
, located in the North Reclamation Area, opened in 1993, and is the first SM Supermall in the Philippines located outside Metro Manila. Ayala Center Cebu, opened in 1994, is a shopping mall at the
Cebu Business Park Cebu Business Park (CBP) is a 50-hectare master-planned development in Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines. Cebu Holdings, an affiliate of Ayala Land, is currently responsible for the development of Cebu Business Park. Integrating business, residential ...
. More than 85,000 people visit the mall every day, with the figure increasing to 135,000 daily on weekends. SM Seaside, opened in November 2015, is located in the South Road Properties and is one of the
largest shopping malls in the Philippines This article lists the largest shopping malls in the Philippines by gross floor area. SM Prime, SM Prime Holdings is the largest shopping retail operator in the Philippines with 78 operating malls totaling a gross floor area of 4.5 million ...
. Robinsons Galleria Cebu opened in December 2015 and is in close proximity to the
Port of Cebu Port of Cebu () is a seaport located in Cebu City, Philippines. It serves the Metro Cebu Area and is managed by the Cebu Port Authority. It is the largest domestic port in the Philippines, mostly serving routes in the Visayas and Mindanao. Lo ...
. Other notable retail establishments include Ayala Malls Central Bloc in
Cebu IT Park The Cebu IT Park (formerly known as ''Asiatown IT Park'') is a business park in Cebu City, Philippines. The park is envisioned to attract locators in the information technology industry. It is developed by Cebu Property Ventures and Development ...
, Il Corso, Gaisano Mall of Cebu, and Gaisano Country Mall, among others.


Government

Being a highly urbanized city, Cebu City (along with neighboring
Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...
and Lapu-Lapu, Philippines, Lapu-Lapu) is independent from Cebu province. Its electorate do not vote for provincial officials. There were proposals during the time of Governor Emilio Mario Osmeña to establish an "administrative district" that would be independent from Cebu City. This would mean carving out Cebu City's Capitol Site barangay, where the provincial capitol and other provincial offices are located. The plan, however, did not go through and was even followed by other proposals like the transfer of the capital to Balamban. Cebu City is governed by a mayor, vice mayor and Cebu City Council, sixteen councilors (eight representing the north and eight representing the south districts). Each official is popularly elected to serve for a three-year term. The chief of the Association of Barangay Captains and the president of the Sangguniang Kabataan Federation also serve in the city council. The day-to-day administration of the city is handled by a city administrator. ; Current city officials (2022–2025) * Mayor: Raymond Alvin Garcia, Raymond Alvin N. Garcia (Kugi Uswag Sugbo, KUSUG) — ''Assumed office after the dismissal of former Mayor Mike Rama, Michael L. Rama * Vice Mayor: Dondon Hontiveros, Donaldo "Dondon" C. Hontiveros (Partido Barug, BARUG) ; 19th Congress of the Philippines, 19th Congress * House of Representatives of the Philippines, House of Representatives ** 1st District (North): Rachel del Mar, Rachel B. del Mar (Nationalist People's Coalition, NPC) ** 2nd District (South): Eduardo R. Rama Jr. (PDP–Laban, PDPLBN)


Culture

Cebu City is a significant cultural center in the Philippines. The imprint of Spanish and Roman Catholic culture is evident. The city's most famous landmark is Magellan's Cross. This cross, now housed in a chapel, is reputed to have been erected by
Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fl ...
(Fernão Magalhães) when he arrived in the Philippines in 1521. It was encased in hollow Afzelia rhomboidea, tindalo wood in 1835 upon the order of the Augustinian Bishop Santos Gómez Marañon to prevent devotees from taking it home chip by chip. The same bishop restored the present template or kiosk, located at Magallanes Street between the City Hall and Colegio del Santo Niño. Revered by Filipinos, the Magellan's Cross is a symbol of Christianity in the Philippines. A few steps away from Magellan's Cross is the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child). This is an Augustinian church elevated to the rank of basilica in 1965 during the 400th anniversary celebrations of Christianity in the Philippines, held in Cebu. The church, which was the first to be established in the islands, is built of hewn stone and features the country's oldest relic, the figure of the Santo Niño de Cebú (Holy Child of Cebu), who is Jesus Christ as a Child Jesus, Child. This religious and cultural event is celebrated during the island's cultural festivities known as the Sinulog festival. Held every third Sunday of January, it celebrates the festival of the Santo Niño de Cebú, Santo Niño, who was formerly considered to be the patron saint of Cebu. (This patronage was later changed to that of Our Lady of Guadalupe after it was realized that the Santo Niño could not be a patron saint because he was an image of Christ and not a saint.) The Sinulog is a dance prayer ritual of pre-Hispanic indigenous origin. The dancer moves two steps forward and one step backward to the rhythmic sound of drums. This movement resembles somewhat the current (sulog) of the river. Thus, the Cebuanos called it Sinulog. When the Spaniards arrived in Cebu, the Italian chronicler
Antonio Pigafetta Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was a Venetian scholar and explorer. In 1519, he joined the Spanish expedition to the Spice Islands led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the world's first Magellan's circumnavigation, circumnavigation, ...
, sailing under convoy with the Magellan expedition, offered a baptismal gift to Hara Amihan, wife of Rajah Humabon. She was later named Juana, the figure of the Santo Niño. The natives also honored the Santo Niño de Cebú in their indigenous sinulog ritual. This ritual was preserved but limited to honoring the Santo Niño. Once the Santo Niño church was built in the 16th century, the Christianized-Malay race, Austronesian natives started performing the sinulog ritual in front of the church, the devotees offering candles and indigenous dancers shouting "Viva Pit Señor!" In the 1980s and 2000s, the city authorities of Cebu added the religious feast of Santo Niño de Cebú during the Sinulog Festival to its cultural event. The city joined UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on October 31, 2019, on the occasion of World Cities' Day. Cebu City was also recognized by the British Council as the Creative Capital of the Philippines. In 2019, it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network as a City of Design.


Music

Cebu City is regarded as the birthplace of BisRock, a term coined by Cebuano writer Januar E. Yap in 2002. Notable BisRock bands include Missing Filemon, Junior Kilat, Phylum, Rundown Genova, and Scrambled Eggs, among others. Popular Filipino bands Urbandub and Cueshé also hail from Cebu, but mostly sing their songs in English, and in the latter's case, also in Tagalog. The Cebu Reggae Festival is a popular Filipino Reggae and Roots music festival, it now has become one of the Philippines' largest annual Reggae Festivals. Lifedance and Sinulog Invasion are rave music festivals held in the city in the days before the Sinulog Festival. These music festivals are regarded as among the biggest music festivals in the country. The Cebu Pop Music Festival is an annual music festival, founded in 1980, showcasing Cebuano-language pop songs. Like Lifedance and Sinulog Invasion, the music festival is also held in the days before the Sinulog Festival. On Cebuano musical heritage, the Jose R. Gullas Halad Museum in V. Gullas St. (former Manalili) corner D. Jakosalem St. in Cebu City, holds musical memorabilia of Cebuano composers in the early 20th century, the likes of Ben Zubiri (composer of Matud Nila), Inting Rubi (Kasadya Ning Taknaa) and Minggoy Lopez (Rosas Pandan). Since 2013, Cebu has hosted the Visayan Pop Songwriting Campaign, an annual songwriting competition that aimed to showcase songs written in the Cebuano language. Founded by multi-awarded artist Jude Gitamondoc, Ian Zafra, Cattski Espina, and Missing Filemon's front-man Lorenzo Niñal through the Artists and Musicians Marketing Cooperative (ArtistKo) with the support of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Vispop, or sometimes Visayan pop, later on evolved from being associated with the music festival to a genre of the new wave of Visayan pop songs that gained nationwide popularity, even those songs that were not exclusively produced for or presented in the contest.


Sports

The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. is based in the city. Its member schools are located within the
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...
area. It is often considered one of the Philippines' strongest college sports league. The city has an active boxing scene. ALA Gym, one of the most famous boxing gyms in the Philippines, is based in the city, at the Banilad district. In addition, ALA Gym's promotion arm, the ALA Promotions, organizes the Pinoy Pride boxing series. The Aboitiz Football Cup is the longest-running association football competition in Cebu. The cup has been considered to be one of the most prestigious association football tournaments in the Philippines. The tournament is organized and supported by the Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Aboitiz family, one of the Philippines' richest families, and owners of one of the Philippines' largest conglomerates, the Aboitiz Equity Ventures. The Cebu F.C. is the only professional sports club based in the city. It has played in the Philippines Football League (PFL) in 2021 Philippines Football League, 2021. The club is the second professional football club to be based in Cebu, after Global F.C., which also played in the PFL. The club plays its home games at the Dynamic Herb Sports Complex in nearby Talisay. The city has cultivated emerging sports and flourished in which Cebu Flag Football League, or known as CFFL, is an amateur sports league for flag football. The association has partnered with Flag Football Philippines (FFP) in bringing the game of flag football in the country. Former professional sports teams include the following: * Global Cebu F.C., which played in the now-defunct Philippines Football League (PFL). They played their home games at the Cebu City Sports Complex. They have since moved to Makati, changing their name correspondingly into Global Makati F.C. * Cebu City Chiefs, a rugby league team that participated in the Philippines National Rugby League * Cebu Dragons, a rugby union team in the Philippine Rugby Football Union * Cebu Gems, a basketball team that played in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA). The Gems played their home games at the Cebu Coliseum. * Cebu City Sharks, a basketball team that used to play in the South Division of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL). The team has taken a leave of absence from the MPBL since 2021. The team played its home games at the Hoops Dome in nearby Lapu-Lapu City, Southwestern University (Philippines), Aznar Coliseum in Barangay Sambag I, and at the University of San Jose–Recoletos, USJ-R Coliseum, located in Barangay Basak Pardo.


Tourism

Cebu hosted the 1998 ASEAN Tourism Forum. The city also hosted the East Asian Tourism Forum in August 2002, in which the province of Cebu is a member and signatory. Views of Cebu City and its skyline can be seen from villages and numerous gated communities located on its mountainsides. There is a significant number of Filipino-Spanish heritage buildings in Cebu City such as
Fort San Pedro Fort San Pedro () is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. It is located in the area now called Plaz ...
, Basilica del Santo Niño, Magellan's Cross, and the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.Department of Tourism Philippines official website page on Cebu
. Retrieved September 28, 2009.
The city hosts the Museo Sugbo and Casa Gorordo Museum. The
Cebu Taoist Temple Cebu Taoist Temple ( zh, s=宿雾定光宝殿, t=宿霧定光寶殿, p=Sùwù Dìngguāng Bǎodiàn, poj=Siok-bū Tēng-kng Pó-tiān) is a Taoist temple located in Beverly Hills Subdivision of Cebu City, Philippines. History The temple wa ...
is also situated within the city. File:Colon Obelisk, Cebu City, Jan 2024.jpg,
Colon Street Colon Street (, , ; , ) is a historical street in Cebu City. Located in the city's downtown, Colon Street is often called the oldest and shortest national road in the Philippines. It is named after Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus). Built ...
Obelisk and Historical Marker File:Casa Gorodo Museum (E. Aboitiz, Cebu City; 01-10-2024).jpg, Casa Gorordo Museum File:Magellan's Cross Cebu (cropped).jpg, Magellan's Cross Pavilion File:Museo Sugbu (MJ Cuenco Avenue, Cebu City; 09-07-2022).jpg, Museo Sugbo File:Temple of Leah, Cebu City, Jan 2024.jpg, Temple of Leah File:Cebu downtown, capitol view from Tops Lookout (Cebu City; 09-06-2022).jpg, Sightseeing view at Tops File:Sirao Pictorial Garden 026.jpg, Sirao Garden File:Maritima Ruins (CSCR, Cebu City; 09-05-2022).jpg, Compañía Marítima Building File:The Archdiocesan Museum of Cebu, Jan 2024 (2).jpg, The Archdiocesan Museum of Cebu File:Fuente Osmeña Circle.jpg, Fuente Osmeña, Fuente Osmeña Circle


Transportation

Mactan–Cebu International Airport, located in Lapu-Lapu, is the country's second-busiest airport and serves direct international flights and domestic destinations. Many international and cargo airlines fly to Cebu. There are also direct transfer flights via the capital's Ninoy Aquino International Airport that readily connect the city to other destinations in the world. The city is served by a Port of Cebu, domestic and international port which are handled by the Cebu Port Authority. Much of the city's waterfront is actually occupied by the port with around of berthing space. The city is home to more than 80% of the country's island vessels traveling on domestic routes mostly in the Visayas and Mindanao. Transportation throughout the city and the metropolitan itself is provided by
jeepney A jeepney (), or simply a jeep (), is a type of Public transport, public utility vehicle (PUV) that serves as the most popular means of Transportation in the Philippines, public transportation in the Philippines. Known for its crowded seating ...
s, buses and taxis. The Cebu City Government conducted a 2012 feasibility study on implementing a Cebu Bus Rapid Transit, bus rapid transit (BRT) system that will ease the transportation of the residents in the city and throughout the entire
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...
area. Aimed to serve an estimated 330,000 passengers per day, the project would have a capacity of 176 buses running through 33 stations along Bulacao until Talamban with a link to
South Road Properties The South Road Properties (SRP), also known as the South Reclamation Project, is a land reclamation, reclamation area in Cebu City, Philippines. The area, which is reclaimed from Mactan Channel, is located off the coast of the Cebu City's 2nd ...
. The project is currently branded as TransCebu and is expected to be fully operational by 2017. it was two years late, and the price had increased to ₱9.04B (US$180M). Cebu Urban Mass Rapid Transit, Cebu UMRT, a mass transit system that uses rail lines, has been proposed in the Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA Study for both 2015 and 2019. The lines were included in the masterplan: a 67.5-kilometer Central Line as the first phase of the project is an underground railway that runs between Carcar, Carcar City and Danao, Cebu, Danao City, while the line will also traverse the areas of Cebu City; and a 25-kilometer Coastal Line from Talisay to Lapu-Lapu City, which will also traverse in the city. In March 2019, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board announced the opening of a new Premium Point-to-Point Bus Service in Cebu City with three express bus routes to Lapu-Lapu, Philippines, Lapu-Lapu, Danao and Sibonga.


Infrastructure


Utilities

The city mostly gets its power from an interconnection grid with the Leyte Geothermal Power Plant, which also powers the majority of the
Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; Filipino language, Filipino: ''Kabisayaan'' ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, a ...
. Cebu is also powered by a coal-fired thermal plant with two units each generating 52.5-MW and 56.8-MW, a 43.8-MW diesel power plant and 55-MW land-based gas turbine plants located at the Naga power complex which is planned to be rehabilitated and replaced with 150-MW coal units by 2016 and to be completed by 2019. Telecommunication facilities, broadband and wireless internet connections are available and are provided by some of the country's largest telecommunication companies. In 1998, the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was constructed to ease garbage disposal within the city. After 15 years, the landfill reached its lifespan and the Talisay city government recently allowed Cebu to temporarily dump its garbage in its own landfill. In 2015, Cebu appropriated a total of ₱2.5M to close and rehabilitate the landfill at Inayawan.


Education

Cebu City, and
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...
as a whole, is an important educational hub in Southern Philippines. Cebu City itself is currently home to ten large universities each with a number of campuses throughout Cebu province and more than a dozen other schools specializing in various courses. Among these schools is the
University of San Carlos The University of San Carlos (USC or colloquially San Carlos) is a private, Catholic, research, coeducational basic and higher education institution administered by the Philippine Southern Province of the Society of the Divine Word missionarie ...
, one of the most highly regarded educational institutions in the Philippines. It claims to trace its roots to Colegio de San Ildefonso, which was founded in 1595. It has five campuses around Cebu City, including the Downtown Campus (formerly Main Campus) and the Talamban Campus (TC), both of which are home to the school's college programs. It is currently headed by the Society of the Divine Word. The University of the Philippines Cebu, located at Barangay Camputhaw in the district near Lahug currently has eight courses and has plans of expansion and development. The U.P. Board of Regents elevated the status of U.P. Cebu as a constituent university of the University of the Philippines System on October 27, 2016. Another Catholic university in Cebu City is the University of San Jose–Recoletos which was established in 1947. It is currently headed by the Augustinian Recollects and has two different campuses within the city, excluding a new campus outside the city located in the municipality of Balamban. Cebu Normal University (CNU) was established in 1902 as a provincial normal school, a branch of the Philippine Normal School. It became an independent institution in 1924, a chartered college in 1976, and a university in 1998. CNU offers academic programs at the nursery, kindergarten, elementary, junior high, undergraduate, and graduate levels. CNU is designated by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as Center of Excellence (COE) in both Nursing Education and Teacher Education. The Cebu Doctors' University (formerly Cebu Doctors' College) was granted university status in November 2004. It is the only private school in the Philippines to achieve university status without a designated basic education (pre-school – high school) curriculum; it caters mainly to courses related to the health services field. It was relocated to a nine-story building in 2007 at the Cebu Boardwalk (now Dr. P.V. Larrazabal Jr. Avenue) in neighboring city of
Mandaue Mandaue (), officially the City of Mandaue (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 364,116 people. ...
, thus closing its old campus near the then Cebu Doctors' Hospital (now Cebu Doctors' University Hospital). , the university now offers senior high school (grades 11 and 12) The University of Cebu (UC) has four campuses located within the city: Its main campus, located in Sanciangko Street, offers degree programs such as a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT), HRM, Computer Engineering, BSED and others. The Maritime Education & Training Center (METC), located in Barangay Mambaling, which hosts the university's maritime programs, was opened in 1991. Its third campus, in Barangay Banilad, was opened in June 2002. A fourth campus, the Pardo–Talisay campus, located in Barangay Bulacao Pardo, near the boundary between Cebu City and Talisay, was added to the UC network in 2021 after the university's acquisition of St. Paul College Foundation, Inc. Also located in the city is the University of the Visayas, established in 1919, and is considered to be the first educational institution in Cebu which was granted with a university status. It was granted an autonomous status by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in 2010 and currently offers basic education and a number of courses in the tertiary level including medical courses (Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Midwifery, and Health Care Services) which are housed in its campus in Banilad area. Aside from its campuses within Cebu City, it also has numerous campuses located around the Cebu, province of Cebu. Other noteworthy institutions in the city include the Cebu Institute of Technology – University (formerly Cebu Institute of Technology), the main campus of Cebu Technological University (CTU), Cebu Technological University (formerly the Cebu State College of Science and Technology), Southwestern University (Philippines), Southwestern University, University of Southern Philippines Foundation in Lahug and Mabini, Asian College of Technology (formerly Asian Computer Institute), Benedicto College, Cebu Eastern College, Cebu International School, Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion, College of Technological Sciences - Cebu, Don Bosco Technical College–Cebu (DBTC), Saint Theresa's College of Cebu, Sacred Heart School - Ateneo de Cebu, Salazar Colleges of Science and Institute of Technology, and Velez College (together with its independently administered medical school arm Cebu Institute of Medicine), among others. Cebu City has 68 public elementary schools, 23 national high schools and 28 night high schools. These night high schools are operated by the city government. The Cebu City Public Library, Cebu City Public Library and Information Center is the only public library in Cebu.


Media


Sister cities


International

* Chengdu, China * Chula Vista, California, United States * Guadalajara, Mexico * Honolulu, Hawaii, United States * Kaohsiung, Taiwan * Kortrijk, Belgium * City of Parramatta, Parramatta City, Australia * Sabrosa, Portugal * Salinas, California, United States * Seattle, Washington, United States * Saint Petersburg, Russia * Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir, Russia * Xiamen, China * Yokohama, Japan * Yeosu, South Korea


Local


Notable people


See also

* Economy of Cebu * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu, List of parishes in Cebu * List of people from Cebu *
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cebu The Archdiocese of Cebu (more formally the Archdiocese of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in Cebu; ; ; ; ) is a Latin Church Diocese, archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the Philippines and one of the ecclesiastical provinces of the Catholic Chur ...
*
Metro Cebu Metropolitan Cebu, or simply Metro Cebu (; ), is the main urban center of the province of Cebu in the Philippines. Metro Cebu is located along the central eastern portion of the island including the nearby island of Mactan. It accounts for 19. ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * *


External links

* * * * [ Philippine Standard Geographic Code]
Cebu City on SharePhilippines.com

Historic photographs of Cebu city
{{Authority control Cebu City, 1565 establishments in the Philippines Cities in Cebu Former national capitals Highly urbanized cities in the Philippines Populated coastal places in the Philippines Populated places established in 1565 Port cities and towns in the Philippines Provincial capitals of the Philippines