‘Millennials’ need to know Cebu culture – advocate

CEBU, Philippines - There is a huge need for “millennials” to know that Cebu has a very rich cultural heritage, so said a heritage conservation advocate.

Bryl Jan S. Yucaran, a Heritage Conservation Advocate and a participant of Friday night’s Gabii sa Kabilin (GSK) 2017, hopes that more youngsters like him would learn to appreciate Cebu’s culture and heritage.

“Actually, I’m a fan. I am an advocate of Heritage Conservation of Cebu.  As part of the youth sector, who needs to propagate this advocacy kay, for the past years, murag there are only a few young people doing the advocacy on heritage conservation,” he said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

For the past seven years, Yucaran has been doing free heritage walks in Parian and there he saw that there’s a need for youngsters to value and preserve the beauty of Cebu’s history.

Thousands of Cebuanos and people coming from different countries joined the GSK, an event to preserve and promote Cebu’s heritage and culture, for them to dig deep into the culture and to know how the present Cebu came to be.

Despite the difficulty in transportation, participants of Gabii sa Kabilin 2017 were jovial to visit and explore almost 30 museums all around Cebu that took part in upholding this annual event that was organized by the Heritage Unit of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI).

“The bus should complete (all) the museums. It’s the transportation I am disappointed but I really like what I see.  The history, arts, painting are very good especially the Cebu Public Library,” said Peter Mertin, a 47 year-old participant from Australia.

GSK has made possible thousands of individuals visit a number of museums and heritage sites here in Cebu. Each museum offers different kinds of activities, exhibits and presentations.

The tickets worth P150 is inclusive of a route map, e-magazine and free transportation.

One of the event’s highlights was the “Heritage Hunt” where groups of five people chose five out of 10 selected participating sites and accomplish the challenges within a four-hour time limit. The registration fee for this activity is P350.

The “blogging/vlogging” was another event in which the participants should make a minute and thirty to two-minute-long video or a 450-word blog containing pictures.

A participant also shared that this particular event not only is fun but is also a stress-reliever.

“Ma-value ug ma-appreciate nimo ang history sa Cebu kung unsa siya ka nindot. Makawala sad siya sa stress,” said Mara Gabilan, one of the participants.

Dr. Ana Maria Theresa Labrador, Director of the National Museum, was amazed by the Cebuanos’ talent in arts, particularly in painting.

"Cebu is very lucky to have many skilled painters." Dr. Labrador said.

One of the organizers, Christian Bonpua, a Museum Curator of Jesuit House, said the event was a night for the Cebuanos to know themselves and for the people around the world to know the culture and heritage of the Philippines, especially Cebu.

“It is a night for us to know ourselves as Cebuanos, a night for the rest of the Filipinos to know the Cebuanos and a night for the rest of the world to know the Filipinos” he said in an interview.

According to Yucaran, he joined the Gabii sa Kabilin 2017 not only to hop from one museum to another, but also for him to see the picture of what really is the history of Cebu.

“So this is my share of doing the heritage walk with some people close to me and those who are interested to have an in-depth, not really an in depth, but some sort of idea of what really the history of Cebu is,” Yucaran said.

GSK organizers also prepared activities for children who joined the exciting event.

The opening ceremony was held at Cebu Provincial Capitol with speeches by Mr. Joselito R. Costas, Provincial Tourism Officer of Cebu, and Mr. Christian Bonpua, the head organizer of GSK 2017.

GSK or A Night of Heritage is a replica of what Germany has. It is one of the celebrated events which Cebuanos take pride in since only Cebu offers this kind of experience in the country. —/GAN (FREEMAN)