Cebu, Queen City of the South” by Gervasio Lavilles, the brains of the Cebu City Charter - Part 4

In the book, “CEBU: History of its Four Cities & Forty Nine Municipalities” written by lawyer Lavilles (brains of the Cebu City Charter, councilor of the then Municipality of Cebu, a street in Tinago named Bagumbayan has been renamed after him) published in 1965. Lavilles wrote this an opening article reprinted here:

This is continued from the previous article:

“The present City of Cebu, which is spectacularly rising from the wreckage and ashes of the last World War, is much bigger and greater, much more progressive, and more beautiful…”

“Its taxable real property is assessed at P201,086,840 as November 1964. Engaged in business of varied kinds are 4.016 commercial and industrial firms 38 of which have a capitalization of more than one million pesos each, with the Cebu Development Corporation occupying, at present, the top position with a capital of 25 million pesos.”

“One example of these is the Lu Do & Lu Ym Building of 11 stories now undergoing the finishing stages and touches of construction. The city counts with numerous other towering buildings and hundreds of beautiful residences as modern in architectural beauty and furnishings as the best in any parts of the Philippines. It has many modern hotels and restaurants and many airconditioned move theaters the best of which are comparable with the best in Manila. It has beautiful parks and plazas and wide paved streets and boulevards filled with thousands of more and horse-drawn vehicles. Its population of approximately 400,000 is also fast growing, partly because of the increasing influx of thousands of people from all parts of the Visayas and Mindanao who come to look for employments or to engage in certain kinds of trade and occupation.”

“From the top of the Capitol Building, or from any height back of it, a beautiful panoramic view of the entire city, and, beyond, the blue seas between Cebu and Mindanao and between Cebu and the islands of Bohol and Leyte, with numerous islets dotting the waters of the Visayan Sea, spreads with wonderful fascination before the eyes of the onlooking lovers of nature’s beauty.”

“Such is the incomparable metropolis of Cebu, the Queen City of the South. (End of the series).