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 site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Triangle.
Its capital and largest city is Cebu City, nicknamed "the Queen City of the South" having the Second Cardinal, the oldest city and first capital of the Philippines, which is politically independent from the provincial government along with Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City. The Cebu Metropolitan Area or Metro Cebu is the third largest metropolitan area in the Philippines with Cebu City as the main center of commerce, trade, education and industry in the Visayas as well as the regional center of Central Visayas. Being one of the most developed provinces in the Philippines, in a decade it has transformed into a global hub for business processing services, tourism, shipping, furniture-making, and heavy industry. Mactan–Cebu International Airport, located on Mactan Island, is the second busiest airport in the Philippines.
Cebu has the most combined cities and municipalities of any province in the Philippines, with 53 in total. With 9 cities in total, it has the second highest number of cities after its neighboring province of Negros Occidental.
Etymology
It is unclear whether the island was named sugbó or the settlement where Ferdinand Magellan's crew arrived in 1521. The capital city of the province is also named Cebu City.The name is possibly derived from a hypothetical Proto-Philippine word *sugbu meaning "to bathe" or "to wade into the water". The word has evolved in the Cebuano language as sugbú, meaning "to dive into water" and also exists in other Philippine languages such as Tagalog and Hiligaynon. In fact, there is also another municipality in Batangas, Philippines called Nasugbu, which may also share the same etymological root with the said province.
The modern name is most likely how the first Europeans heard of the name of the place in the 16th–17th centuries, as it was first recorded as Zubu or Çubu, and then eventually it became Cebu. The reason for the spelling change is because Visayans were mostly illiterate in the 16th and 17th centuries.
History
Early history
was a native kingdom that existed prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. Visayan folklore relates it was founded by Sri Lumay otherwise known as Rajamuda Lumaya, a half-Malay, half-Tamil from Sumatra. The capital of the nation was Singhapala which is Tamil-Sanskrit for "Lion City", the same root word as with the modern city-state of Singapore. The later Spanish chronicler Antonio Pigafetta mispronounced Singhapala as Cingopola instead.Spanish Colonial Period
Report from the Magellan Expedition
The arrival of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 began a period of Spanish exploration and colonization. Losing the favor of King Manuel I of Portugal for his plan of reaching the Spice Islands by sailing west from Europe, Magellan offered his services to King Charles I of Spain. On September 20, 1519, Magellan led five ships with a total complement of 250 people from the Spanish fort of Sanlúcar de Barrameda en route to southeast Asia via the Americas and the Pacific Ocean. They reached the Philippines on March 16, 1521. Rajah Kolambu, the rajah of Mazaua told them to sail for Cebu, where they could trade and obtain provisions.Arriving in Cebu City, Magellan, with Enrique of Malacca as a translator, befriended Rajah Humabon a chief of a village in Cebu, and persuaded the natives to ally themselves with the Spanish. On April 14, Magellan erected a large wooden cross on the shores of Cebu. Afterwards, Rajah Humabon was baptized along with about 400 Sugbuanons.
Magellan soon heard of Datu Lapu-Lapu, a native chief in nearby Mactan Island, a rival of a chief in Cebu. It was thought that Humabon and Lapu–Lapu had been fighting for control of the flourishing trade in the area. On April 27 the Battle of Mactan occurred, where the Spaniards were defeated and Magellan was killed by the natives of Mactan in Mactan Island. According to Italian historian and chronicler Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's body was never recovered despite efforts to trade it for spice and jewels. Magellan's second-in-command, Juan Sebastián Elcano, took his place as captain of the expedition and sailed the fleet back to Spain, circumnavigating the world.
Survivors of the Magellan expedition returned to Spain with tales of a savage island in the East Indies. Consequently, several Spanish expeditions were sent to the islands but all ended in failure.
Report from the Legazpi Expedition
On April 27, 1565 Miguel López de Legazpi arrived on the island, and though he also intended to make peace, he was also prepared for a war since these were the same people that had killed Magellan 44 years prior. According to the report, a messenger went to the Spanish ship and informed them that Tupas and "along with 10 other chiefs" would be out to either make negotiations or as a warning to prepare for an upcoming battle. Despite trying to assure the natives that the Spanish were there with good intentions, the natives already armed themselves, both parties were reported to have taunted each other offshore. Legazpi aimed the artillery on the proas which briefly confused the opposing natives causing them to run into the woods thus making the shore clear for the Spanish to land. Salvaging any valuable item that could be found, Juan de Camuz came across an image of the Child Jesus, which was probably the one Magellan presented to the consort of the chief in 1521. From then on, a church was built on the site which would later become the Minor Basilica of the Holy Child. Twelve days later, on May 8, a fort was established and while the construction was ongoing, the natives frequently launched attacks but were always repulsed until eventually they gave in as soon as they realized the superior armament of the Europeans. Legazpi dealt only with Tupas, after a brief "trial" on grounds of apostasy and Magellan's murder, the Europeans pardoned the natives' chief and included the natives. After the exchange, the two parties then discussed the terms and conditions including confirmation of titles, who receives tax exemptions, land grants, authority and recognition of officials. The crew then left Cebu on June 1, 1565. In the 1700s, Cebu housed 625 Spanish Filipino families and 28,112 native familiesAmerican colonial period
In 1898, the island was ceded to the United States after the Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War. In 1901, Cebu was governed by the United States for a brief period, however, it became a chartered city on February 24, 1937, and was governed independently by Filipino politicians.Japanese occupation
Cebu, being one of the most densely populated islands in the Philippines, served as a Japanese base during their occupation in World War II which began with the landing of Japanese soldiers in April 1942. 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" system. The 3rd, 8th, 82nd and 85th Infantry Division of the Philippine Commonwealth Army was re-established from January 3, 1942, to June 30, 1946, and the 8th Constabulary Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary was reestablished again from October 28, 1944, to June 30, 1946, at the military general headquarters and the military camps and garrisoned in Cebu city and Cebu province. They started the Anti-Japanese military operations in Cebu from April 1942 to September 1945 and helped Cebuano guerrillas and fought against the Japanese Imperial forces. Almost three years later in March 1945, combined Filipino and American forces landed and reoccupied the island during the liberation of the Philippines. Cebuano guerrilla groups led by an American, James M. Cushing, is credited for the establishment of the "Koga Papers", which is said to have changed the American plans to retake the Philippines from Japanese occupation in 1944, by helping the combined United States and the Philippine Commonwealth Army forces enter Cebu in 1945. The following year the island achieved independence from colonial rule in 1946.During the Marcos dictatorship
Cebu became a key center of resistance against the Marcos dictatorship, first becoming apparent when the hastily put-together lineup of Pusyon Bisaya defeated the entire slate of Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan 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 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. Ribomapil Holganza, a prominent leader of Cebu's opposition was also arrested together with his son on Christmas Day, December 25, 1983, on political charges. He was subsequently released and cleared of all charges.
The Marcos era was a time of significant deforestation in Cebu and throughout the Philippines, with the forest cover of the Philippines shrinking until only 8% remained. In Cebu, two of the major companies given Timber License Agreements to cut down trees during Martial Law were Eurasia Match and Pan Oriental, which were owned by Juan Ponce Enrile. Enrile was the government official Ferdinand Marcos put in place to approve Timber License Agreements during Martial Law.