I STILL get feedback about my Cebu Memories articles with special requests about certain topics which might be of interest. Like: What happened to the train service in Cebu?
I was born in 1942 so by the time I was aware of things, it was after the war, during which time the railways and trains had been bombed.
As children, on our way to Liloan, we always noticed the burned out train cars standing on the railway remnants.
Our parents pointed them out with a certain tone of regret. On the other hand, they admitted that they had never taken the train.
One went around Cebu in a private car, like my grandfather Col. Jacinto Rodriguez did with his daughters (my mother one of them). It must have been a hardy car for they never commented about any incident between Bogo and Cebu.
The roads were bumpy, my mother said, and when they’d reach Cebu Mango Avenue with its sides lined by those trees, it seemed like a royal progress all
the way to their home in Ramos street (where the Lutheran church now stands).
My mother said they had a memorable “round south” journey when they motored down to Santander and returned through western Cebu via Barili to Carcar, and back to Cebu City.
Old churches and houses were intact, some of them later affected by the war and natural disasters.
A favorite destination was the village of Mantalongon in the municipality of Dalaguete.
Highin the mountains, it is always cool, similar to Baguio.
The Daughters of Charity sisters, at that time, mostly Spanish, had a summer house there.
Also the family of Don Canuto and Doña Pilar Borromeo, who grew calla lilies in their garden. The road in Mantalongon is necessarily rough as it is frequently used by coal-laden trucks from the mines.
Mantalongon is also the vegetable basket of Cebu; potatoes, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, green beans, sayote, and many more, including strawberries if one has the patience to grow them. There are wild berries that make a good jam.
Transportation around the Cebu province after the war was by bus.
The Cuenco family owned Bisaya which aside from buses also had interisland ships. The flagship was the M/V Doña Remedios, named after the mother of Don Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Senate President.
Cebu Autobus was owned by the Osmeña family. Its driverswere reputed to be the fastest. Both bus companies issued passes for passengers who were potential voters when election time came.
In the city, public transportation was the jeepney, smaller versions of what we see today. In the front were the driver and two passengers. In the back there were five persons on each side. At 10 centavos per person that was one peso,
and 20 centavos per full route for the driver.
The jeepneys originate from Carbon Market down F. Gonzalez street, on to Magallanes, Borromeo street and off to Juan Luna where they stopped at the corner in Colon to get filled up.
There were two ways to go to Lahug. One was via P. del Rosario, D. Jakosalem, Ramos, and Mango Avenue. The other itinerary went from D. Jakosalem to Sikatuna,
and on to Echavez.
Jeepneys with the Ramos/
Capitol placard went the same way up to Mango and there turned left to Fuente Osmeña, proceeding to M. Velez and on to Guadalupe.
It took a while for jeepneys to pass through Jones Avenue, later renamed Osmeña Boulevard as Don Sergio lived there in his White House.
You had to take tartanillas, which were all over the place, dragged by oftentimes scrawny horses, some of which often collapsed. They were hazardous in many other ways.
There was a rule that the horses’ manure be collected on a sack strategically placed between the animal and the rig. Many of the “cocheros” did not comply so there was horse manure all over the streets. You can imagine how it flew in almost invisible flakes mixed with the street dust on a windy day.
There were taxis. You had to call a number and ask for the taxi to come to your house or wherever you’d take the ride.
We were very proud to indicate where we’d take the ride: “Dr. Picornell’s Clinic,” a landmark for its huge signboard in de la Rama compound at D. Jakosalem.
To make a phone call, you had to go through an operator. Upon lifting the receiver, a voice would say, “Number please.” You gave the desired number and she would contact you unless she’d turn you down with, “The line is busy.”
It was a laugh calling one of the taxi companies for its number, 1010 was most of the time naughtily pronounced as One-O-Ten.
An equally naughty operator who recognized the caller countered, “How about two?”
In the late 1950s, the Yellow Taxi cab company came to Cebu with smaller cars (versus the large American sedans used then) at lesser rates. One day, our four maids who had been to the cathedral for Mass, came home in a Yellow Taxi, proud to say it had cost them less than fifty centavos, and a better, faster ride than a jeepney.
From then on, the taxis started to have meters and circulated around the city so that you did not have to call 1010 or any other number.
\ Someone has also asked what were the dining places during my childhood. That will have to be another article about not quite forgotten memories.
