‘I HEAR THE BEAT’
Carlos Celdran is greeted by Mayor Rama in PAL flight welcomed by Balik Cebu. (CDN PHOTO/ JUNJIE MENDOZA)
“It’s always that beat that reminds me of home.”
Gaudencia Estrada, 73, was all smiles and snapping photos with her daughter at the Mactan Cebu International Airport, where she arrived yesterday morning to a rousing welcome of a rondalla band and shouts of “Pit Señor!”
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, blowing a whistle in time with the music, joined the greeting squad, an annual ritual of the Balik Cebu committee , to show returning Filipinos it’s worth coming back. home.
At the foot of the escalator, ladies in Filipiniana gowns waited with leis of colored beads accented with a “CEBU” pendant.
“I’ve been based in the United States for over 30 years. Coming home, hearing the Sinulog beat always reminds me how happy this place is for me,” Estrada told reporters.
Estrada grew up in Don Pedro Qui, Cebu City. She first came home for the Sinulog in 2010.
This time, she traveled with her daughter Elizabeth, 34, who will witness the Sinulog festival for the first time.
“In the past I only got to see photos of mom and my sister, and thought that one day ,it would be really wonderful to also get to experience it,” said Elizabeth who is a dentist in Los Angeles.
She said they will watch performances at the grandstand in the Cebu City Sports Center on Sunday, as well as enjoy street parties with relatives in Cebu before traveling to Manila in their two-week visit.
The Philippine Airlines connecting flight from Manila carried passengers from the US and other destinations.
Outside the arrival area, a contingent of Sinulog dancers perform almost every hour, filling the air with the distinctive drum beat of Cebu’s biggest festival. GMR-Megawide, which took over management of the Mactan terminal in Nov. 1, 2013, is slowly assimilating this important cultural, religious and tourist event.
It’s difficult to say exactly how many balikbayans arrive in Cebu for the Sinulog, since most make their own travel arrangements, and no longer take chartered flights.
Some come home for the family reunions and the merrymaking of the Sinulog. Others are devotees of the Sto. Niño and make sure to visit the Basilica Minore del Sto .Niño and join a religious procession or offer silent prayers at the chapel where the four-century image of the Holy Child is enthroned.
Balik Cebu chairperson Tetta Baad, who also heads the Cebu City Tourism Commission, said they expected about 200 in two flights yesterday, including a group of 60 who traveled from Las Vegas as a group, and arrived a week earlier.
They will be welcomed again today at a Filipino-themed al fresco dinner at The Terraces at Ayala Center Cebu, a homecoming tradition every Sinulog for the past 14 years.
At the dinner, hosted by Cebu Holdings Inc., 400 guests will enjoy a live band serenading them with Cebuano melodies, a Sinulog dance contingent, and will be joined by pageant winners of Miss Cebu, fresh from the coronation night.
Later in the evening, they can linger for the cultural musical show “Handumanan”, which featured, in previous years Cebuano singers Pilita Corales and Max Surban.
Passenger Rolley Santos from San Diego said he has been coming to Cebu for Sinulog since 2008 except last year.
“It’s something I promised to myself every year. Sinulog is a religious event that I want to experience every year,” he said.
Santos said he had to skip last year because of supertyphoon Yolanda which struck November 2013. He said he instead participated in raising funds for typhoon victims of the typhoon in Tacloban, Leyte.
“This year I’m glad to be back again. I’m on my own now but I have friends in Cebu who I’m going around with to celebrate the festival,” he said.
It is also the first time for Leonardo Palacio of San Francisco to come home to Cebu after 21 years in the States.
“At the time Sinulog was not as big event as now. Finally I’m able to come home to witness it myself,” he said.
Palacio, who has relatives in Tres de Abril, Cebu City and he plans to visit relatives in Dumaguete and Iligan Cities.
A wheelchair didn’t stop Arcadia Caballero from coming home for the Sinulog.
“I always come home every year because I am a Cebuana. My family, my relatives are all here,” she said.
The Balik Cebu committee, under the Cebu City Tourism Commission, includes volunteer members from the private sector, Cebu Holdings Inc., tour operators, the Department of Tourism, the Mactan airport, Cebu Daily News and partners with the Province of Cebu.