Cebu’s adopted sons

Cebu City’s population increased by at least one more person last Saturday with the conferment of the title “Adopted Son of Cebu City” on US-based historian Michael Cullinane. No less than hizzoner the mayor, Michael Rama, graced the occasion to hand in a huge plaque for Mike to bring home to the United States.

As mentioned in last week’s column, the event was timed with the launch of  Mike’s latest book, “The Battle for Cebu: Andrew S. Rowan and the Siege of Sudlon” by USC Press. (The book is one of two that Mike released late last year, the other, “Arenas of Conspiracy: The Tres de Abril 1898 Uprising in Cebu” published by Ateneo Press.)

The title of this column, however, is no mistake, for the city has actually adopted two sons, one by sheer acclamation, the other by administrative fiat. The latter refers to Mike who should, according to history buff and heritage enthusiast Peary Aleonar Jr., now be afforded a Senior Citizen’s Card plus all the perks that go with being a Cebuano.  Mike first came to Cebu in 1966 as a Peace Corps volunteer and quickly learned Cebuano, played basketball in the local commercial league and taught at Cebu Normal School and also at the University of San Carlos.

Together with Resil Mojares, founding director of the USC Cebuano Studies Center, Mike would return to Cebu regularly after his departure in 1973, to work on heretofore dark periods of Cebu’s past to shine a light on them. Thus, there is no question that he deserves to be a Cebuano as he is without doubt more Cebuano that many among us.

The other adopted son who  got his title, by acclamation, is no other than the Señor Sto. Niño, the Holy Child Jesus, whose image will grace the streets this Saturday and Sunday as we mark the 450th year of its presence in the city and the 35th Sinulog Festival.

The exact date of the finding of the image is, of course, April 28,1565, and the Augustinian friars running the Basilica Minore where the image has been housed since then are pulling all stops to make the occasion worthy of the many miracles that the Sto. Niño has showered on Cebu and its people.

(The naughty among us are even thinking that perhaps the Sto. Niño just might perform one more miracle by diverting the Pope’s plane to Cebu because Manila’s airport will be too foggy and misty given the trajectory of the coming tropical depression which might rain down on the nation’s capital.)

There are two things that Mike Cullinane and the Sto Niño share beyond being adopted sons of Cebu: their funny bones. People witnessed Mike’s playfulness and light disposition during last Saturday’s launch, which included an impromptu disrobing (actually a removal of his Barong Tagalog) to expose a brown tee shirt proclaiming in bold print “PROUD CEBUANO.” He got the shirt in Michigan from a fellow Cebuano.

The Sto. Niño is of course known to be a great teaser with a long history of antics. In a previous column, for example, I wrote of how Baladjay, the uncle of Rajah Humabon, was allegedly healed from a lingering life-threatening illness  by a boy who tickled him with a coconut midrib. When he  recovered, according to  folklore, he pointed to the image of the Holy Child Jesus as the person who teased him in his comatose state.

From then on, we have been regaled with stories of a young boy in various circumstances of mischief, whether in the market or on board a ship. It is thus no wonder that there have been numerous versions of the image wearing all kinds of uniforms, from that of a saluting police officer to a doctor, a ship captain, a nurse and what-have-you.

I do not expect Cebuanos to do the same to Mike, of course. But by adopting him as one of our own, we recognize the value of his work that would otherwise remain  hidden in the archives of  Manila, the United States, or Spain, in the same vein that we recognize the Sto. Niño as someone who has helped Cebu throughout the centuries and continues to do so as a favored son.

May we have more adopted sons and daughters who will make Cebu even prouder. Pit Señor!