The market was busy the day Magellan first landed. Merchants from Thailand, China, and the East Indies noisily bartered their wares of silk, ceramics, iron and bronze for the natives' produce of pearls, tortoise shell, gold and spices, paying little attention to the political circus then unfolding.
Rajah Humabon, eager to find a way to avoid paying tribute to the Sultan of Sulu, accepted Magellan's offer of protection and allowed himself to be baptized a Catholic. Thus began our conversion to become the leading outpost of Christianity in Asia.
Of course, that did not stop the Cebuanos from continuing robust trade with the Buddhist Siamese and the Malay Muslim communities.
Then, as today, Cebu is a melting pot for Asians of different persuasions, including the Chinese. With the arrival of the Hispanics, Cebu welcomed them too, creating a melting pot culture disparate in its origins but unified by common values of trade and entrepreneurship.
Cebu City's metropolitan area has grown to encompass two other cities, Mandaue City and Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island. When the President chose Cebu as the site of the Philippines' Southern Capital, Cebuanos were quick to point out that in the early years of Spain's rule, Cebu was the Philippines' capital, and the move is simply modern-day recognition of its historic place.
In the last three decades, Cebu has led the country in economic growth, with rates averaging 20% above the national figures. It has its own International Seaport, the busiest outside Manila, with direct ports of call to Asian centers Hong Kong and Singapore.
As the country's most popular tourist destination, the International Airport in Mactan handles 42 direct flights a week from Hong Kong, Singapore, Narita (Japan), Incheon (Korea), Pusan (Korea), Doha (Qatar), Taipei (Taiwan), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Tourist spots throughout Central and Southern Philippines are also a short trip, by land or sea, away from Cebu. Bohol province, with its pristine beaches and spectacular dive spots is a thirty minute ferry ride away.
Long marketing itself abroad as an island in the Pacific, Cebu has managed to insulate itself from the political storms occasionally distracting Imperial Manila. That doesn't mean Cebuanos don't involve themselves in their own politics: Cebuano TV regularly broadcasts provincial and city council sessions. Cebu business, after all, relies on the local governments, headed by Provincial Governor Gwen Garcia, and City Mayor Tommy Osmena, to maintain their business friendly environment.
In Cebu, entrepreneurs and businessmen are the local heroes. In this culture, it is the home-grown entrepreneurs who endorse products on print ads, billboards, and local TV. It is this kind of role-modelling that has developed Cebu into the Central Philippines' center of trade and commerce with leading positions in electronics exports, furniture manufacturing, mining, and now, business process outsourcing.
Big Business has also found its way to Cebu: Major Property developers Ayala Land, Robinson's Land, and Federal Land are all here, eager to develop quality office and residential spaces for the City's booming outsourcing industries and growing population. The Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry envisions their metropolis as the software, and e-services hub not just for the Philippines, but for the entire Southeast Asia.
The old golf course, converted to the Cebu Business Park in the 1990s, wanted for locators until outsourcers discovered Cebu. Then it became a boomtown. The old airport at Lahug, converted into a business park also in the 1990s, is Asiatown I.T. Park, with purpose built developments hosting international call center operators.
Two decades ago, Rustan's was the only Manila based department store operating in Cebu, followed by Robinson's in the late-1980s. Today, SM and Ayala both operate large malls in the city, competing with the home-grown Gaisano Malls, and the dozens of pocket malls that line the city streets.
These pocket malls play an important role in the continuing boom, providing incubators for hundreds of start-up businesses, a preferred career path for many young Cebuanos. Visit any of these little malls to experience the ideas of Cebu's innovative entrepreneurs, themselves an invigorating mix of old-money and new talent.
From unique gift shops to delicious restaurants and exciting watering holes, Cebu's entrepreneurs are constantly testing new concepts. Many, like Bo's Coffee Corner, Julie's Bakeshop, Penshoppe, Oxygen, and Island Souvenirs have become nationally recognized brand names.
Bright ideas are the currency of Cebu's continuing boom and the value creators of Cebu's economy are its export designers, people like furniture designer Kenneth CoBonPue, Asia Design Awardee 2005, and Ma. Concepcion Barba, who with her daughters, and one-time student Belinda Mangayon, comprise Vanya Creations, a leading exporter of fashion and costume jewelry.
Cobonpue's designs have gained international recognition, filling the celebrity homes of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, with cameo appearances in the latest James Bond flick "Casino Royale," while Vanya's creations have made the fashion pages of Vogue, Elle, and every devil wearing prada edited magazine.
Julia Barba of Vanya laments that Chinese manufacturers often try to copy their designs, sneakily attempting to photograph their products at trade shows in Milan, Tokyo, and Paris. "I must have the most photographed palms in the world," says Barba, describing attempts to fend off would-be pirates from photographing their wares at trade shows.
Competition and copycats are a threat, but Cobonpue deals with IP violations creatively: "We're constantly creating new designs, if they copy our designs, by the time they make it to market, they're selling fakes of last year's designs."
The process of reinvention is key to Cobonpue's success, next year's designs may carry elements from last year's ideas, or be entirely fresh. It is the combination of old and new that creates excitement, the use of traditional materials with new forms, or new materials with traditional forms.
This same process of reinvention keeps the boom times rolling in Cebu: Combining old with the new, guided by a centuries old tradition of trade and commerce.
