Pilita Corrales: The Queen of Songs

People from Cebu are usually identified as good singers and there is no other perfect example for that than this woman.

*photo by Nanding Rubio

Dubbed as the Asia’s Queen of Songs, Pilita Corrales is one of the distinguished Cebuanos that made it to the world with her singing voice. In her entire career, she had already produced 135 albums.

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The Teban and Goliat Files: Series 2

Another Teban and Goliat video we found on the net and we posted it here just for your laughing pleasure.

It is some kind of a corporate gig, a departure from their usual town fiesta acts but it would still make you laugh.

Siegfredo “Fred” Rosales Galan: Cebuano Painter

Talent they say, is God-given, that is why it is always meant to be shared. This is exactly how Cebuano painter Siegfredo “Fred” Rosales Galan sees himself – he, along with other Christian painters in Cebu, let people meet God through their outstanding works of art.

Fred Galan has been painting from abstracts to impressionism for more than 40 colorful years and had exhibited his creations locally, nationally, and globally from the 1970s to 2000s. He had also gained various awards from different painting competitions also within and outside Cebu.

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Notable Cebuanos: Lawrence Ypil and His favorite Hiding-Place

Lawrence Lacambra Ypil, or fondly being called Larry, is a professor in Literature at Ateneo de Manila University. He grew up in Cebu and considers himself “thoroughly Cebuano” despite having stayed in the capital for more than 10 years.

*image sourced from udtongtutok of Multiply·com

A Don Carlos Palanca First Prize Awardee for Poetry, book author, and columnist in Sun.Star Weekend (in the local dailies) entitled Dog Ears in the Wrong Notebook; Larry Ypil is certainly one of the most celebrated young writers, specifically a poet, in the Philippines today. He has not only written for his readers, he has spoken both for readers and aspiring scribers as well in writing seminars and conferences (aside of course in the classrooms where he teaches).

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The Teban and Goliat Files

We scourged the net for the files of Cebu’s two iconic comedians Teban & Goliat and found something that will definitely make you laugh. We will try to make this as a series as long as we can find anything about this funny duo on the web. Here’s the first one;

Drop till you laugh. I mean laugh till you drop.

Notable Cebuanos: Maria Victoria “Bambi” Beltran, Woman Power

Maria Victoria Beltran has been very ardent in supporting, promoting, and doing culture, arts, and literature in Cebu and these are what make her always on the go. She does not only have the talent, she also has the drive to juggle all these…

*image sourced from mariavictoria77 of Multiply,com

Ms. Bambi, as how she is also known, writes Cebuano and English poems, short stories, plays, and film scripts. True to her love for writing, she had won several awards for her works including Third Honorable Mention in Gawad Komisyon 2007 for Cebuano fiction awarded by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on Filipino Language) and placed second in 2008 from the same writing competition. She was chairperson of Women in Literary Arts, Inc. and the current treasurer of Bathalan-ong Halad sa Dagang or Bathalad which is a group of writers in Cebu. Most of the winners of the 2008 Gawad Komisyon in the Visayan Category, by the way, are members of Bathalad.

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A Peek at Cebu’s Independent Filmmaking Scene

Cebuano’s like other Filipinos are so into movies, maybe because of the Western influence or maybe just for past times. Little did we know, that Cebu has it’s very own independent filmmakers who have made several unique masterpieces that deviates from the typical redundant mainstream movies. Although a short film, “The Witness” by a true blooded Cebuano could be a proof that it is very possible to create an award-winning piece even at the lowest budget. This is a true depiction of filmmaking passion. continue reading » »