South East Asian Airlines (SEAIR) recently announced that it will launch its first domestic jet services from Manila to Cebu on July 1, 2011 and Manila to Davao on July 2 as part of the SEAIR-Tiger Airways Partner Airline Programme.

Special starting fare offers will be for as low as 499 PHP one-way to/from Cebu for travel on July 1 to October 29, 2011, and 999 PHP one-way to/from Davao for travel on July 2 to October 29, 2011. Passengers can now buy tickets online at FlySeair.com and tigerairways.com, or call +63 2 849 0100, the SEAIR Hotline for domestic and international flights.

SEAIR will have up to 10 daily flights to and from Cebu and up to six daily flights to and from Davao from its jet operations base at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) domestic terminal.

Cebu and Davao are the major tourist gateways in the Philippines for Visayas and Mindanao, respectively. Cebu, the “Queen City of the South”, also known locally as Sugbo, is the capital city of the island of Cebu and the oldest city in the country. Its popular tourist attractions include the Magellan’s Cross Shrine, an important historical landmark that signalled the beginning of the Spanish occupation in the Philippines, and the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño (Minor Basilica of the Santo Niño), which houses the Santo Niño de Cebú (Holy Child of Cebu), the oldest Catholic relic in the Philippines.

Apart from exploring the Spanish side of Cebu, nature-loving travellers can discover rich marine life at scuba diving spots in Moalbal, Malapascua, and Pescador Island, or hop on a ferry to its island neighbors, Bohol and Negros, for dive safaris in Cabilao and Apo Island.

The largest city in the country and the premier hub of Mindanao, Davao is home to some of the country’s top beach and mountain resorts, most notably the Pearl Farm in the secluded island of Samal, just 45 minutes off the coast of the city. Adventure-seekers can sign up for a two-day climb at Mount Apo, the Philippines’ tallest mountain at 9,692 ft located just 40 km northeast of Davao, or sample durian, “the king of fruits”, which, due to its unusual flavor and odor, have aroused intense passion in some and dislike in others. The annual week-long Kadayawan Festival in August, the biggest of its kind in Mindanao, is celebrated during the peak season of durian and mangosteen (another fruit) as a thanksgiving celebration for the bountiful harvest of flowers and fruits that Davao is known for.

The Cebu and Davao flights are the first domestic flights under the SEAIR-Tiger Airways Partner Airline Programme, which allows SEAIR to distribute its seats through the established online booking system, www.tigerairways.com. SEAIR is the first Tiger Airways Partner Airline in the Asia Pacific region.

“SEAIR’s great value fares and this expanded network will offer travellers even more value-for-money destinations to choose from, together with worry-free bookings. The introduction of high frequency domestic jet routes will also drive the creation of new jobs as well boost tourism across the Philippines,” said SEAIR President and CEO Avelino Zapanta.

SEAIR is the second oldest airline in the country. It has the reputation of having pioneered commercial flights to the country’s fastest growing tourist destinations including Boracay, Batanes, and northern Palawan. Now on its 16th year of operation, it has expanded its reach regionally with jet services to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The Philippines’ largest national flag carrier, Cebu Pacific (CEB) puts 19 Visayas routes on sale from now until March 14, 2011 or until seats last, for travel from June 1 to July 31, 2011.

It’s your chance to fly to your favorite Visayas destination! Grab your P488 ‘Go Lite’ seats from Manila to Bacolod, Boracay (Caticlan), Calbayog, Catarman, Cebu, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Kalibo, Roxas, Tacloban or Tagbilaran.

From Cebu, you can also avail of the same P488 ‘Go Lite’ seats to Bacolod, Boracay (Caticlan), Clark, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa or Tacloban.

Travel from June 1 to August 31, 2011 because P999 ‘Go Lite’ seats are also up for grabs from Clark to Macau!

Guests traveling from Manila to Guangzhou can avail of P1,499 ‘Go Lite’ seats, while those traveling from Manila to Beijing or Shanghai can also avail of P1,999 ‘Go Lite’ seats. This sale is for travel from May 1 to July 31, 2011

Here’s the complete list of holidays in the Philippines for the year 2011. If you’re planning to travel or have a vacation, you may use these dates and include them as an extension of your trip.

A. Regular Holidays

* New Year’s Day – January 1 (Saturday)
* Araw ng Kagitingan – April 9 (Saturday)
* Maundy Thursday – April 21
* Good Friday – April 22
* Labor Day – May 1 (Sunday)
* Independence Day – June 12 (Sunday)
* National Heroes Day – August 29 (Last Monday of August)
* Bonifacio Day – November 30 (Wednesday)
* Christmas Day – December 25 (Sunday)
* Rizal Day – December 30 (Friday)

B. Special (Non-Working) Days

* Ninoy Aquino Day – August 21 (Sunday)
* All Saints Day – November 1 (Tuesday)
* Last Day of the Year – December 31 (Saturday)

C. Special Holiday (for all schools)

* EDSA Revolution Anniversary – February 25 (Friday)

Cebu Pacific is slashing 42% off the lowest year-round fare for Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in a seat sale starting March 11 until March 13, 2010, for travel June 1 to August 31, 2010.

Avail of the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of Php1,099 for flights from Manila to Kota Kinabalu; and if you are headed to the Truly Asia Capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur get the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of Php1,999.

Cebu Pacific flies every Monday and Friday to Kota Kinabalu, and daily to Kuala Lumpur, both key cities in Malaysia. Be on your way to Kota Kinabalu, a resort city in Sabah, is the gateway to Mount Kinabalu, the tallest mountain in Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur, on the other hand, is home to the Petronas Towers and is the capital city of Malaysia.

Grab the ‘Go Lite’ seat sale fare of P688 on CEB’s nine times weekly Manila-Roxas flights.

Cebu Pacific also offers Fun Tours hotel packages to Kuala Lumpur as low as Php4,190 and to Kota Kinabalu as low as Php3,404. These are inclusive of four days, three nights hotel accommodation with buffet breakfast.

At least 34 festivals will be joining the upcoming Pasigarbo sa Sugbo street dance competition to be held this August 9 in Mandaue City Cebu Philippines.

Continue Pasigarbo sa Sugbo here.

Upcoming Events

The Philippine School of Interior Design (PSID) Advanced Class of 2007 will mount its graduation exhibit dubbed as “Forty, Filipino, and Fabulous” (“F3”) on Sept. 29-Oct. 31, at the Paseo Center, Paseo de Roxas cor. Sedeno st., Salcedo Village, Makati City.

Mounted in cooperation with the Chamber of Furniture Industries of the Philippines (CFIP), ‘’F3’’ will celebrate PSID’s 40th anniversary with an exhibit showcasing Philippine furniture integrated into masterfully-designed and executed interior spaces.

“We welcome this opportunity for cooperation between CFIP and PSID. We’ve worked with a lot of PSID’s faculty and alumni, and we’ve always been impressed with their talent and professionalism,” says Joy Cancio, CFIP vice president for Chamber Development. “With this exhibit, we look forward to the students’ designs as they promote Filipino furniture. We hope this will inspire students to explore furniture design as well.”

‘’We are celebrating the union of CFIP and PSID with a breakthrough interior design exhibit. All 19 booths are carefully planned, researched and executed to promote the ingenuity and creativity of Filipino-designed furniture pieces in fabulous interior settings, and to emphasize the importance of furniture as an indispensable element in creating interiors that work,’’ explains PSID professor Jie Pambid.

PSID is the country’s premiere institution in interior design education, established in 1967 by Engr. Augustine Cancio and Herminia Cancio-Layug, with the curriculum conceptualized by interior designer Edith Oliveros, Arch. Lor Calma and National Artist Napoleon Abueva. Since then, PSID has produced a number of successful practitioners and has been consistent in topping the local board examinations for interior design.

PSID offers Basic and Advanced Interior design courses to around 350-420 students, with a pool of 25-32 professors. The Advanced Course is marked by a major exhibit that serves as the thesis of the graduating batch.

Time stood still amidst the hustle and bustle of downtown traffic of modernity. Decades old establishments still stand against the test of time, reflecting the glorious days of commerce and trade of what was then, the Queen City of the South.

From its humble beginnings as a fishing community along the swampy riverside, Iloilo grew up to be one of Philippine’s premier cities when in 1855, the Spanish colonial government opened the sea port of Iloilo to international trade, and with the introduction of modern sugar farming by the British Vice-Consul Nicolas Loney.

Calle Real is the manifestation of Iloilo’s glorious past. The street itself is a museum of old edifices that survived the onslaught of war, elements and time. Old establishments still stand up to this very moment, still vibrant with commercial and vehicular traffic. 

JM Basa Street (and also Iznart St.), or known popularly as Calle Real is referred as the ”Escolta” of Iloilo City. Named “Calle Real” or “Royal Street”, it spans from Plaza Alfonso XII (now known as Plaza Libertad) all the way to Plazoleta Gay and the location of commercial establishments, the Casa Real (Iloilo Provincial Capitol) as well as the residences of the Ilonggo elite.

Reclaimed from the swamps, the street became the central business district since the opening of the city to international trade, it has experienced construction boom while riding along with the economic reaping of harvest from the sugar trade. Most of the commercial and residential establishments are of one or two-story buildings which display European and American of the late 19th and early 20th century influence such as art-nouveau, art-deco, baroque, Venetian-inspired or platoresque. The first levels are used as shops or stores and the second level are used as either offices but mostly as residential spaces.

Most of the heritage buildings were constructed during the late Spanish colonial era all the way to the 1930’s, which made this street the shopping district and a center for commerce and entertainment of the region. The first department store in the region is also located here which was owned by an Englishman Henry Hoskyn, nephew of Nicholas Loney. The Elizalde and Company building, which is now the City Hall Annex, used to sell foodstuffs and benefited from the sugar trade, manifested its plateresque architecture with the usual balay-nga-bato feature of stone walls in the first level and wood in the second level of the establishment. 

Cine Palace (1928) and Cine Eagle, which are, located just a few meters away from Plaza Libertad, were once the witnesses to bodabil, theatrical plays and movies, one of the most modern cinemas outside Manila during the early 20th century.

The Masonic Temple on the other hand was once Iloilo Lodge No. 11 was finished in 1928 that faced the Catholic Church of San Jose de Placer across Plaza Libertad and it was made a headquarters of the Japanese Imperial forces for Iloilo.

On the southern end of Calle Real lies Plaza Libertad, formerly known as Plaza Alfonso XII. Surrounded by the old buildings such as the Masonic Temple, Lacson Ancestral House, the ruins of Botica Lacson and Iglesia de San Jose de Placer, it has been the witness of the dusk of the Spanish power in Asia as the last Spanish Governor General Diego de los Rios surrendered to the Ilonggo revolutionaries led by General Martin Delgado in Christmas Day 1898. Iloilo was the last Spanish colonial capital in the Philippines after they have surrendered Manila to the Americans in August 1898. 

On the northern end of the street are the Casa Real (Royal House) or the Iloilo Provincial Capitol and Arroyo Fountain. The former was built from wood and stone in 1840, which features Greek columns dominate the facade. The once flagpole in front of the Casa Real was torn down in 1927 to give way to Arroyo Fountain, with its caryatids carrying a basin with fish gargoyles that sprout water. The fountain was dedicated to Senator Jose Maria Arroyo who created the Iloilo Metropolitan Water Works.

Commonwealth-era establishments lined up not just the main street of Calle Real, but also its branches of Aldeguer, Iznart and Guanco Streets. The Public Market of Iloilo for example displays predominantly of art deco in design.

But damages from wear and tear of the time, World War II, the great earthquake of 1948 and the the big conflagration in the downtown area has left the old buildings to be neglected, mismanaged and left to decay.

In April 2000, the Local Cultural Conservation Ordinance was enacted by the City Government of Iloilo to prevent further destruction of heritage sites in the city, preservation of the establishments and to be reused again for commercial, tourism, educational or institutional functions. The ICCHCC or Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council is the overseer of the heritage conservation efforts in the Calle Real area. Today, educating the citizens and efforts from the building owners themselves for preserving or restoration the cultural heritage structures of the establishments has been gradually being implemented.

As these old edifices of art and labor stands mute against time and the noise of the city, the edifices of Calle Real has shared its experiences with the Ilonggo people, from the glories to tragedies. The legacies that the old Iloilo left, reminded every Ilonggos of its regal past and its contribution to history of the Filipino people.

_____________________________________

Acknowledgement to Center for West Visayan Studies (UP Visayas), Prof. Henry Funtecha and Prof. Melanie Padilla, Iloilo City Cultural Heritage Conservation Council, Mr. Butch Peñalosa, Mr. Scott Sarria and Museo Iloilo.

Time to book flights.

And to help choose flight dates, here’s a codigo of holidays for the rest of 2007, got it from the email grapevine …

Here is a complete list of the 2007 Phil Regular Holidays and Non-Working Days…
June 11 (Monday) In lieu of June 12, Independence Day (regular holiday – Procl No. 1211))
August 21 (Tuesday) Ninoy Aquino Day (special holiday)
August 26 (Sunday) National Heroes’ Day (regular holiday)
November 1 (Thursday) All Saints’ Day (special holiday)
November 2 (Friday) Special (non-working day – Proc No. 1211)
November (no date yet) Eidl Feitre or End of Ramadan (usually in November)
November 30 (Friday) Bonifacio Day (regular holiday)
December 24 (Monday) Special (non-working day – Proc No. 1211)
December 25 (Tuesday) Christmas Day (regular holiday)
December 30 (Sunday) Rizal Day (regular holiday)
December 31(Monday) Last Day of the Year (special holiday)

ka edong

Wanna be imeldific and splurge on sandals or shoes (footwear in general)?

Then head on down south to Liliw, Laguna.

Liliw is perhaps best known for its cold water spring resorts, native homemade sweets and a sizeable shoe industry that rivals that of Marikina City.

Liliw formally became the “Footwear capital of Laguna” through Resolution No.38-S-2003 of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Laguna through the Resolution No.405-S-2003 dated August 4, 2003.

I’m sure the rather long trip (due to traffic mostly at the south expressway and the road between Calamba and Los Baños) en-route to Sta. Cruz (Laguna) will be worth your time and money as well (sandals and shoes are rather cheap in Liliw).

For those into on-line shopping: get Liliw Footwear here.

But the road down there is something that shouldn’t be missed.