Location : 365 miles south of Metro Manila, located midway on the East Coast of Cebu Island
Area : 32,880 hectares
No. of Barangays : 80 barangays
City Fiesta : every third Sunday of January (Sinulog Festival )
Patron Saint : Senior Santo Niņo

Historical Notes

The heart of the province of Cebu is the City of Cebu. The beginnings of this capital-city and the island-province are intertwined. When Magellan’s expedition came to the Philippines in 1521, they chose a thriving settlement (now Cebu City) as base for exploration.

Magellan landed on the shores of Lutaw and planted the famed Magellan’s cross. This famous Philippine landmark stands beside the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niņo , repository of the miraculous image of the Holy Child of Prague, the most precious religious relic of the Philippines.

In 1521, friendly Rajah Humabon, chieftain of Sugbu, consented to be baptized along with his wife Juana and their followers, making Cebu the seat of Christianity in the Philippines and the Far East. Forty-four years later, Legazpi founded the first settlement in Cebu City, and the Spaniards started the colonization of the entire archipelago. Cebu preceded Manila as the Capital of the Philippines by twenty-six years. Here, Spain broke soil to lay the groundwork of the geopolitical fabric of the archipelago.