Downtown Cebu, with all its colorful commercial establishments and heavy traffic, may not look like it but once was an old ciudad, site of the oldest Spanish settlement in the country. This 150-hectare urban sprawl contains within it many of our country’s first and oldest.

Roughly, downtown Cebu encompasses barangays Day-as, San Antonio, Kamagayan, Parian, Kalubihan, San Roque, Santo Niño and half of Ermita. Historic buildings and landmarks like the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, Cebu City Hall, Fort San Pedro and Magellan’s Cross from its very heart.

Built in 1565, the Basilica is the country’s oldest church while Fort San Pedro, is the oldest and smallest fortress.

Casa Gorordo, the residence of Cebu’s first Filipino bishop; University of San Carlos, the Philippines oldest school; and Colon, the country’s oldest street are found downtown.

Other recognized historic streets and sites within the area include D. Jakosalem St. (formerly Calle Norte America), M.J. Cuenco (formerly Calle Martires), P. Burgos St., Magallanes St., Vision Theater, Bureau of Customs building, Prudential Bank, and the Metro Cebu Water District building.

It is sad to note that many of these historic buildings are in a sorry state. Vision Theater, the only remaining 1900s building of neo-classical design and the first built with reinforced steel and concrete, is classified as a first class historic resource. Today, however, it is run-down and hardly recognizable.

Colon Street was completely devastated by bombings from returning American forces in World War II. It is already asphalted and shows no evidence of old Spanish style buildings. So is P. Burgos. It is no longer lined by the people’s sense of past.