This Week in Cebu (Jul 24 to 30, 2016)

On July 26, Michelin-star chef Jason Atherton’s newest restaurant will be opening its doors at the Queen City of the South. The Pig and Palm is the first restaurant in the Philippines for Atherton’s world-renowned restaurant group The Social Company. The company currently has three Michelin stars, the highest award a restaurant can achieve. This accolade indicates exceptional cuisine and precisely executed, distinctive dishes using superlative ingredients.

The Social Company has restaurants located in different parts of the world, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, New York, London, Sydney, and Dubai. The Pig and Palm will serve a menu of modern Spanish tapas (appetizers) focusing on pork-based dishes. It is located in the ground floor of the MSY Tower at the Cebu Business Park.

COMELEC announces registration for barangay and SK elections

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) announced the start of the registration for the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections recently. The registration will be conducted at the offices of the COMELEC. Registration hours are from 8:00 AM up to 5:00 PM every day, including weekends and holidays, up to July 30, 2016.

Registrants for the barangay elections should be Filipino citizens who are at least 18 years old by October 31 and should have lived in the Philippines for at least one year. They should also be residents of the barangay where they intend to vote for at least six months. Registrants for the SK elections should be between the ages of 15 and 30 years old and have lived in the barangay where they intend to vote for at least six months.

SM City Cebu will hold its 3-Day Sale on July 29 to July 31, giving shoppers discounts of up to 70% off on selected items. The event is a part of the celebration of the mall for its 30th year in the mall industry. In addition to the discounts, shoppers also get the chance to win a Suzuki Ciaz during the event. SM City Cebu is also currently holding its Denim Sale until July 31, 2016 where shoppers can get up to 70%in discounts on selected items.

This rainy season, the popular foods in Cebu are those that have hot and spicy flavors, which can be readily savored at Sugbo Mercado, a year-round weekly food market in Cebu. Wokstarz Cebu, one of the concessionaires at Sugbo Mercado, is offering prawn curry laksa (noodle soup). Wokstarz specializes in hawker-style street food and Asian stir-fry dishes.

Meanwhile, spicy food to make one sweat can be found at Tausug Spices. They have beef kulma and chicken piyanggang, or grilled chicken in coconut milk flavored with Tausug paste. Burnt coconut is one of the unexpected ingredients in making this dish.

Sugbo Mercado, now on its second location at Cebu Business Park, features at least forty entrepreneurs offering a variety of cuisines from different parts of the world. In addition to food, Sugbo Mercado also has a number of merchants offering handicraft items made of indigenous materials.

Sugbo Mercado at the Cebu Business Park is located close to the MSY Tower. The market is open from 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM on Friday and Saturday.

Overcast skies with chances of thunderstorms will dominate the week with a brief respite on Tuesday when the sun is expected to peek from behind the clouds. This comes as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is forecasting the Visayas area to experience “near to above normal rainfall” for the month of July.

Mandaue City has started to issue citation tickets to drivers who are seen violating traffic laws via closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

This is well ahead of the passing of the No Contact Apprehension Ordinance, which is yet to undergo review after being approved on first reading last July 13. Under the ordinance, offending motorists will be penalized based on CCTV footage and images from digital media, instead of solely relying on traffic enforcers. Violators will have seven days to settle their citation at the Mandaue Command Center. If they fail to do so, they will be issued a subpoena and will have to settle the violation at the fiscal’s office.