This Week in Cebu (July 7 to 13, 2019)

It’s a good time to bring your rain gear at home as cloudy weather continues to dominate the Cebu’s skyline for the week [1]. Brief rain showers and thunderstorms will fill the sky at the start of the week in the Queen City of the South. While a bit of sun may brighten up your day on Wednesday and Thursday, expect a passing shower or stray thunderstorm to rain on your parade. But things are expected to improve as the weekend comes in with partly sunny weather. This will be coupled with a bit of cloudiness and a thunderstorm or two. Temperatures for the week will range from 240 C to 330 C.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan will seek the advice of experts in dealing with the traffic woes of the city [2]. He wants them to look into the present routes of vehicles to decongest the streets and hopefully make traffic flow fluid. In addition, the newly-proclaimed mayor ordered the City Traffic Management System (CTMS) to strictly implement traffic rules. These are the short-term solutions presented by the mayor during his recent inaugural speech. His long-term solution in dealing with traffic in the city is to build a new road network and adopting a mass transport system.

Construction of the second runway at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is expected to start in January 2020 [3]. MCIA General Manager Steve Dicdican said the project consultant, Phil. JAC Inc., will design the runway and manage the project. The design is expected to be finished within six months or before the end of the year. The project is different from the pending bill in Congress proposing the construction of a second runway for the airport. The second runway will be 3.3 kilometers long and is expected to be finished by December 2022. It will cost PhP2.5 billion to build.

Authorities are training their sights on illegal structures in the tourist town of Moalboal [4]. The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will go after Moalboal resorts that violated the 20-meter easement zone under the Water Code of the Philippines. But the Moalboal Municipal Council passed a resolution asking DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu to reduce the easement to less than 20 meters. Moalboal Mayor Inocentes Cabaron said closing several resorts will result to an economic downturn for this southern tourist town. While it may cause a reduction in tourist arrivals, resort owners are willing to demolish illegal structures once they receive a notice from the authorities. Moalboal is the third most visited town in Cebu after Oslob and Daanbantayan.

International Travel Festival 2019 (ITF 2019) organizers have said different provinces in China have become emerging destinations for Cebuano travelers [5]. ITF General Manager Stephanie Villahermosa said Cebuanos are enticed at exploring China with the improved connection between the two countries. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) currently has direct flights to key destinations in China, including, Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, among others. Aside from China, Vietnam and Cambodia have also become attractive options for Filipino travelers. On the local front, Clark, Siargao, Camiguin, Iloilo, and Bacolod are still the preferred destinations of local travelers. The ITF 2019 will run from July 12 to 14 and is among the biggest travel fairs in the Queen City of the South.

To know the latest travel updates in Cebu, check out Yoorekka.com.