May 22-23, 2008. The NC (National Council) Meet of KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) was held from May 22-23, 2008 at a training center in Pit-os, a mountainous and less urban area of Cebu City.

KASAMA sa UP is the broadest alliance of student councils in the University of the Philippine system, with member college student councils and university student councils from UP Baguio, UP Pampanga, UP Diliman, UP Manila, UP Losa Baños, UP Visayas and UP Mindanao.

The delegates first converged at the UP Cebu College campus morning of May 22 before proceeding to Pit-os on hired jeepneys. Since I wasn’t previously aware of the program, I was surprised that the venue wasn’t at UP Cebu itself. Instead the NC meet, as I’ve mentioned, was held at a training center in Cebu City’s Pit-os area, which was more or less half an hour from the city center.

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Tags: Cebu, Cebu City, KASAMA sa UP, UP Cebu

May 21, 2008. Continued from here. I had initially wanted to go around Cebu City by myself and just stroll around taking pictures downtown. Some people who know me know that such is my kind of thing. I just want to wander off by myself and take photos. I was discouraged from doing that, however, for my safety, apparently. Instead, my gracious hosts accompanied me in a chauffeur-driven car around Cebu City’s usual tourist destinations.

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Tags: Cebu, Cebu City, church, market

May 20, 2008. I flew to Cebu last Tuesday night for a KASAMA sa UP (Katipunan ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) meeting in UP Cebu. The meeting wasn’t until Thursday, but I flew in a few days ahead to able to catch up on however little rest and recreation I could squeeze in my free time. I had wanted to go about it by myself, book a hotel room for two nights and do anything I desired in Cebu City.

I told my mom that I could take care of myself, but she insisted that I stayed with a family friend of ours, whose family is actually one of the old-rich political families in Cebu. Yes, even the highway in Mandaue that we traversed from the airport to Cebu City was named after my host’s father. The long bridge we crossed form Mactan to Mandaue was named after my host’s cousin. They’re not active in politics now, though. This is the same family of my mother’s close college friend, whose father’s death and death anniversary were the reasons why we were in Cebu City a couple of times in the past two years.

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Tags: airport, Cebu, Cebu City, flight, KASAMA sa UP