This southern metropolis has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mayor Jerry Treñas announced yesterday the inclusion of the city’s historic street, Calle Real, in the tentative list of nominees for the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Calle Real, the momentous street located in the downtown area, is known for its well-preserved colonial-era buildings, which date back to the Spanish and American colonial periods.

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 20 September) — A recent initiative to aggressively push for the inclusion of Mindanao’s identities, cultures, politics, languages, folkways, tales, as well as traditional conflict resolution systems, trading practices, family relations and, finally the concept of peace and development into the Philippines’ formal and non-formal educational engagements has just taken off with a proposed roadmap.

Spanish and American colonial eras influenced the earlier Philippine breakfast. During those centuries, innovations in kitchen stoves and ovens occurred globally. Lighting the day’s first cooking fire in the predawn light was demanding. With wood or coconut husk as fuel, the kalan (woodfire stove) system was surely more time consuming than turning the knob on a recently invented gas or electric stove that even had an oven for baking built into it.

From when the city was founded in 1571 until the end of the Spanish rule in 1898, Intramuros was Manila. The name Intramuros means “inside the wall.” For 400 years, Intramuros served as the center of the Spanish occupation, originally built to be the residence for Spanish government officials and their families. It was where the most influential and wealthy citizens of colonial Manila lived. The natives and Chinese were not allowed to live inside Intramuros, only the Spanish elite and mestizos.

Walking along the cobblestones of Calle Crisologo in Vigan, Ilocos Sur takes one back to life during the Spanish colonial era. There, more than one hundred houses built during the 18th and 19th centuries have remarkably retained their original architecture: a blend of colonial European style, Filipino design elements and indigenous materials.

From Metro Manila, take the South Luzon Express Way and then make your way out the Lucena exit before heading towards San Pablo city. This two-hour drive south of Metro Manila will bring you to a beautiful laid-back spot called Villa Escudero plantations and resort. I was looking forward to visiting this historical colonial plantation. Founded in 1872, it was opened to public in 1980, allowing people to experience Philippine culture and history in an exquisitely picturesque rural setting.

As a highly urbanized city in the Philippines, the City of Iloilo has became a tourist hub that is blessed with enchanting landscapes, majestic heritage sites and appetizing cuisines. And being a prime province during Spanish Colonial Era, Iloilo is known to hold some of the most stunning historic architectures of the country. Local and foreign tourists will surely love and enjoy a tour to this city.

The existing literature of the Philippine ethnic groups at the time of conquest and conversion into Christianity was mainly oral, consisting of epics, legends, songs, riddles, and proverbs. The conquistador, especially its ecclesiastical arm, destroyed whatever written literature he could find, and hence rendered the system of writing (e.g., the Tagalog syllabary) inoperable.

Vigan is in Northern Luzon and the Spanish colonial influence in its local architecture and old-world charm make it a unique city in the Philippines.