Friday August 29, 2008. 04:44

About Santander

Santander lies on the southernmost tip of the Island of Cebu and is approximately 135 kms from Cebu City. In Liloan, the southernmost tip of the sliver that is Cebu Island, where business happens to be tourism. Word of mouth is slowly drawing visitors to Liloans cool, crystal - clear sea, its awe - inspiring sunsets and majestic night skies. (Certainly, for the local explorer, it is a far better deal than Mactans overpriced, white - sand beaches.)

Getting to Santander

When you get to Santander, get off the bus at Liloan Elementary School and take a tricycle to Lower Liloan. Alternatively, you may take a taxi all the way to Santander from the Cebu City airport (Mactan Airport) . . . approximately a 3 hour drive, though traffic crossing the bridge joining Mactan with Cebu, and then thru Cebu City can be heavy and the trip can take longer. You may negotiate yourself with taxi drivers and pay P2000-P2500, or you may call from the airport to arrange pickup.

There are several outrigger boats from Liloan to Sibulan on Negros Daily for P40 per person. The short distance that separates Santander, Cebu and Sibulan, Negros Oriental are only about 6 kilometers away from each other, and therefore these municipal waters overlap. Dumaguete is a very pleasant town with neat little park areas and what must be the cleanest market in the Philippines. It's the capital of Negros Oriental Province and also a university town. Silliman University, whose extensive campus is on the northern edge of town is the only Protestant university in the Philippines and was named after its founder, Dr Horace B Silliman. Silliman Beach near the airport is where Silliman University has the marine laboratory.