Going on a holiday with kids is a great time to unite with them on an emotional level but it is also quite a responsible task. If you are travelling with kids, then make sure that you have all the important documents and credentials with you. Make sure that your child has a valid passport as entering into Philippines requires one. Check out the passport site if you do not have it and immediately apply for it.

Philippines will spoil you for choices when it comes to selecting islands for having fun and enjoyment with family. Here is a list of some of the best holiday destinations in and around Cebu:

Camotes: This eastern island in Cebu is a heavenly place with friendly people, great cuisine and white sandy beaches. Treat your children to dolphin shows and splendid coral reefs while relaxing under the sun.

Malapascua: The place is great if you are a nature lover and like to explore the underwater marine life through diving, kayaking and snorkeling. It is the ultimate destination if you are looking for a scuba diving retreat with your kids.

Mactan: The Island has some of the most mesmerizing beaches untouched by destructive industrial revolution of the other parts of the world. Here, you can deepen the bonds of love with your kids by doing fun activities together like swimming, cycling and collecting shells.

Bohol: It is a beautiful little island on the east of Cebu and is specially a children’s favorite owing to Chocolate Hills. The Beautiful skyline, delicious seafood, wild natural beauty will give you an experience of your lifetime with your children.

Bantayan: This exotic island filled with astonishing white sandy beaches is a perfect place to visit with children. The water level in the ocean here are quite shallow without any sudden depths and you can easily let your children loose to swim in the water.

Olango: Here you can relax in the lap of Mother Nature and soak in her divine beauty while your children can learn about the beautiful and diverse flora and fauna of the place. It offers great views of beautiful migratory birds from the territorial regions.

So, what are you waiting for? Grab your backpacks and head to these amazing and untouched destinations along with loved ones to enjoy a wonderful vacation away from stress and tension of the daily life.

Author Bio: Ellen Nicola is a travel blog writer and adventure enthusiast who loves to explore the beauty of nature and share his experiences with everyone.

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“As you know the duty of the conclave is to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world!” the first lines of Pope Francis just after the election.

He then stepped forward to deliver his first public address and blessing to the gathered devoted, asking for some prayers of “all men and women of good will” to help him lead the Catholic Church.

Many Filipinos are rejoicing upon hearing the news with about 75.5 million of the Philippines population are Catholics and the third country of having the largest number of Catholic believers in the world behind Brazil and Mexico.

A white smoke was released from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City on March 14 (Philippine time) informing that a new pope was elected.

The bells rang out of St. Peter Basilica in Rome with about 10,000 pilgrims from around the world who cheered and chanted “Habemus Papam!” (We Have a Pope!) as they are waiving their flags.

Pope Francis replaced Pope Benedict XVI who stepped down on February 28 due to health reasons.

“Good night and have a good rest.” Pope Francis ended a statement with an Italian-American speaking accent in front of the huge crowd.

The reef is composed of two coral atolls namely the South and North that divided by an 8 Km channel. South atoll is a bit smaller than the North atoll which only has 5 kilometers in length and 3 kilometers in width while the North has bigger in size with an approximate 16 kilometers in length and 5 kilometers on its width. Both has a single small islet that protrudes from the surrounding water.

 
Tubbataha reef was first discovered by divers during the late 70’s that become very famous and remarkably recognised as one of the best coral reefs in the entire world. In fact, the American educational travel site CNN ranks it being one of the top 8 best dive sites in the planet.
 
If you are lucky enough to dive today and explore underneath of this marine beauty nature that would normally takes a year or two for you to get an advanced booking, you will surely experience so much enjoyment on seeing those big and variety species of marine creatures like sharks, turtles, manta rays, etc. The local government is implementing stricter rules and bigger sanction fees as their funding source to conserve and protect the Tubbataha Reef from illegal misuse and exploitation.
 

Basilica Minor del Santo Niño original structure was made out of earth, hard wood, and nipa until it was destroyed by fire. Then, the church was rebuilt in 1602 and in 1735, the late Cebu Governor Fernando Valdes y Tamon ordered that it be constructed out of hard stone that the materials were quarried from Capiz and Panay on wooden boats, exactly the same spot where the wooden one had stood and the molave wood came from the mountains of Talisay and Pitalo and was transported in bancas hired in Argao and Carcar respectively. Work on the church was completed no later than 1739.
 
The image of Santo Niño can be found in the Santo Niño Chapel of the Basilica. The miraculous image has been venerated by the Cebuanos and became the patron of Cebu adorned with gold and precious stones. His feast is celebrated every third Sunday of January known as The Sinulog Festival, the biggest and grandest of all Philippines festival that takes place in the streets of Cebu.
 
Mass Schedule:
 
Monday-Thursday
 
6:00 am – Cebuano 8:00 pm – English
7:00 am – Cebuano 5:30 pm – English
 
Friday
 
5:00 am – Cebuano 10:00 am – Cebuano
6:00 am – Cebuano 11:00 am – Cebuano
7:00 am – English 12:00 am – English
8:00 am – English Benediction / Novena on other Fridays
9:00 am – English Mass – Novena on First Fridays
 
3:00 pm – Cebuano 7:30 pm – English
4:30 pm – Cebuano Mass / Novena on First Fridays
5:30 pm – English Mass – Novena on First Fridays
6:30 pm – English
 
Sunday
 
5:30 am – Cebuano 10:00 am – Cebuano 4:00 pm – Cebuano
7:00 am – Cebuano 11:30 am – English 5:30 pm – English
8:30 am – English 2:30 pm – Cebuano 7:00 pm – English

Be Careful with my Heart is the first television drama show in the Philippines filmed in a high definition and has to be extended for an eight-month due time with its popularity and well-loved by most televiewers, thus expect to end on February 2013 until prior notice. It is currently broadcasted on Kapilya Network Channel 2 during weekdays (Mon-Fri) and their weekly replays every Saturday that moves to a new time slot at 11:15 a.m. This also can be seen worldwide on The Filipino Channel (TFC).
 
Story Plot
 
This is a story about a simple girl named Maya dela Rosa who journeys to the large-scale city just to pursue her dreams to become a flight attendant to enable help her family. She would not let anyone to halt her, not even the handsome, wealthy widower Richard Lim and called him Sir Chief who intimidates to ruin her dreams.
 
Ironically, Richard is Maya’s last hope in fulfilling her long awaited dreams because of the latter big influence in the Airline Industry and he will only help Maya if she would agree to become his children’s provisional nanny especially to Abigail.
 
Maya succumbs to the status. But upon going into the Lim Family manor, she finds herself engaged in the private lives of Richard and his three behavioral problematic children Luke the eldest, Nikki, and Abigail the youngest.
 
Maya eventually sees that there are problems need to be solved in the Lim family which started since the death of Richard’s wife Alex; the family’s delight past away with her. And so Maya made it upon herself to bridge Richard in getting along to his children. And finally, she does well in rebuilding the Lim family.
 
Although, in fixing their broken hearts, Maya encounters bigger trials that will test her strength and will dispute even her own heart because she is getting fall in love with the children and to Richard himself.
 

 
Main Cast
 
• Jodi Sta. Maria (Maya dela Rosa)
• Richard Yap (Richard Lim)
• Mutya Orquia (Abigail “Abby” Lim)
• Jerome Ponce (Luke Lim)
• Janella Salvador (Nikki Lim)
 
Supporting Cast
 
• Aiza Seguerra (Cristina Rose or Kute)
• JM Ibañez (Cho)
• Sylvia Sanchez (Teresita dela Rosa)
• Divina Valencia (Mamang)
• Pen Medina (Arturo)
• Gloria Sevilla (Manang Fe)
• Rosario Carlos (Doris)
• Vivieka Vivieka (Sabel)
• Nick Lizaso (Joma)
• Robert Ortega (Fred)
• Kalila Aguilos (Liza)
• Ya Chang (Engineer Yamagouchi)
• Paul Jake Castillo (Simon)
• Sunshine Garcia (Stephanie)
• Sunshine Cruz (Mrs. Lim)
 

Star Magic played a vital role in Jodi’s successful showbiz career by developing her talent and acting skills as she waited for her big break. She is getting remembered for her teeny bopper roles to deeper and more mature roles; Jodi has been one of the rare Filipina actresses with complexity and flexibility to any given roles. Her youthful & angelic face and relentless energy make her look young as someone still in her 20’s.
 
Whereas a lead role was getting elusive at some point in Jodi’s career, it still somehow gave her good things and success. Equipped with her vast experiences in working on numerous roles to showbiz, Jodi is now adept to mainstream and indie films easily. She furthermore was among the casts in other Kapamilya series and financial advertisements regularly.
 
Jodi Sta. Maria starred to different movies and television shows in Gimik, Tabing ilog, Pangako Sa’yo, Star Circle Kid and Teen Quest, Tayong Dalawa, Noah, 100 Days to Heaven, Mundo Man ay Magunaw, and a lead role of the blockbuster hit romantic comedy teleserye “Be Careful with my Heart”.
 
Jodi plays a top billed role as Maya dela Rosa, a yaya or caretaker of the youngest child of wealthy and handsome widower which she called him Sir Chief in Be Careful with my Heart hit series that currently airs on ABS-CBN Kapilya Network. It became famous and well-loved among viewers not only in the Philippines but also to abroad courtesy of TFC or The Filipino Channel for its light and very Pinoy family oriented approach.
 

This very special dish is not only loved by Filipinos but also the foreigners who happened to taste it. Although, there are lots of restaurants in the Philippines which serve sizzling pork sisig now a days; I would still share my personal pork sisig recipe so that you can do it to your home at anytime you want.
 
 
Ingredients to prepare:
 
• 1 kilo of pig head or ears (cleaned thoroughly and removed the hair)
• ½ kilo pork belly
• 2 minced onions
• 5-7 green chili
• 4-5 red hot chili (depends on your hotness preference)
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp. lemon or calamansi
• 2 tbsp. cooking oil
• 1 pc. head minced garlic
• ½ tsp. msg./seasoning
• 1 ½ tsp. salt
• Fresh eggs (1 per served)
 
 
Cooking procedures:
 
1. Grill the pig head/ears to easily remove the hair.
2. Boil the pig head/ears and pork belly in water until it become tender enough to chop w/ salt and the seasoning.
3. Remove the meat into container and drain the excess water.
4. Fry it with cooking oil to crispiness.
5. Sliced the meat evenly at your desired size.
6. In a hot pan with cooking oil, add garlic and the onions.
7. Then, put the sliced pig head/ears and pork belly and let it cook for 10 minutes.
8. Combine meat together with soy sauce, calamansi juice, red hot chili, and green chili. Mix it well.
9. Add salt and seasoning to taste.
10. Put into a sizzling plate. Top with 1 fresh egg per serving.
11. Serve it hot and enjoy!
 

With only few days are left before the actual sainthood of Blessed Pedro Calungsod de Cebu, an approximately 5,000 Filipinos are flying to Rome, Italy in witnessing the canonization of soon to be the second Filipino Saint which will be led by Pope Benedict XVI together with the Roman Catholic Archbishops and Priests all around the world. These include 30 cardinals and bishops from the Philippines.
 
Two of Pedro Calungsod’s pilgrimages will be brought by Manila delegates to Rome, one will be given to Pope Benedict XVI and the other one goes to the school of Filipino priests in Rome called the Pontificio Collegio Filippino.
 
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) confirms some Philippines politicians are attending the canonization of Pedro Calungsod with few to mentions the Vice-President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Jinggoy Estrada. We also expect thousands more Filipinos living in the US and other countries are joining this historic event too.
 
 
Life of Pedro Calungsod
 
A young Roman Catholic Filipino migrant and sacristan with a missionary catechism was born in 1654 and died the 2nd day of April in 1672 by suffering life and death on religious persecution and martyrdom at Guam.
 
Based on the historical records, there was no enough information given about Pedro Calunsod’s place of origin in the Philippines. It was only stated that he came from the Visayas area of the Philippines. Visayan regions like Hinunangan and Hinundayan in Southern Leyte, Molo district of Ilo-ilo and Loboc in Bohol have also claimed on Pedro Calunsod’s origin. But majority of the historians believed that Pedro Calungsod was a native and came from Ginatilan Cebu, Philippines.
 

The town people celebrate their Annual Festival or called it the Aswang Festival is celebrated every 29th and 30th day on the month of October. This includes the parade of participants donning the foremost dreadful costumes like “kapre”, “wak-wak”, and “tikbalang”. Right the end of parade of those fearful mythical creatures; then it would be followed by a trade honest of the known Capiznon ocean food merchandise and different native delicacies.

Aswang festivity is a sort of Halloween-like fiesta as a prelude to all Souls Day and All Saints Day festivals celebrated during November 1 and 2. It has been inaugurated and arranged by the Dugo Capiznon, Inc. that aims to eclipse the aswang impression with the first quality of Capiz’ food product, and made Capiz as one of the country’s prime tourist destinations having its fine beaches and scenic landscapes. Also, through the trade exhibits, small business entrepreneurs have an opportunity to promote their native products that would assist in order to uplift the economy of the province.

The people of Capiz or the town itself has been a victim of the dishing of make-believe dirts for years that it became a haven of frights and terror. Many people including tourists have stopped visiting the place because of the story rumor that Capiz is that the home of the mythical scary creatures, the “Aswang”.

Because of these negative unrealistic rumors, Roxas City is currently aimed to erase the negative impression of the town as a home of aswang by recognizing it solely as a story and hopefully removing the stigma connected to the word by inaugurating Aswang Festival.

How to get in Roxas City:

From Manila: Travel time will be approx. 45 minutes on riding an airplane and 16 hours by boat. If you travel via an airplane; you can choose 2 airline companies: Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific Air which both have daily schedule flights from Roxas-Manila and vice versa.

From Iloilo City: Travel time is only 2 hours on riding a bus or private car.

FYI: Only 1 passenger ship operates in Culasi Port, Roxas City, in courtesy of Moreta Shipping Lines and several ferry boats that travel from Romblon and Masbate.

Hotel Features:

9 Floors | 150 Rooms | 107 Double Rooms (inclusive of 1 wheelchair-friendly double rooms) | 43 Twin Rooms

Room Types:

Double Room (1 Queen size bed) | Twin Room (2 Single beds)

Room Packages:

24 hours Air-conditioning | 2 Towels and toiletries | Cable TV | 24 hour WIFI internet access

Tune Hotels Cebu Other Amenities:

Free Parking Area | WIFI Internet Access | Smoke-Free Property | Elevator

Payment Types:

MasterCard | Visa

Cut-off Time:

Check-in Time: 2pm | Check-out Time: 11 am sharp