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The Philippines Largest Oceanarium Opens in Cebu

Four times bigger than the renowned Manila Ocean Park, the newly opened Cebu Ocean Park is the largest Oceanarium in the Philippines. With its 7-meter deep mega aquarium with 360-degree viewing tunnel teeming with thousands of marine species, the park is truly an exciting place to visit.

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

The park had its ‘soft opening’ last August 24, 2019, with the grand opening expected to happen sometime before the year ends.

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

The first marine park in Visayas and Mindanao, Cebu Ocean Park is set to become a popular year-round destination in the area. Thanks to its large function spaces, food hall, and many attractions, the park will not just remain a tourist attraction but would also be great as venue for special events and occasions.

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

The total area of Cebu Ocean Park is 2,000 sqm bigger than that of Manila Ocean Park, but the highlight is the 360-degree viewing tunnel in the oceanarium that’s nearly 4 times bigger than its counterpart in Manila.

Photo credit: Cebu Ocean Park

Most of the exhibits are those of marine creatures native or could be found in the waters of the Philippines. However, there are also exhibits feature animals from as far as the Amazon and other exciting places.

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

The park features four main attractions:

  • The Deep Tank Lagoon inside the Oceanarium
  • Jungle Trek
  • Creepy Critters
  • Multi-Animal Shows for prime ‘edutainment’ (educational entertainment)

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

Ticket prices are as follows:

  • Journey Experience – ₱600 on weekdays; ₱800 on weekends per head for adults and kids. Children below 2ft are free of charge. This includes the following attractions:
  1. Jungle Trek
  2. Creepy Critters
  3. Lorries
  4. Seven Seas
  5. Stingray Interaction
  6. Oceanarium Journey
  7. Ampitheatre
  8. Main Tank Gallery
  •  Sea Trek – ₱1,200
  •  Crocodile Cage – ₱2,000
  •  Fish spa – ₱100 per 20 mins.
  •  Swim w/ the Sting ray – ₱1,000

Photo credit: Nessa Caritan / Sugbo.ph

The park is located beside the San Pedro Calungsod Chapel, at the back of SM Seaside City Cebu in South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City. Operating hours are from 10AM to 8PM, daily.

For further inquiries, you can contact them through the following channels:

Photo credit: Jan Mckingley O. Hilado / Sugbo.ph

Note from the park: Soft opening tickets purchased from August 24, 2019 to September 30, 2019 may be used once more from October 1, 2019 to November 30, 2019. However, ticket is non transferable. Tickets bought on October 1, 2019 onwards is for one time use only.

What’s an Oceanarium?

An oceanarium is a huge aquarium that features marine animals for study and public exhibit. Most oceanariums feature a glass tunnel where guests can walk through and watch the marine creatures as if they were walking underneath the ocean, but without getting wet.

Lifestyle

Prayer before Meals? Photo of Kneeling Customers of Roadside Carinderia Goes Viral

A photo of kneeling customers at a roadside carinderia goes viral, with many netizens joking that these “religious” buyers are already praying before their meal. LOL

Photo of Roadside Carinderia’s Kneeling Customers Goes Viral

In the Philippines, carinderias are a popular place for finding affordable, budget-friendly meals.

They’re usually small stalls with simple dining sets where people can dine for much less than what you’d normally get billed at a restaurant.

Carinderias themselves can still be considered a restaurant, but they’re a toned down version with much cheaper rates. You can even order “takeout” meals that they’ll usually put inside plastic roll bags instead of a Styrofoam or cardboard box you might expect from a regular restaurant.

And while carinderias aren’t usually the subject of a viral post, one recently gained social media fame after some customers have been photographed kneeling while taking their order.

Now, we forgot to mention that many carinderias have a loyal customer base of people who often go there on a regular basis. Many of them might be workers or students in the area. Other carinderias also have nearby residents as regular customers.

kneeling buyers
Photo credit: Casper Correche

So, it isn’t surprising that when a carinderia was affected by a new road made several feet above the old one, the loyal customers kept coming back to the their favorite food source.

The only difference is that now they have to adjust and kneel down so they can check the food items being offered by the carinderia.

A photo of the said carinderia, credited to Facebook user Casper Correche, was shared on Facebook page “Calbayognon.” In the post, the page identified the carideria to be somewhere in Calbayog, Samar.

The page joked that the three guys seen in the photo were ordering one more serving of adobong manok before ending it with an “Amen.” It’s like they’re already done praying before they get to eat their meal.

How Road Widening Affects People in the Philippines

There are lots of great benefits to road widening:

  • Better roads
  • Wider roads that can accommodate more cars
  • Less traffic

However, road widening can also some negative effects:

  • Roadside houses and establishments might be included in the expansion
  • Some of these buildings can also become lower than the road level, leading to various issues (and the owners don’t usually get compensation to change their houses so they can be at road level again)
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News

Customer Wants Free Portrait, Sends Bible Verse to Make Artist Feel Guilty

A customer wants free portrait – and had the audacity to send a Bible verse to make the artist feel guilty for trying to ask for payment in exchange for the drawing! Whoa.

Customer Wants Free Portrait, Guilt-Trips Artist with Bible Verse

These days, it has become easier for artists to connect with new customers through apps, messaging, and other social media or online tools.

You can even find an artist on Facebook marketplace, TikTok, Instagram, or just about any online platform available.

What’s sad is that these artists also encounter a lot of bogus “miners” or those who request for an artwork to be done, but then vanish without a trace. For example, a customer canceled two paintings created by a deaf-mute artist after he was already trying to deliver the pieces!

artist portrait
Photo credit: Chaboy dela Cruz / News5

Recently, someone reached out to artist Chaboy dela Cruz to ask him to create a portrait.

And while that isn’t something new, the artist had a good sense to ask whether the person he was chatting with had plans to pay for the commissioned art – because they actually didn’t want to pay up!

This person even set the deadline, but was shocked to learn that the artist was asking for payment over the artwork.

artist portrait
Photo credit: Chaboy dela Cruz / News5

Instead of asking how much they’re supposed to pay, this freeloader sent dela Cruz a screenshot of a biblical passage from Hebrews 13:5-8, which says in English, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have (because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake).

What’s even more hilarious about the customer’s demand is that they didn’t even know the artist personally. You’d think they were friends by how they worded the post. LOL.

How Much Do Drawings And Portraits Cost?

This actually depends on several factors, but mostly the artist’s talent and name. You’d see newbie artists charging as low as Php100 per bond paper-sized portrait, but the same thing could fetch thousands of pesos, maybe even millions if commissioned by a famous artist.

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Inspiring

Doctor Goes Viral for Beautiful Penmanship and Writing Instructions in Filipino

A doctor goes viral for beautiful penmanship – and we also love that he writes the instructions in Filipino for his patients to better understand. Isn’t that awesome?

Doctor Goes Viral for Beautiful Penmanship

Yes, doctors are known for having a really bad, barely readable penmanship. There’s even an on-going joke that only pharmacists can understand what they write (which is actually true on many occasions).

Thankfully, many doctors have realized that writing their prescription in incomprehensible handwriting might lead to errors in dispensing the medications.

Photo credit: Robert Dominic Gonzales

This can be dangerous, actually, especially because some medications can have lethal effects when given in incorrect doses or to someone with certain underlying medication conditions.

Recently, one doctor went viral for writing prescriptions in calligraphy-like handwriting – and she isn’t the only that impressed netizens with good penmanship.

Dr. Robert Dominic Gonzales amazed netizens when he shared a photo of a prescription that he had written for a patient.

It’s very clear from the prescription that he described this patient with Losartan at 50 mg per tablet.

Photo credit: Robert Dominic Gonzales

The prescription is good for 30 tablets, with clear instructions written in Filipino for the patient to drink one tablet per day to control high blood pressure.

Dr. Gonzales captioned the post, “From practicing the alphabet, writing essays, and answering tons of exams… we’ve come to this point of using a pen and paper.

The impressive handwriting amazed netizens who mused that doctors should learn to write prescriptions in this manner so that it will be clear to the patient, not just to the pharmacist.

He explained that it’s best to write prescriptions in a manner that’s clear for everyone to help avoid medication errors. He added that taking the wrong medication due to these errors can put the patient’s life in danger.

Photo credit: Robert Dominic Gonzales

How to Make Sure You’re Taking the Right Medicine

  • Check your doctor’s prescription to see if you can understand what’s written
  • Don’t be shy to ask the medications’ names and the right dosage you need to take
  • Don’t be afraid to request your doctor to make the medication name easier to read so you won’t mix up your medicines
  • Double check the name of the medicines you receive from the pharmacy
  • Buy a pill box or labeled container to help you keep track of the medications (many people forget whether they’ve already taken the medicine or not)
  • If you have plenty of medicines, organize them and create a list of what you need to drink for a particular hour of the day
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