History of Cebu City

Along with the rest of the country, Cebu came under Japanese occupation during WWII. The Japanese encountered some opposition there from guerrillas led by Col. James Cushing and the Cebu Area Command. It was finally liberated with the Battle for Cebu City in March and April 1945. The military general headquarters of the Philippine Commonwealth Army and 8th Infantry Regiment of the Philippine Constabulary, active from 1942 to 1946, was stationed in Cebu City during World War II.

Colon Street, the oldest national road in the Philippines, is the center of a dense and compact area in downtown Cebu City that was once the heart of Cebu City's shopping and business activity, with fashionable shops, restaurants and movie houses. In the early 1990s, much of this activity shifted to the more modern and more diverse business districts located in almost all of the urban areas of the city, including in what used to be considered residential and leisure neighborhoods. Colon also serves as a transit point for public utility jeepneys (PUJ) covering arterial routes within the city