As you walk the streets of Cebu, you will find locals hurriedly walking in the streets to catch a ride or speeding in their cars to beat a yellow traffic light. One thing is common in many such scenes: thumbs busy typing away on mobile phones. In a country where approximately one out of every two citizens subscribes to a mobile phone service provider, it is not rare to see people sending out text messages or SMS. In fact, it can be quite common for people to own two cell phones, subscribing to two different service providers. This penchant for “texting” has grown to such huge numbers that the Philippines has become known as one of the countries that send the most number of text messages a day. Such a reputation once earned the Philippines a reputation for being the “text capital of the world.”
The huge traffic of SMS travelling from cell phone to cell phone has forced – or, rather, enticed – service providers to levy a one-peso fee for every message sent. However, there are certain deals that allow people to send an unlimited number of messages within a period of days for a fixed fee. These deals have allowed the texting craze to continue, so much that during Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and the Sinulog feast, text messages get stuck and arrive only hours after they are sent. If you happen to pass by the province of Lilo-an, you will see a street sign that says, “No texting while crossing the street.” Signs like this are evidence of the way mobile phones have become inculcated into the Philippine culture. You can also expect Cebuanos to pass around jokes regarding nationwide events involving politicians and celebrities, no matter how serious the matter may be.
