No other city in the Philippines can claim to be the City of Gentle People. This distinction belongs to Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental. With the mountain range called the Cuernos de Negros as her backdrop, the city faces a vast vista of sea, its length embraced by the famous Rizal Boulevard. Dumaguete City is the melting pot of all seekers of knowledge. It is the proud home of Silliman University, the first American Protestant school in Asia, the first St. Paul College in the country, as well as Foundation University and Negros Oriental State University, the only state university in Negros Island. The city bustles with life and activity during the school year, but becomes tranquil and quiet during the summer. Dumaguete has also become a cosmopolitan city, offering vast and varied opportunities in education, business, commerce, and tourism. And yet it has amazingly retained its placid face without being complacent -- bustling without being hurried and noisy, keenly attuned with the present, looking forward to a bright future, but never losing her grasp of the past. To the world-weary, to tourists who have become blasé about fast, metropolitan cities, to retirees who long for quietude, and to those who merely seek for respite from the humdrum of everyday life, Dumaguete City indeed beckons.
