The winning moment of the Pundok sa Kabataang Mananayaw sa Danao City is captured in this photo after they landed first place in the elementary division of the Sinulog sa Kabataan Lalawigan 2016. Little did they know that it was the last time that they would dance in the Sinulog Festival. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
The Sinulog Festival in January next year will not be the same.
No more youth dance parade and contest to open the festivity. No more fireworks display to cap the weeklong festival.
The culminating day’s grand parade and mardi gras, the festival’s highlight that has been drawing thousands of spectators from all over the world, will most likely end at 4:30 p.m. instead of the usual 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. as a crowd control measure and to put a lid on late-night revelries and drunken brawls.
This more austere Sinulog Festival was announced yesterday by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña in a press conference he called before he left for the Mactan Cebu International Airport en route to the United States, where he will be spending the next week for a medical checkup.
And then, as previously announced by Osmeña, there will no longer be a Miss Cebu beauty pageant.
The pronouncement immediately drew statements of concern not only from the Sinulog Foundation leadership but also some city officials and from a Cebu hotelier for its ngative impact on tourism and for its effect on youngsters who danced primarily not to compete but to show their devotion to the Senor Sto. Niño.
Osmeña said he decided to cancel the Sinulog Sa Kabataan, which is participated by elementary and high school students in Cebu City and province, because the expense to take part in the event was “getting out of hand,” with each school, mostly public schools, spending as much as P1.5 million for their respective contingent.
This without counting the lost school hours as students tend to practice their routines even during school hours and of students having to practice up to late at night in their school campuses, disrupting night classes.
“Who are the models of Sto. Niño? The night high school students who are trying to study or the other people out the street making noise so these people (night students) cannot study?” the mayor added.
Final
He said his decision was final, and he will not entertain “motion for reconsideration.”
“They (students) have no participation at all. In any shape or form. I do not like to give them excuse that they have to raise money, practice and disturb classes. Disturb their own schedules. So no,” he said.
With this cancellation, fewer contingents will be performing during the Sinulog grand parade. But Osmeña said he would welcome fewer contingents as this meant he would hit his goal of ending the Sinulog dance parade as early as 4:30 p.m. and thus reduce peace and order problems resulting from post-mardi gras revelry that in this year’s case, ended in a number of drunken melees.
“This will reduce, will able to help control peace and order if it ends early. You cannot stop everything, but you can reduce,” he said.
He said next year’s Sinulog would be “a lot nicer” since it will be shorter with fewer contingents and higantes (giant replicas of mythical creatures, personalities or film characters) participating in the grand parade.
While there will no longer be a Sinulog Foundation-sponsored fireworks display, spectators could still watch the fireworks displays of private organizations, such as that being held at Ayala Center Cebu, he said.
Dance of youth
Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) Executive Director Ricky Ballesteros expressed surprise by Osmeña’s decision and said they would try to get the mayor to reconsider.
He pointed out that most of the Sinulog contingents are composed of young people as they have the stamina to dance for several hours on the parade route.
“You know walay manayaw nga mga tiguwang na (You know, the older ones don’t dance in the grand parade),” he said.
He said that even the out of town contingents’ dancers are mostly students.
He said that if the reason for canceling the Sinulog sa Kabataan was the expense, the contingents could spend less if they directly join the grand parade.
Ballesteros, however, said that in the end, they would have to abide by Osmeña’s decision since the foundation could not mount the festival without city funding. Last year, the city government appropriated P25 million for the 2016 Sinulog Festival.
Former Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, the former chairman of SFI, declined to comment on the pronouncement of Osmeña, except to say that he was praying that the mayor would reconsider.
“I’m not going to be creating more comment as of this moment. Ato lang na siya (Osmeña) i-ampo. Ug patabangan og ampo sa tanan aron igbalik niya mausab iyanag huna-huna. Way Sinulog nga way bata (I’m not going to be creating more comment as of this moment. Let’s just pray for Osmeña. I ask everyone to pray that when he comes back, he will change his mind. There is no Sinulog without the youth),” Rama said.
More than a competition
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, who was head of crowd control in this year’s Sinulog celebration, believed that although crowd control remains a problem in every Sinulog celebration, this should not be used as an excuse to cancel Sinulog sa Kabataan.
“The Sinulog festival is a huge event in country. It attracts visitors from around the globe and even domestically. People can get rowdy and there will always be trouble here and there, but then these things are isolated cases considering that Sinulog draws millions of people,” Garganera said.
Further explaining his decision to cancel Sinulog sa Kabataan to his FB followers, Osmeña said in a post: “As for the Sinulog itself, it’s time people stopped using our festival as an excuse to get drunk, or worse, high on drugs. The crowds are getting worse and worse every year. It hurts our tourism, our reputation, and it destroys the Sinulog’s intent of honoring our Sto. Niño.”
Garganera, as village chief of Barangay Tinago before winning a post in the council last May, had been actively involved in Sinulog activities with the schoolchildren of his barangay.
“A lot of us have experienced how it is to join Sinulog as participants, and as you look back, it is always a wonderful experience. Let us not deprive our schoolchildren this kind of experience that makes us different. It’s not just about the competition. It is all about the Cebuano culture,” Garganera added.
A member of Team Rama, Garganera suspected that the cancellation of Sinulog sa Kabataan and the fireworks display would be Osmeña’s way of “again trying to project that the city is bankrupt and everything has to cost cut because the previous administration of Mike Rama spent all the money kay gi-waldas kunuhay.”
LOOK. This photo taken last January 16 is posted on the official Facebook page of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, then a mayoral candidate, which showed him with some Sinulog revelers. He wrote about having to walk for over two hours to cross Fuente Osmeña but was happy that people still recognized him. (TOMMY OSMEñA FACEBOOK PAGE)
To Osmeña, Garganera issued this appeal: “Please spare the Sinulog. Please.”
As to whether the Cebu City Council intends to do something about the mayor’s plans, Garganera said, “It’s very hard to quarrel over something that’s very religious, special and spiritual to most of us Cebuanos. We still have five months away from Sinulog, we still have enough time to pray for Osmeña to change his mind.”
Tourism impact
Cenelyn Manguilimotan, past president of the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC), said Sinulog is known for its weeklong activities and tourists will expect nothing less.
“If news will come out that there will be less activities, they might have second thoughts of coming because it wouldn’t be the same,” she said in a text message.
Manguilimotan, general manager of Parklane International Hotel in Cebu City, said they generally have an 85 percent occupancy rate during the Sinulog week, held every third week of January, and are always fully booked on the Friday and Saturday before the Sunday grand parade.
Capitol officials, on the other hand, accepted Osmeña’s decision to cancel the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan and Lalawigan. Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III, however, noted that the towns and component cities of the province have been anticipating the yearly competition, which showcases the different festivals of the towns and cities through dances presented by public elementary and high school students.
“Let’s give (Osmeña) a chance. He just assumed and he wants changes. But para nako pud, it would have been nice nga ipadayon ang Sinulog (sa Kabataan sa Lalawigan). But we can’t impose on the city,” he said in an interview yesterday.
Davide said the contingents that would usually participate in the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Lalawigan have always been looking forward to the yearly competition, which is also a chance for local government units of the province to promote their respective towns and cities.
Without the opportunity to bring their festivals to Cebu City during the Sinulog, Davide said the provincial contingents could just continue to showcase their presentations during local fiestas.
Davide did not think that the scrapping of the Sinulog sa Kabataan would have impact on tourism as tourists can still enjoy the grand parade and mardi gras. Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who chairs the Provincial Board’s committee on tourism, also did not think that the cancellation of the event would have a negative impact on tourism as tourists normally came for the grand parade.