Some of the Miss Universe candidates entertained questions at JPark Island Resor Cebu. (CDN FILE PHOTO)
SINULOG organizers confirmed yesterday that eight Miss Universe candidates will join the Sinulog grand parade on Sunday, January 15. They will be a part of Okada Manila’s parade float. This is the resort where 120 contestants of the pageant are staying until coronation night, which will take place this January 30 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Ricky Ballesteros, Sinulog Foundation executive director, said that he could not announce which of the contestants would be joining the parade. “It depends on their sponsor,” Ballesteros said in Cebuano. The swimwear competition will happen two days after the grand parade on January 17 at the JPark Hotel in Lapu-Lapu City.
“This is very good for Cebu, so we hope that everything will be (okay including) … peace and order and all these things,” said Judy Gabato, chief tourism operations officer of the Department of Tourism Region 7 Office (DOT-7).
“We have handled a lot of foreign delegates but this is different,” Gabato said about the security preparations, days after a bombing in Hilongos, Leyte, injured 32 people during a town fiesta.
According to Central Visayas Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño, at least 5,000 police officers will be deployed to secure areas where Sinulog events will be held. Taliño had also sought support of the Muslim community in Cebu in helping monitor the island for security threats. “I ask for your help in securing peace and order,” he asked leaders in a meeting yesterday.
Cebu province preps
The provincial government is also preparing their float less than two weeks before the parade. The province’s tourism officer Boboi Costas said that the float’s theme revolves around Cebuano’s unique stewardship for the Santo Niño to the more ancient “diwatas” or “spirits.”
“We are also stewards of our history, we are all guardians of our culture, we are all guardians of our heritage,” Costas explained.
He added: “When I said it’s an intersection between heritage and culture, we are also going to show the cultural side of it. We believe that because of our strong Cebuano concept of ‘stewardship,’ kadto bitaw sauna nga muingon ta nga mao ang atong forest dili mahilabtan because of the ‘dili ingon nato’ (back in the days when we say that nothing could harm the forest because of spirits).
The float will also feature flora and fauna unique to Cebu, along with “tambuleros” or percussionists.
With a budget of P1 million, Costas pointed out that the provincial government is not joining the competition category. He said that joining the parade is the province’s “humble contribution” to this year’s Sinulog. Costas said that Governor Hilario Davide III, Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, along with at least 200 provincial government employees, and employees of 13 local government units will join the float.