PRAYER AND DANCE

The Land of Beauty and Bounty of Lanao del Norte, whose dancers
included those of Muslim faith, wins the free interpretation category in a dance that showcases unity between Christians and Muslims. (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON).

1.5M devotees, revelers show up for the country’s biggest feast

The week-long Sinulog Festival culminated yesterday with a plea for unity among Filipinos from Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and dances that did not only venerate the Santo Niño but showcase a common desire for peaceful co-existence among various faiths.

Speaking before thousands of people who attended the 6 a.m. pontifical Mass to celebrate the feast of the Child Jesus at the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño’s Pilgrim Center on Sunday, Palma called for tolerance and collaboration.

“Let us stop competing against each other but rather appreciate each one as God’s children,” he said in his homily. “Let us collaborate with each other so as to find progress and peace.”

“Be it problem on traffic, water, or garbage, we should be united and put our service for the good of society and for the glory of God,” said Palma.

The Sto. Niño, he said, is the source of communion and holds all creation together.

Palma concelebrated the Mass with Bishops Christian Noel and Antonio Palang; Fr. Andres Rivera Jr., the prior provincial of the Province of Santo Niño de Cebu-Philippines; Fr. Pacifico Nohara Jr., the Basilica rector; and around 60 religious and diocesan priests.

The third Sunday of January is celebrated as the Feast of the Sto. Niño in the Philippines, a special privilege given to the country by the Holy See due to the Filipinos’ special and unique devotion to the Christ Child.

More popularly known as the Sinulog Festival, the feast also showcased a grand parade which saw out-of-town contingents — Tangub City and Lanao del Norte — bagging the top prizes in the Sinulog-based and Free Interpretation categories, respectively.

With a storyline of uniting Muslims and Christians represented by the Dimaporo, a royal Maranao clan, and the Christian Quibranza families through the “kanduri” or the grand call for celebration by Maranaos, the Lanao del Norte contingent won the hearts of the judges and the spectators alike.

“Lanao had a very well thought-out production. It was a total production including a unique storyline about peacemaking between Christians and Muslims . . .,” Nestor Jardin, chairman of the board of judges for the free interpretation category, told reporters shortly after the public announcement of winners.

A little girl grabs a hand while pointing toward the Sinulog dancers (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

Fewer but peaceful crowd

The about 1.5 million people who watched the Sinulog grand parade were just half of the estimated P3 million who were in Cebu for last year’s Sinulog.

The shutting down of mobile phone services between Saturday and Sunday and stringent security measures contributed to fewer crowd but a more peaceful Sinulog celebration, noted Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7).

Except for a woman who was injured after a transformer along Osmeña Boulevard exploded and some petty crimes like pickpockets, no major untoward incidents occurred.

“The celebration was generally peaceful,” Taliño said.

Taliño said the prohibition of parties and drinking along the Sinulog route also contributed to a peaceful grand parade.

The decision of the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) to shorten the parade route also turned out to be effective in maintaining peace and order, Taliño added.

Crowded Basilica

At the Basilica, about 5,000 devotees attended each of the 10 Masses held from dawn to evening yesterday, packing the church’s courtyard and nearby streets.

Devotees waved their hands in the air in unison as they sang “Bato-Balani sa Gugma (Magnet of Love),” an ancient Cebuano hymn in honor of the Sto. Niño, during the offertory.

Despite repeated warnings, several devotees still brought and released balloons with rolled pieces of paper containing prayer petitions. The Augustinian fathers who run the Basilica earlier appealed to devotees to stop using balloons, which can end up in the sea and kill fishes that digest them.

The theme for this year’s feast — “Santo Niño: Source of Communion, Protector of Creation” — is patterned after the pastoral thrust of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on the Year of the Parish, and Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si on the care of the environment.

All throughout the week-long feast, devotees lined up to kiss and venerate the original image of the Sto. Niño de Cebu housed inside a bullet-proof glass case inside the centuries-old church.

The image was given as baptismal gift by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Cebu’s Queen Juana in 1521.

“People come to the Basilica to pray for specific intentions. But it is also nice to come back to thank the Santo Niño for the blessings we received,” Palma said.

Mariners usher a crowd in Osmeña Juana Street during Sinulog (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO).

Successful

Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director Senior Supt. Joel Doria said their security plan “worked out very well” and commended the policemen, soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other peacekeeping volunteers for ensuring that the celebration began and ended peacefully.

“The security plans we implemented can be used as template in the next Sinulog celebrations. But of course, it is subject to the decision of authorities,” he added.

The police also exercised “maximum tolerance” in handling the rowdy crowd that started to fill the streets along Juana Osmeña Street.

Senior Insp. Porferio Gabuya, sector head of the area covering Escario and J. Osmeña Streets up to the National Bookstore along General Maxilom Ave., said the area is a notorious Sinulog street party junction where people, most of them young adults, can be seen moving along the Sinulog crowd, chanting “Pit Senyor” and even resorting to paint-smearing antics.

Gabuya said they confiscated alcoholic drinks brought by revelers on the streets, particularly those on Juana Osmeña St., with the police ending up with four sacks of liquor and beer bottles even before nightfall.

Some netizens took to Facebook and Twitter to air their sentiments over the holding of street parties during Sinulog.
“Unsay labot sa paghugaw2 sa senina sa paghimaya sa balaang bata? (What’s getting your clothes dirty have to do with celebrating and honoring the Holy Child)?” posted Troy James in the Cebu Daily News Facebook page.

Most orderly

Tangub City Mayor Philip Tan, interviewed shortly after their contingent, the Sinanduloy Cultural Troupe, was announced champion in the Sinulog-based category, said that yesterday’s more orderly parade was their best experience on the streets in their 20 years of joining the Sinulog dance parade.

“Let me congratulate the city mayor (of Cebu) for having a very peaceful Sinulog parade. For the first time, we were able to dance on the street with enough space to move around,” Tan said partly in Cebuano.

Tan said his city’s 100-man dancing contingent was particularly happy to be able to showcase their dance of venerating the Santo Niño on the street and not only in the final judging stage at the Cebu City Sports Center.

In previous years, the streets were half-filled with uncontrolled and often drunk crowd by around 4 p.m., leaving them no room to perform.

Tangub City has announced this year was their farewell participation in the dance parade, but a smaller troupe will be returning to Cebu for the Sinulog Festival next year for shows and exhibits.

‘We did it’

Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) executive director Ricky Ballesteros said he was happy that they were able to successfully mount a shorter dance parade without sacrificing audience satisfaction and for fulfilling their promise to announce the winners earlier than in the previous years.

Ballesteros said they would have wanted wider publicity that was compromised by the shutting down of mobile signals, but noted that the decision had a positive impact on security.

“As you know, Sinulog is all about promotions and publicity, selfies, groufies and social media. But at least we don’t compromise safety,” he added.