Sinulog still grandest festival in PH

The float of International Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)

Cebu’s Sinulog Festival remains to be the grandest festival in the country.

These were the words of the judges of this year’s Sinulog Grand Parade who witnessed and lauded several changes made in the cultural activity.

“Every year, there are innovations. The major innovation this year is it’s not anymore carousel type, there are only five stations. But Sinulog is still the grandest
festival in the Philippines. I’m always saying this because not only on the aspect of value for arts but also on management and participation of local government,” said Lordinio Vergara, director of the physical education, health, recreation, dance and sports division of the Philippine Normal University.

This was his eleventh year as a judge of Sinulog.

People are also very participative of the festival due to the fact that it is strongly tied to religious activities of the Fiesta Señor. He noted that on the streets, people are very happy to see the contingents performing, they also dance together with them even while holding the image of Sr. Sto. Niño.

Vergara, who was the chairman of the board of judges for the street dancing category, said that since judges every year are more or less the same, choreographers are pressured not to recycle routines and steps or copy those made by other contingents in previous years.

For his part, Nestor Jardin, former president of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), said the Sinulog Festival keeps on getting better every passing year.

“It has grown in many ways artistically because people always expect. You can’t go down, and somehow Sinulog has maintained that level. Some aspects have gone down, but artistically, the whole festival has improved in terms of festival organization and management of all aspects,” he told reporters.

“Sinulog is something that all other festivals should look up to,” added Jardin, who was the chairman of the board of judges for the Free Interpretation (FI) category.

Asked what he would suggest to choreographers for their presentations next year, Jardin said they should really take time to come up with a good concept.

Sinulog grand Mardi Gras. Clockwise: Gerhicka Carcueva leads other dancers of Tribu Ginatilan as they perform along Mango Avenue, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)

Harnessing creative juices to produce better concepts will definitely boost their chances of winning, he said.

“They should do more research and more thinking before they do the choreography. There has to be a period of gestation. Once you have that quite strong, all other aspects will come naturally in support of the message being given,” he said.

He specifically cited as an example the Land of Beauty and Bounty contingent of the Province of Lanao del Norte, which won the FI category for the second straight year.
They depicted in their performance the unity of Christian and Muslims in the province through an interfaith wedding.

With the intercession of Sr. Sto. Niño, the two religious factions lived harmoniously. This, according to Jardin, evidently shows that the group spent some time to fully understand their overall concept.

He also noted that the audience of the Sinulog has become more and more critical and discerning on participating contingents which can be attributed to how the festival has developed through the years.

And not just for the cultural aspect, Jardin said festivals like the Sinulog has contributed significantly on the economic aspect.

When he was president of the CCP, Jardin said they commissioned a group to study the creative industry in the Philippines. As a case study, they used the Sinulog Festival.

Jardin said the study found out that in order to put up all the activities of the Sinulog, the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), the local, provincial and national government and the private sector spent up to P250 million. But it was found out that the return of investment in direct purchases due to these activities amounted to a whopping P5.5 billion plus multiplier effects, it could reach twice this amount or P11 billion as economic benefits to Cebu City.

“We were really glad to hear that because we found that arts and culture can also contribute to the economy of our country and not just on national identity and development of national cultural consciousness,” Jardin said.