Cebu City Hall may have the best intentions; but it is really up to the businesses within the Mango Square, Fuente Osmeña and other areas located along the parade route if they will abide with the order not to sell liquor and to decline holding street parties on the eve of Sinulog and on the day itself.
One of the key provisions in the order was the ban on the sale of liquor from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sinulog Day, which is the third Sunday of January. Granting that these businesses will mostly or even fully comply with the order, then what about after 10 p.m.?
It’s unrealistic to expect Cebu City residents and visitors to fully comply with Cebu City Hall’s order not to sell liquor and hold street parties along the Sinulog parade route especially along the Fuente Osmeña, Mango Square and General Maxilom areas where the concentration of revelers is largest and noisiest.
Short of imposing martial law rule in these areas, one can expect a large number of spectators and revelers to still remain while vendors will still sell their wares along the streets, cramping whatever road space is available to city residents heading home along these routes.
Cebu City Councilor and Deputy Mayor for police Dave Tumulak will have something to prove with the enforcement of the “no liquor, no party zone” in the Sinulog parade route, but for the sake of those who support the order, let us lend our support to achieve this objective.
To better achieve their objective to clear out the parade areas, the city government designated alternative venues like the South Road Properties (SRP), but we hope the visitors will be adequately informed about these changes so they won’t add to the number of revelers who are still expected to whoop it up along Fuente Osmeña and Mango Square.
Another concern is the proposal to impose a cell phone signal ban for the duration of the Sinulog grand parade, which has been done in this year’s Sinulog with minimal objections from the public due to the terror threat.
The cell phone signal ban doesn’t compromise the police’s capability to communicate effectively since they can still use old radio units to coordinate among themselves and cell phone signals are still available within hospitals located at the parade route. Fortunately for the stakeholders, there’s still a good two months away to deliberate on all these plans for the Sinulog.
On a side note, wouldn’t it be instructive to require those revelers who cause a ruckus and stir up trouble to help clean up the garbage they and others left behind on the streets for the cleaners to pick up?
That way, they would have a better appreciation of the inconvenience and the discomfort they caused on those who would rather appreciate a simple and no-frills celebration of Sinulog than party hard and wild on the streets.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
