Next month’s Sinulog observance will be crucial at least in terms of whether or not the Cebu City government can decongest Fuente Osmeña Circle/Rotunda where the center of the celebration is and move it farther away to the South Road Properties (SRP) and the Plaza Independencia, where most of the activities will be held.
Crucial to decongesting Fuente Osmeña, where the Sinulog parade route traditionally kicks off, is City Hall’s proposed ban on street parties that had been a boon to the many establishments doing business in the area, and the bane of every resident, commuter and motorist passing through there.
Last year and this year’s celebrations have been particularly excessive, with scores of partygoers being caught by police and some nightspots reportedly violating City Hall orders not to sell liquor and to turn down the volume of their boomboxes despite repeated warnings to comply or face closure.
The recent dialogue between City Hall and the owners of these nightspots should determine if it is at all possible to clear the traditional party zone of Fuente Osmeña and other nearby areas of these street parties and reduce, if not eliminate, the usually rowdy party scene that ensues afterward.
Last week’s dialogue showed that the nightspot owners are not too happy with parting with their huge profits in exchange for the liquor ban and cleaner, more orderly streets.
They even proposed that indoor restaurants and bars should be exempted from the ban and that a tax relief should be given to nightspots that will lose a major chunk of their profits once the liquor and street parties ban take effect from 6 a.m. on January 21 until January 22.
But what’s to stop those partying indoors from buying liquor and taking it outside where they can drink to their hearts’ content until they get drunk enough to either become rowdy or pass out in the middle of the streets, vulnerable to crooks and rapists?
The advance warning given to them by City Hall on the liquor ban should have given them ample time to avoid restocking their liquor inventory and incurring a loss.
It’s up to City Hall if they would consider granting a tax relief for these nightspots, but unless they present adequate evidence to show that they will incur heavy losses, then they could afford not to sell liquor during the ban.
Besides, they will be doing the public a service if they can help the city government get rid of the hooligans and the troublemakers who constitute the ugliest part of the Sinulog celebration.
By thinning out the crowd and redistributing them to designated party zones, the city government is setting order and reminding revelers and those who make money off them that they can still celebrate the occasion sensibly and with a sense of reverence to the reason for the celebration, namely the Sto. Niño.
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.
