Trash-filled festival

The mammoth crowd that attended the Sinulog Grand Parade and Mardi Gras including devotees who flocked to the Basilica del Santo Niño last Sunday was estimated at two million.

That is one million more compared to last year’s figures making the religious feast in honor of the Santo Niño the leading and foremost cultural event of the country.

The revelry not only drew visitors to shop, enjoy the scenery and local cuisine but also check out other tourist attractions close to the city. I think no other cultural feast across the country’s 7,000 islands generates more business activities than the Sinulog.

Hotels, restaurants, airline companies, telcos, land-based and sea-based transport firms, food companies, garment producers not to mention businesses in the underground economy like vendors of street food, costume accessories, etc., have all cashed in on the Sinulog.

An upside to the feast is the pro-active support of the local government units, national government agencies, PNP and the military as well as private companies and volunteer groups in serving to prepare for difficult situations like crowd control, traffic congestion and security threats.

A major boost to this year’s peaceful celebration is Cebu City Mayor Tommy Osmena’s directive to stop all street parties.

Many Sinulog street parties in previous years triggered unruly behavior and violence among party goers who became drunk.

There were even rumors that illegal drugs were traded in this public merrymaking.

Somebody commented that the absence of street parties made this year’s festival a bit “mingaw” (dreary), but if this is the only price we need to pay for an orderly celebration so be it.

The one major concern that the city has yet to effectively address each year in relation to the Sinulog festivities is in the way people throw away trash without care resulting to tons of uncollected garbage along streets, parks and even around the Basilica del Santo Niño.

The amount of garbage generated by the two-week celebration which drew two million people at its peak is unimaginable.

To be fair, the Cebu City government has come up with a pro-active campaign called Basura Watch 2018 through the office of the Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources.

The program called for the setting up of eco-stations in different parts of the city, with four eco-stations around Plaza Independencia and two near the Basilica del Santo Niño and along the Sinulog carousel routes.

The campaign which gained the support of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry likewise called for public and private businesses, schools and communities to help set up their own eco-waste stations where segregated trash can be collected.

Moreover, people were also encouraged to collect their own trash and bring them home so as to reduce litter around the city.

I understand the campaign for waste segregation disposal is aimed to highlight civic responsibility in the proper disposal of garbage especially during the Sinulog festivities when hundreds and thousands of tourists join the celebration.

These are all positive steps but people don’t seem to mind. If this attitude continues, we could lose the outstanding credibility of Sinulog and gain for it the tag as the trash-filled festival of the world.

Last Sunday, I joined thousands of devotees outside the Basilica hear Mass being celebrated inside the Pilgrim Center.

It was already past 10 a.m. and I can see fresh litter of food packs, mineral water, soda cans, candy and biscuit wrappers, etc. around the area near a commercial bank building.

Parents who brought along their children were buying food from a nearby eatery even if the Mass was still going on. Food wrappers were just being thrown around without care.

The situation in the Plaza Independencia was similar. I saw one eco-station close to the main street but tons of trash littered the public park.