Politicians told: Don’t use Sinulog to campaign

Workers are busy constructing the stage inside the Cebu City Sports Complex that will be used for the culminating dance presentations of all guests and participants to the Sinulog Festival 2019 grand parade on Jan. 20, 2019. / Photo taken on Jan. 7, 2019 by Dominic Ylagan

The Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI)  urged politicians, especially those running for  local and national positions in the May 2019 elections, to avoid campaigning during the Sinulog 2019 festivities.

Cebu City  Councilor Dave Tumulak, who chairs the  SFI’s executive committee, revealed that at least four senatorial candidates have expressed intention to join  the Sinulog Festival this year, which will culminate on January 20 with a  mardi gras-like grand parade that will hold its final staging at the Cebu City Sports  Complex.

Tumulak, however, refused to divulge the senatorial candidates’ names since their requests to participate in the festival are pending approval by SFI’s chairperson, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

“If they want to join, they will also have to pay the tickets for (a seat at) the grand stand (of the Cebu City Sports Complex) ,”  added Tumulak.

Ticket prices ranged from P1,000 to p3,000, depending on their seats’  location at the grand stand.

“We’re asking them to avoid initiating any gimmick related to the elections, and observe (the) solemnity of the Sinulog Grand Parade),” he added.

The Sinulog Festival, while it has evolved into a big business and commercial event in Cebu,  is still anchored on a Catholic celebration  to honor the revered Señor Sto. Niño (Holy Child), whose feast is held every third Sunday of January.

More than half of the about two million people who visited Cebu during the Sinulog Festival last year were Sto. Niño devotees who traveled from all over the country and from other parts of the world to pay homage to the Child Jesus on his feast day./elb