Sinulog ‘generally peaceful’ despite heavy crowd, slow moving dance parade

Senior Superintendent Debold Sinas, Central Visayas police director, is surrounded by policemen  as he inspects the crowd control line along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City during the Sinulog grand parade on Sunday, January 20, 2019. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Chief Superintendent Debold Sinas, the director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that despite the slow movement of the Sinulog grand parade, the situation has been generally peaceful.

Sinas said that the police have been deployed to secure the Sinulog route three hours prior to the event but the start of the mardi gras did not start until around 9 a.m.

“We do not know why it started late but we were already prepared by that time,” said Sinas.

However, over a week before today’s grand parade, it has been repeatedly announced by the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) that the margi gras-like grand parade will begin at 9 a.m.

Sinas said that the street dancing noticeable slowed down when it began to rain. The heavy downpour started  at around 10 a.m. It turned into a slight drizzle by 1:30 p.m. The rain was spawned by Tropical Depression “Amang” which affected the Visayas and Mindanao since early on Sunday.

“Medyo mabagal ng konti ang parade. Karon nipaspas na, pero nihinay gyud atong ni ulan,” said Sinas.

Sinas also noted that many of the spectators insisted to cross the cordon line despite the being reminded of its prohibition.

“Tungod pud sa dako nga gap between the contingents, ang mga tawo manglabang gyud sila. Siguro mao na atong dapat iimprove,” he said.

However, aside from these cases, Sinas said that the cordon line was kept generally in place.

Sinas also said that the they are constantly monitoring the movement of the parade as they hoped to finish the entire grand parade around 5 or 6 p.m today. /elb