A contingent performs in 2019 Sinulog Grand Parade. |CDN Digital file photo — Tonee Despojo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) is pushing for a signal shutdown for the Sinulog 2020, similar to the past three Sinulog festivals for the safety of the public.
Police Colonel Geovanie Maines, the acting chief of the CCPO, said the signal shutdown had been proven effective in the Sinulog 2017, 2018, and 2019, to prevent any threats to the expected crowd of thousands that would visit Cebu on festival days.
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Maines said he suggested the signal shutdown to the Sinulog Foundation Incorporated (SFI) and the Cebu City government during their meeting on Thursday, November 21, 2019.
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He said this would help secure the public for the Solemn Procession and the Grand Mardi Gras parade on January 18 and 19, 2020.
“Very important is the request for the signal shutdown. Yun ang parang naisuggest ko rin. (It is what I suggested),” said Maines.
At least 1,672 personnel will be needed in Cebu City for the series of activities and they are already coordinating with the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) for augmentation of forces.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Councilor David Tumulak, the chairman of the executive committee of the SFI, said that the city would only allow concerts to be held inside malls.
He said that malls had their own security that would help ensure the safety of concert-goers, relieving the city’s police of the responsibility to keep the public inside the malls safe.
Tumulak also encouraged the concert-organizers to prefer the surrounding cities of Talisay, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu for their venues of the concerts so that the crowd would be divided into the various social events.
“Madecongest ang mga tawo dinhi sa Cebu City, nya mahataga’g higayon ang ubang syudad nga makacelebrate pud og Sinulog kay ang Sinulog para sa tibuok Cebu. (Cebu City will be decongested and the other cities will have a chance to celeberate Sinulog because this festival is for the entire Cebu),” said Tumulak.
Tumulak said the city and the SFI were in close coordination with the police for the security of the public during the festival. /dbs