| CDND File Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City will need at least P40 million to fund activities for next year’s Sinulog festival and the celebration of the 500 years of Christianity in the country.
Vice Mayor Michael Rama, who heads the city’s preparations, said that he would be presenting his budget request to Mayor Edgardo Labella and members of the City Council soon.
Rama said that the budget requirement for next year’s activities is P5 million more than the P35 million that was allocated for Sinulog 2020.
He said that the increase was necessary because of the need to also prepare for various Quincentennial activities that would be held here.
“There is already a budget allocated for the city-sponsored activities. Whatever the amount needed for Sinulog, we will take it from there,” Rama said.
Organizers have already announced the need to implement some changes in the Sinulog 2021 celebration to prevent the gathering of a huge crowd in the city.
The Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) had said that all of the major activities would now be online.
READ: Sinulog 2021 Grand Showdown to go virtual
Rama, who is a member of SFI, said that even with the online activities, the Cebu City government would still need to allocate P40 million for next year’s celebration because of the need to also fund Quincentennial activities
“The P40 million will already fund the pre-Sinulog activities, the Sinulog, and of course, we have the Quincentennial celebrations. That is an important part of our 2021 activities,” he said.
Mayor Edgardo Labella, for his part, said he was prepared to grant Rama’s P40 million budget request.
The mayor has proposed the inclusion of a P80 million allocation in the city’s 2021 budget to fund city-sponsored activities including the Sinulog Festival.
As soon as he would receive Rama’s budget request, he will endorse this to the City Council’s budget committee for review and approval, Labella said. / dcb