Vice Mayor Michael Rama says Sinulog Festival 2021 will not be cancelled. | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Organizers of this year’s Sinulog Festival will not back down amid recommendations from police officials to cancel the event entirely.
Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama on Monday, January 4, said they had no intention to cancel the Sinulog Festival 2021.
This despite recent suggestions that the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) made to the Regional Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (RIATF) not to proceed with their planned festivities even if these would be held virtually.
“We wish that they will rethink this… And we have no plans to withdraw our preparations. We will continue with our preparations,” Rama told CDN Digital in a phone interview.
“Cancelling the Sinulog is like cancelling culture. It’s like cancelling history,” he added.
Read: PRO-7 thumbs down hosting of Sinulog 2021 Festival
PRO-7 also said there was no coordination done between organizers of the festival and the local police.
However, Rama, who was appointed by the city government to oversee all activities related to Sinulog, refused to comment on this development.
“I’ll be doing on what I ought to do with the authority given to me by the mayor (Edgardo Labella) also by the SFI (Sinulog Foundation Inc.),” he said.
The vice mayor said that they would be willing to present their preparations before the RIATF.
“They should give the execomm (executive committee of Sinulog Festival 2021) an audience, and we will be able to show and tell them that we will be holding an unconventional, and substantially virtual, Sinulog,” said Rama.
Read: 20 contingents sign up for Sinulog 2021 ritual showdown
The Sinulog Festival is an annual secular celebration in honor of Señor Sto. Niño that draws millions of attendees from local population and from abroad.
Police from PRO-7, however, expressed concern that even if the festivities would be done virtually for 2021, contingents expected to perform for the Ritual Showdown would be considered as “mass gathering”.
All events in line with Sinulog Festival 2021 will be held at the South Road Properties (SRP) instead at the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) where they are traditionally held. /dbs