Cebuano Louie Jade Dayondon of Barangay Sawang Calero, Cebu City does a humorous take in Tiktok of the event where he and his family were greeted with police cars, law enforcers, and an armored vehicle on the Feast Day of Señor Sto. Niño, January 17, 2021 in their barangay. He too urged all Cebuanos to continue to follow health protocols so that everybody could go back to celebrating Sinulog in the near future. | via Morexette Marie Erram – screengrab from video of Louie Jade Dayondon #CDNDigital #CDNSinulog2021
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Louie Jade Dayondon and his family are set to celebrate the Feast of Señor Sto. Niño in the confines of their own home in Barangay Sawang Calero, Cebu City on Sunday, January 17.
But Louie Jade’s father woke him up quite earlier than usual as the Dayondon family was greeted with the kind of Sinulog they did not expect at all.
Louie Jade, 26, saw police cars with their sirens on and armored vehicles instead of floats, and uniformed personnel instead of performers on Sunday morning.
“Nabag-ohan gyud (We did not expect this),” Louie Jade told CDN Digital in an interview on Sunday.
To channel his surprise, he said he recorded the scene happening right outside their house and edited it using the popular video-editing and sharing app TikTok.
Louie Jade’s TikTok video soon generated thousands of views, particularly from Cebuanos like him who found the video ‘amusing’ since it featured the popular Sinulog Dance track as its background music.
“I hope this video serves a lesson to everyone that we still need to follow government protocols, avoid violations, and contracting the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019),” he added.
It can be recalled that the Cebu City government’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) has ordered for additional police officers and the assistance of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to monitor coastal villages such as Sawang Calero, Pasil, and Ermita since they would usually host mini-fiestas on Sinulog day.
All physical events for this year’s Sinulog Festival were cancelled due to mounting health concerns while its virtual counterparts were postponed, and possibly to be celebrated only during the 500th Anniversary of the arrival of Christianity and circumnavigation this April.
Since January 1, Cebu City’s number of active COVID-19 cases has steadily risen. As of January 16, it reached 570, which is way higher compared to the 87 recorded last December 2020.
Active cases refer to patients still infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The city has also reported more new confirmed cases of the infection than additional recoveries since 2021 started./dbs
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