In this January 2020 photo, Lumad Basakanon of Cebu City wins in the Free Interpretation category of the Sinulog 2020 grand parade and ritual showdown.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — There are no prominent personalities who confirmed their visit for the Sinulog festival 2023 yet.
Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), confirmed this adding that they were still expecting several prominent individuals to join and witness the comeback of the Sinulog festival this year.
That is why their security preparations remain intact in this case.
“Sa pagkakaron, wala pa mi namonitor, although naay mga VIPs nga galing sa Manila pero wala pay confirmation. Pero expected gyud na nga naay VIPs or prominent personalities nga muattend sa Sinulog 2023,” Dalogdog said.
(For now, we still had not monitored (coming VIPs), although there are VIPs from Manila but there are still no confirmations. But there are VIPs or prominent personalities who are expected to attend the Sinulog 2023.)
To recall, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama extended an invitation to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last June 2022 to attend the Sinulog festival this January 15, 2023. But there was no commitment from Marcos yet.
READ: Rama invites BBM to Sinulog 2023
Signal Jamming
Dalogdog added that they had also to finalize if there would be signal jamming during the Sinulog grand parade. Up to this time, Dalogdog said that they did not receive response yet from the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) about the request for the signal jamming.
Police Brigadier General Jerry Bearis, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), was the one who sent the request to the NTC.
Despite this, Dalogdog said that they continued to finalize preparations whether or not to do signal jamming since some local government officials had expressed not to pursue the signal shutdown for this activity.
At least 3,000 security personnel were deployed to secure all the Sinulog and Fiesta Señor activities this year.
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