A policeman who hails from Cebu managed to celebrate Sinulog while at the same time fulfilling his duty to help secure the Pope at the Rizal Park in Manila.
About an hour or two before the Pope’s arrival, members of the Sandiego Dance Co. were called onstage at the Quirino Grandstand to demonstrate how to dance the Sinulog. Val Sandiego patiently demonstrated the steps while holding an image of the Sto. Niño. His lessons were beamed on wide LCD screens spread around the Rizal Park.
Unknown to Sandiego, a policeman from Camp Crame who was among those assigned to secure the area was suddenly “drafted” to help him out.
As the Sandiego dancers twirled onstage in their colorful costumes, a policeman hollered at one of his colleagues along Padre Burgos, the road leading to the Quirino Grandstand. “Di ba taga Cebu ka? Sayaw ka nga ng ganyan. (Aren’t you from Cebu? Can you dance that?”
The policeman, who was wearing a flimsy plastic raincoat over his uniform, gamely went near the center island and started doing the two steps forward, one step backwards routine as the crowd behind the concrete barrier cheered him on.
A female police officer then joined him, waving her arms in the air as an elderly woman carrying a 2-foot-tall image of the Infant Jesus made her “Niño” dance.