Huge crowd overwhelms city police, volunteers

Crowd control was far from perfect during the Sinulog Grand Parade, as the number of spectators rose and spilled over the carousel route, barangay Tinago chairman Joel Garganera said yesterday.

“We managed the crowd in the morning but at 2:30 p.m., they grew in number so we were overwhelmed. Some people who crossed the (pedestrian crossing zones) spilled over to the carousel route since they cannot head to the provided exit due to lack of space,” said Garganera, who headed the crowd control committee in this year’s Sinulog.

About 26 pedestrian zones were designated by the city to enable people to cross the carousel route without disturbing the flow of the contingents in the Sinulog Grand Parade.

These zones are located in 24 chokepoints along the six-kilometer carousel route and were identified by arc-like wooden signs bearing “Entrance” and “Exit” markings. Each zone is manned by barangay officials.

Garganera said some chokepoints like the right side of Fuente Osmeña Circle, Mango Avenue and P. del Rosario near Landbank got congested while those in  Carreta and Gorordo Avenue went smoothly.

Festive
“At 4 p.m., the crowd was already unmanageable along Mango Avenue where house music was already blaring near the carousel route and people just wanted to be festive and dance,” he said.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama even inspected the rotunda and Gen. Maxilom Avenue on board a motorcycle, telling people crossing the carousel route to back off to give more room for the dancers.

“Though some of the zones became ineffective, I would like to commend the officers who served as human barricades since they never lost their temper despite the heat,” Rama said.

Garganera said they have to make adjustments if they were to use the same pedestrian zone scheme in next year’s Sinulog.
Senior Supt. Conrad Capa, acting Cebu City police chief, also said police personnel should be doubled to better handle crowd control.

Lanes
Capa said the more than 2,000 police officers were not enough to rein in 2.5 million revelers. Despite this, he said there were no major crimes reported to their office.

“Last night, there were too many people not only in one place”, Capa said.

He said some policemen were assigned to Palo, Leyte for Pope Francis’ visit last Saturday.

In a press conference yesterday, Capa said pedestrian lanes in major intersections were not used by commuters.

Based on records of the Cebu City police’s Police Community Relation (PCR), 18 missing children aged three to nine years old were reunited with their families with the help of the police.