Sinulog Festival

Pit Señor once again to all of those who joined the Sinulog Grand Parade 2009. No doubt about it, the grand parade was another successful presentation mounted by the Cebu City government through the Sinulog Foundation Inc.

Congratulations to acting Mayor Mike Rama, executive director Ricky Ballesteros, Ana Conejero and everybody who in one way or the other made it a great success.  

I am also happy that our people are finally seeing some sort of cooperation between the city and the provincial governments when Gov. Gwen Garcia donated P2 million to the Sinulog Foundation and led the provincial contingents in showing the best of the province of Cebu in the grand parade.  

I think the Feast of the Sto. Niño was the best time for both governments to settle their differences and work together to help our part of the country to weather the financial storm that is expected to hit us Filipinos in the coming months.

I bet Cebuanos are happy with this latest development because united, many great things can happen. 

This year augurs well for Cebu. I have no doubt that Cebu will again lead the country in economic development and progress despite the expected economic slowdown. Many hope and continue to pray to the Señor Sto. Niño that the unity is genuine. Nothing can stand in the way to economic progress if Cebu is united. It is just hoped that our political leaders will follow suit and not attempt to sabotage the seeming unity witnessed during the Sinulog. 

It is said time and again that the Señor Sto. Niño does his own miracles for many Filipinos. Today we have seen the Baby Jesus working his miracle in healing wounds that may have afflicted our two local governments. Thank you, Señor Sto. Niño for hearing our pleas. 

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Much has to be said about this year’s Sinulog especially the religious procession last Saturday in honor of the Holy Child. I was told the crowd surpassed last year’s attendance of about 1.5 million people though some insist it must be more than the estimate given by the police. 

I have been watching the Sinulog over the years and observed that the Sto. Niño would always work his miracles. How? Not necessarily through healing of the sick though he does that, but through the conversion of many and the strengthening of the faith of many Catholics.

In other parts of the country and the world, there are complaints about empty churches and how the faithful are being challenged but in Cebu the reverse is happening. Some still criticize the Sinulog as being highly commercialized but we Cebuanos are very good in segregating the religious aspect of the celebration from the government-sponsored grand parade. We continue to ignore these criticisms because we know where we stand when it comes to our celebration. 

Apparently the Sinulog has not lost its magic and continues to attract more visitors. We have transformed the Sinulog from basically a city’s celebration into a worldwide celebration with many foreigners closely watching the celebration. Generally, the Sinulog grand parade was peaceful, thanks to the PNP, armed forces, ROTC and others for keeping the peace. This year I had the opportunity to walk the parade route from the grandstand to Gen. Maxilom Avenue. I was amazed by the discipline of the spectators. 

But when I went inside Mango Square, I saw young people drinking. The security guards were just observing them. But the image sent shivers down my spine. Later on, the boys were seen behaving wildly. 

Later in the evening, between 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., while there were still parade contingents on the road, the lines were broken and an unruly crowd squeezed in to have their pictures taken with the dancers. There were no more ROTC cadets to hold the security cordon. Well, those were two minor incidents I observed which I hope the authorities will address in the next Sinulog. 

By the way, I overheard some businessmen talking about the effects of the Sinulog on the Cebu economy. They were so happy about doing very well during the entire Sinulog week leading up to the parade. Around the city, there were street parties sponsored by enterprising young entrepreneurs offering different gimmicks to get people to flock to their joints.  

The night after the parade was virtually a no-car zone for uptown Cebu because of parties going on by the roadside. People were enjoying themselves, eating heartily and later in the night partying up to the wee hours of the day. 

All told, the Sinulog was a big event that combined the religious celebration with the cultural dimension. It is also proper to thank the Cebuanos for making the Sinulog an event worth remembering and coming back to.

Now that our long celebrations are done, we should brace for more challenges especially with the economy. It’s time to get back to serious work and implement strategies to protect our people, companies, labor and community from the bad effects of the economic slowdown. 

Now is the time for the private sector to work with the government in finding ways to cushion the impact of the global economic crisis.

Let us put a stop to debating about Charter change which is not a priority of the people. Let us demand that the government take the lead in steering the country out of the way of the damaging impact of global economic difficulties. 

Let’s ask government officials for a moratorium on graft and corruption. We need all the money in public coffers to help our people and country. If only we could put our heads together, and act with honesty just for the next few months, then I am hopeful that we can weather the next challenge.