Front acts
-A A +ASunday, January 20, 2013
AS IN yesteryears, I was one of three judges for this year’s Sinulog contests for on-site decors and visual merchandising. I missed the presence, though, of that charming lady architect Mary Rose Villacastin-Maghuyop who got assigned to another category.
This time around marks my third decade as judge.
Some 15 years after, I asked Dolly Suzara, project director of Sinulog Foundation, if I could quit the judges’ panel. She simply laughed and said, “Adto pananghid ni Sto. Niño (Ask the Sto. Niño’s approval).”
Of course, I didn’t dare. So Dolly and I agreed to transfer me to other categories, two of the front acts--Visual Merchandising and On-Site Décor--and that’s where I’ve been. The beauty is that I make the rounds two days before the Sinulog Festival’s big day itself. Although the crowd is thickening on those days, they and the streets are still manageable.
So, last Friday when my husband good-naturedly offered to drive me to the various contestants’ locations, it was then we realized new entries. The Gaisano Capital brought us to Tisa, while Gaisano Mactan brought us to the farthest contestant so far.
Some entries like Manros Plaza made comeback appearances. Sadly missed, though, were winners of yesteryears who could’ve rated high like the University of San Carlos along P. del Rosario St., PLDT and Land Bank along Osmeña Blvd. and Penshoppe by the Fuente Osmeña.
Definitely worth braving the crowd and the maddening throng of giggling girls was the entry of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Giant hands served as the pedestal to offer the world in veneration of the Holy Child as San Pedro Calungsod danced in worship. The sight was awesome and inspiring.
Had it been accessible, many a passerby would’ve captured that moment for life.
Like the many who posed by the very accessible and strategically located entry of St. Cecilia’s College. Taking on for theme the beauty of the underwater, it showed mock-ups of dolphins, corals, jellyfishes, sea anemones and other sea creatures in a riot of colors.
Next year, if St. Cecilia’s College presents an entry, it should use a younger-looking, child-faced and better-proportioned Sto. Niño.
Unless one crosses the street to Fooda Supermart along Gen. Maxilom Ave., he/she is likely to overlook its entry, especially when the lights are out. But good effort was undeniably there, with the Sto. Niño inside a pagoda-inspired temple on an improvised stage covered with glittered-up amakan material. This was definitely Fooda’s best entry in all its years of contest participation.
Also using native materials was the Gaisano Capital in Tisa entry. On top of a huge globe was the Sto. Niño, with San Pedro Calungsod at his foot.
Another crowd drawer was Elizabeth Mall’s entry along Leon Kilat St. Breaking away from its Sinulog-based entries of yesteryears, this year’s went sci-fi, with aliens stepping out of their spaceship and dancing the Gangnam craze.
While novel, the theme was literally out of this world.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 21, 2013.
Opinion
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