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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Editorial: Just another post-mortem
HERE are a few points that Sinulog organizers can incorporate in their own evaluation of Sunday’s big event in order to improve next year’s show.
Organizers proclaiming the year’s Sinulog Grand Parade as “most successful” is actually as predictable as critics coming up with their own assessments of the activity.
Nevertheless, here are a few points that Sinulog organizers can incorporate in their own evaluation of Sunday’s big event in order to improve next year’s show.
l Crowd control. While there is a little improvement, overall we’re back to the same assessment. It’s really difficult to control thousands of people lining the streets. It’s even difficult to control the crowd at the Cebu City Sports Center, which is smaller.
So when will the organizers change their paradigm about crowd control (use of people police and police trainees, barangay tanods, etc.)? When will they invest in moveable iron railings to control the crowd? Or are they listening?
l Participation. With the introduction of the puppet category and the entry of more contingents for the Sinulog-based and free interpretation competitions, the number of participants swelled to 130 this year from just 80 last year.
Success? Not totally, if you are a believer in quality over quantity. That number could have stood some pruning—especially of low quality dance routines and mediocre floats, higantes and puppets. (Like what is the Akhro float doing there?)
Pruning will also make for a shorter program (a whole day affair is taxing).
l Presentation. Two points should be noted here, the presentation in the streets and the one at the sports center.
In the streets, the ritual was cancelled to speed up the flow of the participants, but this resulted in a dull presentation. Ways must be found to solve the problem.
The program at the sports center was, as usual, colorful and festive. But the presence of Parañaque City made the contrast between the ill funded and the well-funded contingents very apparent. Can’t the organizers even out this difference by adjusting the criteria for judging?
By the way, cheers to the organizers and the sponsors of the fireworks display. It was the best in years but it also cost the City Government
l Safety. This year’s celebration saw more dancers, all of them young ones, going through the worst. Accidents marred the earlier Sinulog sa Kabataan and last Sunday, the foot of some members of the Badian contingent got scorched by the hot floor of the stage.
This means organizers must set up a separate committee to lay down guidelines for the presentations, with the safety and welfare of the participants in mind. They should also ensure the implementation of these guidelines.
l Security. That no major untoward incidents happened during last Sunday’s activity showed how well the police and auxiliary groups like the barangay tanods and criminology students attended to the matter of keeping the peace. At the sports center, sniffing dogs were also doing their thing.
This is a continuing concern, however. Note that days before the fiesta’s big event, robbers did their thing with impunity, even with the killing of two suspects. Thus, there is no lowering of the guard on this one.
(January 21, 2003 issue)
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