Friday, January 19, 2007 Tomas deplores Sinulog defects By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
SADDENED by the drop in the number of out-of-town contingents in this year’s Sinulog, Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants Cebu’s festival repackaged to give more exposure to performers from other provinces.
Osmeña pointed out the defects in the preparation for the Sinulog, including the lack of funding for contingents from outside Cebu.
He admitted he is partly at fault since he was busy with the Southeast Asian summit preparations. But he said the Sinulog Foundation Inc. should have taken charge of some innovations in the grand parade.
From 10 out-of-town contingents last year, only six registered to compete in this Sunday’s grand parade. A contingent from Surigao City will also join, but only as guest performers.
“There are lots of defects here... The organizers are looking inward and are only thinking about themselves, they have to shape up. These can all be corrected but I have no more time to do all these, it has to be the organizers and the vice mayor,” he told reporters yesterday.
In a phone interview yesterday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama, Sinulog Foundation Inc. chairman, said the organizers did their best in inviting the out-of-town contingents to join.
Apart from sending them invitations, Sinulog Executive Director Ricky Ballesteros and Project Director Dolly Suzara also attended the festivals in other provinces to personally invite its officials to join the Sinulog.
“We already anticipated that there will be fewer contingents because it’s an election year, officials are very careful in spending government funds. And there were also calamities and typhoons that affected some of these provinces,” Rama said.
Contingents from other provinces spend at least P500,000 to come to Cebu to perform during the Sinulog, with some spending up to P1 million.
Osmeña said promotional materials featuring out-of-town contingents and nationwide coverage of the parade should be improved.
Offering the out-of-town groups exposure here and abroad will encourage them to join the festival every year, the mayor said.
“We’re good at organizing but we have to have a strong reorientation in showcasing the different towns in the country through the Sinulog. We have to refocus and repackage it. We have to realize that if we don’t get better, we’ll be sliding backwards,” he said.
Rama, in a separate interview, commented: “Exposure for the contingents is not going to be that easy. Dako kaayo ang kwarta nga kinahanglan ana (That will take a lot of money)... If we want them to come, we could double the P8 million budget the City Government approved for the Sinulog, so we can subsidize them.”
After last year’s Sinulog, the mayor commissioned a professional photographer to take photos of the lead dancers of all out-of-town contingents.
The photos were used in promotional posters and calendars, and were also featured in Mabuhay, the in-flight magazine of Philippine Airlines.
But for the mayor, this is not enough.
Next year, Osmeña said, he will work to repackage the Sinulog and is looking at the possibility of transferring the parade to the South Road Properties.
