THE Apas National High School will not be joining this year’s Sinulog Grand Parade.
Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman said part of the reason the school decided not to participate was the memorandum issued by the Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division last October that barred public schools from joining the Sinulog sa Kabataan and other barangay festivals.
Scrapped
“Of course, the school can’t join the Sinulog without the support of the barangay but we were apprehensive in extending our support because we were informed that they (the school) would not be allowed to join any festival,” Ayuman told Sun.Star Cebu.
Although Mayor Tomas Osmeña canceled the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan this year, the Sinulog Foundation Inc. replaced it with the Sinulog sa Barangay.
The first Sinulog sa Barangay will be held today with nine Cebu City barangays joining.
Public elementary and secondary schools in the city used to compete in the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan, but the mayor didn’t want to disrupt the students’ classes.
Too late
Ayuman said they would have wanted to join the Sinulog sa Barangay with students of the Apas National High School as dancers.
“When the barangay and the school finally decided that we would join, it was too late because it was already December,” he said.
From 2008 to 2012, the Apas National High School placed second in the annual cultural dance competition.
It bagged the grand prize in 2013, and placed second in 2014. It once became champion in 2015 before placing second last year.
“Maybe next year we can join again because we always really want to join the Sinulog,” Ayuman said.