CEBU City Mayor Edgardo Labella has asked the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) to limit the number of contingents in the Sinulog Grand Parade on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2020, so the program would end early.
He wants to limit the participants to only 30 contingents.
On Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, the SFI reported that 26 contingents have already registered for the annual event.
Seven contingents come from outside of Cebu—Tangub City, Misamis Occidental (Sinanduloy Cultural Troupe), La Castellana in Negros Occidental, Sta. Catalina in Negros Oriental, Bacolod City and San Carlos City in Negros Occidental, Bohol and Borongan City in Eastern Samar.
Six local government units (LGUs) in Cebu will be participating in the Sinulog sa Lalawigan. They are the cities of Carcar, Talisay, Lapu-Lapu, Bogo and Toledo, and the municipality of Ginatilan.
Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia will dance in the grand parade with the LGU of Alcoy, a guest contingent that will showcase its Siloy Festival.
The Cebu City barangays that will join in the grand parade include Guadalupe, Basak San Nicolas, Labangon, Cambinocot, Budlaan, San Nicolas Proper, Mabolo, Sapangdaku and Inayawan.
SFI executive director Elmer “Jojo” Labella also revealed that a bigger Korean contingent will participate for the second time as guest in the Sinulog Grand Parade.
Elmer, Labella’s brother, agreed to limit the number of participants so the performances would be finished earlier than 7 p.m.
The number of Sinulog sa Lalawigan participants dropped as most of the LGUs had joined the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo hosted by the Cebu Provincial Government in 2019, said Elmer.
He said the performances of the participating towns are handled by famous choreographers in Cebu.
Among the out-of-town participants, Elmer said the Dumaguete City contingent backed out, but he did not state the reason.
Elmer said the registration for the Sinulog Grand Parade is still open, but he is expecting that the 26 contingents are the final performers for the grand parade. (JJL, ANV)