THE celebration of Sinulog 2021 will push through if things get back to normal, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella said.
“We will push through it, the Sinulog 2021,” said Labella in an interview on Sunday, August 30, 2020.
Labella wants Vice Mayor Michael Rama, together with the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), to handle the activities for the Sinulog celebration next year.
Labella said Rama had handled the Sinulog activities for 14 years as the SFI chairman.
"I have the confidence of Vice Mayor Michael Rama to handle the Sinulog because, for several years of successful celebrations, I have decided to give the full authority and management to him together with the Sinulog Foundation for the preparation of 2021 Sinulog festivities,” said Labella.
Rama left his post as SFI chairman in October 2019, two months after the Sinulog Governing Board (SGB) was created.
SunStar Cebu tried to get Rama’s comment but to no avail.
In 2021, aside from the 500th year celebration for the Philippines’ Christianity, Cebu will also celebrate the 500th commemoration of the arrival of the image of Sto. Niño de Cebu.
SFI executive director Elmer “Jojo” Labella, who is the younger brother of Mayor Labella, said all the preparations and plans the SFI will be making will be based on the rules to be released by the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
He said the SFI executive committee will be meeting next week to start its discussion for the Sinulog next year.
“It’s already September, it’s high time that preparation should be made, but I think we have to prepare some alternatives, plan A, plan B, plan C,” said the younger Labella.
He said they will still have to observe what would be the final ruling of the IATF by that time, and only then they will start conceptualizing what can be done in the celebration next year.
If the city would be under the new normal by January, the protocols under the new normal will be followed, assured the younger Labella.
He added if the city would be placed under general community quarantine (GCQ) or modified GCQ, social distancing and health protocols will be followed.
There will also be a limited number of audience to avoid creating crowd, he said.
The SFI will also have to meet with the choreographers for the possible guidelines, he said.
“Bottomline is we have to based on the health protocols,” said Elmer Labella. (JJL)