BARANGAY captains will be facing complaints before the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) should they allow their constituents to gather in public to celebrate the feast in honor of Sto. Niño.
Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera, deputy chief implementer of the City Emergency Operations Center (EOC), told SunStar Cebu that the DILG will be making a formal announcement banning any form of gathering or holding of Sinulog dance in relation to the celebration within this week.
“The DILG will make a formal announcement. Any form of gathering, dancing. We’ll take it against the barangay captain and barangay officials. And we will file the necessary complaints,” he said.
Procession within barangay will also be prohibited, Garganera said.
The councilor said barangay captains must be held accountable if they do not act on breaches of public health protocols.
A motorcade of the image of the Sto. Niño will be held on Jan. 15, eve of the Fiesta Señor. During the event, Garganera said the dancing of Sinulog along the motorcade route is also discouraged. The solemn procession had been ditched because of the rising Covid-19 cases in Cebu City.
Fiesta Señor is celebrated every third Sunday of January. For this year, it falls on Jan. 16.
Several sitios and barangays in Cebu City and in other villages of Cebu Province also celebrate Fiesta Señor on the same date or a week before or on a later date. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, processions and Sinulog dancing within barangays and sitios were common sights in January.
Garganera said the Fiesta Señor and Sinulog in Cebu City will be “more of a spiritual gathering than a fiesta-like celebration because it’s a celebration of life.”
“We don’t have to be drunk,” said Garganera, referring to the pre-pandemic Sinulog where several street revelers got drunk.