SINULOG Foundation Inc. (SFI) executive director Ricky Ballesteros said this year’s Sinulog grand parade was the best so far.
“The flow of the grand parade was smooth and the weather cooperated,” he said.
Too bad the crowd dropped from last year’s four million to this year’s 3.5 million. A half million people just missed seeing the best Sinulog so far.
***
Many are asking about the half a million drop in the Sinulog crowd. “Where did the half a million people go?” they asked.
The Sinulog crowd estimates have consistently grown over the years. Some engineers even wanted to determine Cebu’s center of gravity because there’s the danger of the island tipping over on its eastern side during the festivities because of the huge load.
It’s good the police came to the rescue by giving us a lower estimate this time.
***
But do the police really count the crowd? At best the figures the police give are “guesstimates” borne out of the belief that the crowd will always increase owing to the bandwagon effect.
A police officer told me their duty is “to serve and protect” the Sinulog crowd and, definitely, not to count.
Perhaps it’s time Sinulog organizers ask the help of the Commission on Elections in counting the crowd.
***
The Cebu City Police Office has admitted that meals intended for police recruits deployed along the Sinulog parade route Sunday were delayed because of heavy human traffic.
The thousands of ROTC cadets who were directed to become volunteers to help in crowd control were not given meal allowances at all.
It’s unthinkable to have thousands starve during fiesta time. Yes, there’s food everywhere, but they’ve got nothing to eat.
Perhaps the Sinulog Foundation should take care of them as well.