THE Cebu Provincial Government will provide its full support for Sinulog 2024—if it is held at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC), the traditional venue for the cultural event, the Capitol’s media arm reported, setting up a possible showdown again between Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on the venue for the staging of Cebu’s biggest festival.
The declaration imperils funding as well as participation of Cebu Province in the event, since the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) already announced last month that the Sinulog will be held at the South Road Properties (SRP) again this year, the second time it would be held there.
During a meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said the Province will donate to SFI the usual amount of P20 million if Cebu’s grandest festival will be held again at the CCSC.
“Let’s bring back the soul of the Sinulog,” Garcia was quoted by Sugbo News as saying.
“We will support it basta adto sa Abellana (so long as it will be held in CCSC). We are all for it,” Garcia told SFI executive director Elmer “Jojo” Labella.
The CCSC, formerly known as the Abellana Sports Complex, was the traditional venue for the Sinulog Ritual Showdown.
The Sugbo News report did not detail exactly why Garcia was not for the holding of the event at the SRP again this year, but it included photos of the status of the SRP as of Dec. 6 that showed a barren, unleveled area and what appeared to be concrete slabs and a broken portion of a stage.
On Thursday, Dec. 7, SunStar Cebu tried to get a comment from Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama on the governor’s remarks, but he declined to give any.
“Nothing,” Rama said in response.
Labella, accompanied by Pericles “Ricky” Dakay of Dakay Construction and Development Corp., had met with the governor to request Cebu Province’s involvement in the Sinulog Festival.
In the meeting, Labella said the venue for the Sinulog was still being finalized by the organizing committee, according to Sugbo News.
In response, Garcia encouraged Labella to promptly provide a response, as the mayors across the province are eagerly awaiting her decision on whether they should begin preparations for the Sinulog Festival next month.
Before Cebu local government units (LGUs) under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Government can send participating groups to the Sinulog, they must wait for approval from the Capitol.
The Sinulog Festival is held every third Sunday of January in Cebu City.
Feasibility
On Thursday, SunStar Cebu tried to obtain information from Labella on the feasibility of holding the Sinulog Festival at the CCSC, which has been closed since May 18, 2023 for renovation and repair in preparation for Cebu City’s hosting of the 2024 Palarong Pambansa in July.
But Labella declined to comment on the matter.
In a text message to SunStar Cebu on Thursday, Cebu City Councilor Donaldo Hontiveros, vice chairman of the committee on youth and sports development, said that as had been discussed and presented, the Sinulog Festival would be held at the SRP.
Despite the earlier announcement, Hontiveros said they will still have an executive committee meeting on Thursday night, Dec. 7, to discuss matters pertaining to the Sinulog.
He said, however, that the Festival Queen and Sinulog sa Kabataan competitions will still be held at the CCSC.
Last November, Labella said the 2024 Sinulog Festival would still be held at the SRP not only because of the ongoing renovation work being undertaken at the CCSC but also because it is impossible to use the old festival parade route due to the ongoing implementation of Package 1 of the Cebu Bus Rapid Transit project along Osmeña Blvd. and a portion of N. Bacalso Ave.
The Sinulog Festival involves a grand parade, which includes the competition for street dancing, higante (giant figures), puppeteers and floats, before the ritual showdown performances by the contingents when they arrive at the main judging and grandstand area, which is the SRP, or the CCSC as the case may be.
Prepared SRP
Last Tuesday, Labella told a news forum that as early as October, the organizing committee had prepared the venue for the Sinulog Festival at the SRP.
Labella said the SFI had set up bleachers capable of accommodating 19,000 spectators along the street dancing route, nearly double the initial announcement of 10,000 seats made last month.
He also said the Sinulog Festival route would be 4.1 kilometers long and 20 meters wide.
The festival was held for the first time at the SRP last January.
But leading up to the event, rehearsal participants complained of the lack of shade during rains, unreadiness of restrooms, and muddy grounds that made it difficult for dancers and props to move about.
Pullout
Three days before the Sinulog 2023, the governor pulled out all the nine contingents of Cebu Province from the Sinulog Grand Parade and Ritual Showdown at the SRP, citing safety concerns amid the site’s unreadiness.
Earlier, she had also expressed concerns about traffic congestion on Natalio Bacalso Ave. if all roads leading to the SRP, including the Cebu South Coastal Road, which is one of only two entry points to Cebu City for residents of southern Cebu, would be closed to make way for the event.
The pullout left just 12 of the 22 groups that had been slated to perform at the festival as she said the contingent of the highly urbanized city of Lapu-Lapu had also pulled out of the event.
The contingents that pulled out instead danced at the Sinulog held in Carmen town in northern Cebu the week after, along with Garcia, who performed her 14th Sinulog dance. (AML/CTL)