What is the Sinulog Foundation? Why was it created? Is running the Sinulog its only reason for being?
Or should the question be: Who is the Sinulog Foundation? The chairman? The 14-man board of directors? The Cebu City government? Or other donors like the province of Cebu?
We look at the foundation’s by-laws and articles of incorporation.
The original Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI) was an all-male club. Fourteen men, veritable who’s who listers in Cebu, signed the articles of incorporation: Cebu City Mayor Florentino Solon, Vice Mayor Ronald Duterte, Rep. Ramon Durano III, Paterno Luym, lawyer-educator Augusto Go, Esteban Go Sing King, Francisco Benedicto, Joseph Gaisano, Anos Fonacier, Lim Liu, Segundino Go, Jose Garcia, Amado Martinez Jr. and Jose P. Lardizabal.
Each contributed P10,000 to fund the SFI. They were also the first board of trustees of the corporation.
The male dominance of the board continues to this day. According to the latest General Information Sheet of the corporation, the only female member of the board is Barbara Tan. Many of the original trustees are gone, replaced mostly by their relatives. Two new but very familiar names grace the list: Mayor Michael Rama and former Mayor Tomas Osmeña.
Running the Sinulog is not the principal purpose of the corporation, its name notwithstanding. Promoting “the well-being of the Cebuanos socially, spiritually, and economically through unity” is. Enhancing and perpetuating the Sinulog is only one of seven incidental purposes including enhancing and improving the transportation industry, supplying “health and medical care at the barangay level” and providing “scholarship to deserving students who are inclined to performing arts,” among others.
I wonder how many roads and bridges have been built at the instance of the foundation and how many scholars it had supported during the last 40 years of its existence.
The SFI’s stated purpose of promoting our social, spiritual and economic well-being through unity is the most ironic part of its charter. Whoever it was who crafted it must have had the gift of foreboding and a ghastly sense of humor. We’ve seen anything but unity in recent Sinulogs and next year’s edition, from all indications, promises to be not different. What a disgrace.
Who decides how the Sinulog should be run, and where and when? If it is the SFI, then who is the SFI? Rama because he is both the chairman of the foundation and the mayor, though suspended, of the city? The 14-man members of the board because it is a collegial body? The sitting mayor because the Sinulog runs on the city’s resources?
Sometimes, in my moments of utter frustration, I wish that the child Jesus would just come down and kick some a…s.