It seems that Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who is currently serving a six-month preventive suspension, and Acting City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia are willing to put their differences aside to work on the Sinulog Festival 2025.
Garcia is considering a new executive committee to oversee the planning and coordination of all activities and programs for next year’s Sinulog Festival at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC), however, unity and collaboration between him and Rama is a priority.
The tension between Garcia and Rama widened due to their differences in various policies and decisions at the City Hall, including the Sinulog 2025 venue.
Garcia urged Rama to set aside political bickering, and instead unite and work together toward a common goal of conducting a successful 2025 Sinulog Festival.
“To honor and venerate si Señor Santo Niño man ang atung tuyo. That is why we hold Sinulog because halad man ni sa Señor,” Garcia said.
“Of course, I am willing (to work) with anyone, including Mayor Mike, kay para ma-successful ang Sinulog. But ang akong pangutana kay if he is willing to work with me considering nga ang akong direction to hold it really is at the Cebu City Sports Center,” he added.
On Monday, Sept. 2, Rama criticized Garcia anew for announcing last Aug. 22 that Sinulog 2025 will be held at the CCSC, instead of the former’s preferred location at the South Road Properties (SRP) as the venue for the past two years.
Rama added that the Sinulog Foundation Inc. (SFI), of which he is the executive committee chairman, handles all the programs and activities of the annual festivities: “Ayaw gyud na siya patuga-tugaha (Do not ever let him) organize the annual event.”
Rama has been serving his six-month preventive suspension since last May and is to return to office in November.
Work together
Garcia is set to meet with the SFI, particularly with its president Pericles “Ricky” Dakay, this month to commence the preparation for next year’s Sinulog.
He said that with Dakay, who is an approachable person and passionate individual in terms of paying homage to the Santo Niño, there is no need to bicker.
“It should be beyond politics, wala ni pamulitika ang Sinulog. Magtinabangay lang gyud ta,” Garcia said.
Preparations for the 2025 Sinulog Festival require collaboration and coordination among stakeholders, Garcia said.
In recent years, Garcia said the City Government mostly organized and set to motion the plans for maintaining peace and order, alleviating the traffic situation, ensuring medical and emergency contingencies and preserving cleanliness.
Garcia said the City Government also extends financial subsidies to the SFI for various expenses relating to the festival.
“Essentially we cannot say that Cebu City has no say, essentially everything is Cebu City Government in terms of Sinulog,” Garcia said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
“Even without the Sinulog Foundation’s cooperation, we will proceed with the holding of Sinulog 2025,” he
said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Garcia said he could create a new executive committee to look into the preparations for the next year’s festival.
However, he dislikes creating confusion and strain among organizers and opts to work in unity.
Collaboration
In response, Rama, in a phone interview on Wednesday, Sept. 4, said he is willing to collaborate, reiterating that the holding of the Sinulog Festival annually is about paying homage to the Señor Santo Niño de Cebu, and not about the City Government or the SFI.
“I already told you not to just do things recklessly. I don’t have any problem with people helping each other. I’m not greedy about that because the Sinulog is not about Mike Rama, it’s truly about Señor Santo Niño,” Rama said in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Rama explained that without the City Government’s support, the SFI will have a hard time holding the Sinulog annually as it is a large event.
He added that the SFI, which was created in the 1980s, was meant to depoliticize the annual festivities.
The SFI was also formulated to ensure the continuity of the festival, as the organizing committee outside of politics.
“The Sinulog Foundation Inc. is a very important board,” Rama said.
Despite the current dynamics with the acting mayor, Rama said that back when he was still a vice mayor and Tommy Osmeña was the mayor, he still led the SFI with the help of the City Government.
However, he stressed that he is an elected mayor, aside from being a chairman of the SFI, while he is also a member of the Board of Trustees.
Rama made a comparison with the Cebu Provincial Government’s Pasigarbo sa Sugbo, a brainchild of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, saying its continuity in the upcoming years is in limbo, as there is no foundation or an organization to organize the event after the governor finishes her term.
CCSC vs. SRP
On Aug. 22, Acting Mayor Garcia announced that he plans to stage the Sinulog 2025 at the CCSC, and he will start the planning stage from September to November until Rama returns to office.
“We’ll present the plan. If he decides to change it, there’s not much I can do since I won’t be the mayor anymore, but at least I have made my plans for Sinulog,” Garcia told SunStar Cebu.
He argued that the sports facility is the ideal venue for next year’s Sinulog, especially after the facility underwent renovations for the recently concluded Palarong Pambansa which Cebu City hosted last July.
He said it has new LED screens and upgraded electrical wiring.
He added complaints from the dancers, organizers, and spectators after the 2024 Sinulog at the SRP prompted him to return the annual event to CCSC.
Governor Garcia, on the other hand, expressed her support for the Sinulog 2025 if it returned to the CCSC. She opposed the staging of the festival at the SRP for the last two years.
However, Rama maintained that the CCSC is no longer adequate to accommodate a large number of spectators during the Sinulog festival compared to the SRP.
He explained that the reported incidents of stampede due to overcrowding during the “Arat na Cebu” at the CCSC back in March 2022 were one of the reasons he transferred the Sinulog to the SRP.
According to police estimates, Sinulog 2024 gathered around three million attendees.