Mandaue expects more activities this Sinulog

THE Mandaue City Government is expecting more activities in the city as the Sinulog festival is approaching, after parties are disallowed in Cebu City.

Glenn Antigua, chief for operations of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue, City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing welcomes this as long as the requirements of Mandaue in getting a permit is followed.

“Kay strikto ang Sinulog this year, expect ta nga daghan activities moari sa Mandaue (Since the Cebu City Government announced that this year will be the strictest Sinulog, then it is expected that several activities will be transferred to Mandaue),” he said.

According to him, the organizers of Life Dance, one of the biggest parties during Sinulog, applied for a mayor’s permit to have the activity in a vacant lot across Parkmall.

Antigua said that Life Dance will occupy two hectares of the 4-hectare lot of what used to be the Saint James Amusement Park.

Life Dance, which was held in the South Road Properties in the previous Sinulog, did not get a permit from the Cebu City Government.

Speaking with SunStar SuperBalita Cebu, Nagiel Bañacia, head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said the main reason for denying Life Dance’s permit application was the traffic congestion that the activity might cause.

Antigua said that before the Life Dance organizers can get a mayor’s permit in Mandaue, they must present their plans pertaining to the environmental, traffic, security and emergency scenarios.

Life Dance will start at 3 p.m. on Jan. 19 and end at 4 a.m. of Jan. 20.

According to Antigua, the party is not a problem as long as organizers properly dispose of their garbage and maintain peace and order.

Since Life Dance will continue until dawn, Antigua said they will check if the noise will reach the National Shrine of Saint Joseph, where a send-off mass before the seaborne procession for the Santo Niño will be held at 2 a.m. (FMG)