EDITORIAL - Yes, it's time for some restraint in the Sinulog

One of the first things that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña emphasized on his election as chairman of the Sinulog Foundation was his plan to downsize the grand mardigras parade, with the main intention being to shorten it and keep it within daylight hours in order to avoid the chaos that ensues when after-Sinulog drinking binges go well into the night.

This plan deserves all the support it can get. The after-Sinulog street parties have increasingly become more unruly and violent and have fast become the main blackeye to what used to be the feather in Cebu's hat. While it is still early and has not done greater damage to Cebu's image, the after-Sinulog street parties and drinking binges need to be nipped in the bud right now.

And if shortening the Sinulog grand mardigras parade is one way of doing it, then so be it. Mayor Osmeña deserves to be supported in this plan. For these drunken binges that give way to hooliganism and vandalism have become a problem to a lot of people who, unlike the revelers, have work to do at night, some performing very essential and vital services.

Some of those who have to go to work but are prevented from doing so because of roads being blocked by drunken revelers are medical workers who man the city's hospitals. Some are in the emergency services. Others are in the utilities like power, water, and telecoms. Still others work in airports that keep air travel safe for everyone.

But regardless of the work they do, they need to go to work and cannot be prevented from doing so simply because entire streets have been taken over by drunks. It is time sanity is restored to the city. It is one thing to have fun and be merry. It is another to become a threat or a hindrance to others. Life has to go on for the city even if others take the day off.

What may be curtailed by the new plan of Osmeña can be compensated somewhere else. It is pretty certain that the mayor already has his plan thoroughly thought out. The full enjoyment of the Sinulog does not rise and fall on the sheer number of participants and the seeming endlessness of the parade as a consequence. Neither is it measured by the number of drinks one imbibes nor the unbridled adventures they ostensibly instigate.

The Sinulog is a great Cebuano celebration and festival. To keep it that way, it cannot be allowed to become too hot to handle. It must be kept within reason and reasonable parameters. It cannot be made into the free-for-all that some obviously envision it to be. Let the Sinulog keep its dignity. For all its worldly accoutrements, the Sinulog remains rooted in something that deserves reverence and respect.