Safe Sinulog ‘not assured’

CEBU, Philippines - Will it be a different Sinulog Festival? Yes. Will it be safe from possible terror attacks? No promises.

While he said everyone was welcome to attend the Sinulog celebrations in Cebu, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he cannot assure that what happened in Hilongos will not happen here.

“It’s a very big threat. I’m not going to fool the Cebuanos by giving them any kind of assurance because I have none to give. But if people are conscious, then the chances of that happening go down,” he told reporters.

With that, Osmeña, who just arrived yesterday from a family vacation in Japan, said the city government is not inviting Very Important Persons for the Sinulog Grand Parade because public security and safety is its focus. However, they will not turn VIPs away.

At least 34 people were wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device at Hilongos town’s Rizal Plaza around 9 p.m. Wednesday when an amateur boxing tournament was being held as part of the celebration of a town fiesta.

“We are assigning volunteers to cover certain sections in the streets and it’s too late for me to do this in an organized manner. So, I’m asking different neighborhood organizations to assign people to watch during critical hours certain sections in the streets,” he said.

By watching the streets, he said people and volunteers will notice suspicious items.

“Watch the streets. It does not mean watch the people, watch the street. You have to know what’s on the street. Just keep looking at it. And if you see a garbage can that wasn’t there five minutes ago, that’s what we’re looking for. Because the nature of IEDs is that they will leave an innocent-looking something on the street or on the sidewalk. It might be a cariton, a paper bag, a garbage bag,” he said.

Osmeña also expressed dismay after the national government did not respond to his request to put a jamming device at the Cebu City Sports Center during the Sinulog Grand Parade on January 15.

“I was planning to make Sinulog grand stand a dead spot. No signal... because many of these bombs are operated by a cellphone. So, if there’s dead spot, hopefully, you cannot detonate your device,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Muslim community assured the police that they will help secure peace and order for the upcoming Sinulog activities that will start this week.

In a conference at the Cebu City Police Office, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos-Visayas Director Malo Manunggiring, along with 20 of his members, made the assurance before Police Regional Office-7 Director Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño, CCPO chief Senior Superintendent Joel Doria and Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak.

Taliño said starting January 5, elements from PNP, Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Regional Public Safety Batallion-7 and force multipliers will be deployed.

“5,043, total po ‘yan, that includes our AFP counterparts, ‘yung ating augmentation from our RPSB, our maneuver forces, kung kinakailangan mag-pull out tayo sa ibang probinsya we will do that para ma-secure ang Sinulog activities,” Taliño said.

“Security preparations are already in place. There is an ongoing contingency planning,” Taliño added.

Despite the bombing, he said they have not received any “direct or specific” threat.

Tumulak said the Muslim community can help them in controlling the crowd in streets covered by the Sinulog-related activities.

Star-Studded

This year's Sinulog will be star-studded with the presence of popular movie stars as well as some candidates of this year's Miss Universe, according to Sinulog Foundation, Inc. executive director Ricky Ballesteros.

The 2017 Miss Universe swimsuit competition will be held in a resort in Lapu-Lapu City.

He also said there are only 25 contingents that will join the grand parade this year, four are from outside Cebu.

"Expected g’yud ni nga mogamay ang contingents basta after elections," said Ballesteros.

He added there will be no fireworks display at the Cebu City Sports Center right after the announcement of Sinulog winners but only at SM Seaside City and Ayala Center Cebu. However, he said that during the grand finale, there will be some special effects.

Additional Security

In a press conference yesterday, Fr. Aladdin Luzon, director for Committee on Safety, Security, Peace and Order of this year’s Sinulog celebration, said the organizing committee decided to hire additional security personnel to secure the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño complex.

Since the religious community has agreed to keep the complex open for 24 hours, nearly 100 security personnel will be working in two shifts day and night.

The basilica is the sanctuary of the image of Sto. Niño de Cebu which is under the custody of the Augustinians.

This year marks the 452nd Fiesta Señor celebration. — With Christell Fatima M. Tudtud, Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon, and May B. Miasco/BRP (FREEMAN)