The Sinulog Festival: A postscript

It was perhaps the most attended Sinulog celebration ever with news reports showed some four million people joined the procession for the Senyor Sto. Niño last Saturday and the Sinulog Festival on Sunday. Yes, the million-peso question of the day was whether suspended Cebu Governor Gwen F. Garcia would dance the Sinulog Festival like she always did in the last nine years of her reign, and that’s exactly what she did. Of course, she did not do this to please the crowd, but it is her own way of imploring the Holy Child Jesus to give her blessings for the coming Year 2013.

People ask me, why we say Pit Senyor when we greet people during the Sinulog Festival — it is actually a Cebuano word called “Sampit” which means, “I will ask” the Senyor Sto. Niño, which as you already know Cebuanos by now… would shorten their words… Sampit becomes pit… while Balay or House becomes Baay or Dalan, which means road becomes Daan.

What made the Sinulog highly successful aside from the millions who flocked there was that the balmy weather did not result in any rains, so it was a very comfortable and cool weekend for the Sinulog revelers. I have never missed a Sinulog in the last 32 years we have been holding it and in the first Sinulog, when then Customs Collector David Odilao first held the Sinulog Festival using the Sinulog dance. that the women folk would dance before the Basilica Minore of the Sto. Nino and matched it with the Sinulog beat.

Before Cebu celebrated the Sinulog, my dirt bike friends and I would travel all the way from Cebu to Kalibo for the Ati-Atihan Festival in Kalibo. Unfortunately for Kalibo at that time, they only had four small hotels to serve tourists. But those were the days before Boracay was discovered. Cebu had the distinct advantage of having an international airport and numerous resorts and hotels to accommodate those who came for the Sinulog.

Three decades later, the Sinulog has become so very well known as Asia’s biggest Festival to rival that of the Carnival in Rio. But the difference is quite glaring because on Saturday we only have the Fluvial parade and the solemn procession. But on Sunday, Cebuano is allowed to let their hair down and have fun… where some people often have too much fun because they have too much to drink.

One thing I can say about the Sinulog as I wiggled myself amongst the thick crowd… is that the Cebu fiesta is a huge income generator. Poor kids make money-watching cars parked on nearby roads. Others sell water and barbecue or Chicharon…while all the hotels are fully booked. Everyone makes money during a Sinulog as a way of the Sto. Niño’s blessing for honoring God first at the beginning of the year. Yes it was a peaceful Sinulog.

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What happened to that US Minesweeper the USS Guardian (MCM-5) that ran aground along Tubbataha Reef is another embarrassing incident happening with the US Navy. This Avenger Class minesweeper based in Sasebo, Japan is loaded with electronic countermeasures that could find a stealthy enemy submarine in deep ocean waters. So the question is how come its captain could not see the Tubbataha Reef with his sophisticated sonar? Now all its 79 crew members had to be evacuated as the captain ordered to abandon his ship. Surely the US Navy knows that the Tubbataha National Marine Park is a World Wide Heritage Site recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

That front page photo of the Philippine STAR clearly shows the bottom of the Tubbataha Reef. I have no doubt that the marine maps on board the USS Guardian should indicate that there is a shallow reef along this area. Methinks that the captain or the first mate on board this vessel wasn’t really serious in sailing this US Navy Coastguard. Call this incident the US Navy’s Costa Concordia… that luxury cruise ship that sunk off the Italian coast.

This incident came just a few weeks after that US Navy Target Drone BQM 74E “Chukar” was fished out off the waters in Masbate, where the US Navy through the US Embassy declared that it was fired from the USS Chaffee (DDG-90) off the coast of Guam during the Valiant Shield 2012 exercises last Sept. 19, 2012. That explanation was quite unsatisfactory given the fact that the island of Masbate is located deep inside the Philippine Archipelago. Please don’t tell us that this drone floated all the way from Guam through the Straits of San Bernardino and into Masbate?

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The Atimonan incident has become a black mark in the Aquino regime’s fight against corruption, because no less than Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that it was not a shootout — it was an ambush or an execution. Though she failed to use the term massacre, it was no different from the Ampatuan massacre that hounded the Arroyo administration. It’s a wonder why until now no one has been filed any criminal charges.

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