SFI prepares virtual shows

CEBU, Philippines —  Even with the cancellation of the ritual showdown for Sinulog 2021, people will still have something to look forward to tomorrow, Sunday, the day of Fiesta Señor.

Vice Mayor Michael Rama said yesterday that the Cebu City government has lined up activities from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., the same schedule of the Sinulog Grand Parade in previous years. These activities, which will be “bringing the yesterday to the today” will be shared virtually.

“The Sinulog Foundation will continue through media, through print, television, Facebook, the word of mouth,” Rama said.

Neil Odchigue, executive committee member of the Sinulog Foundation, Inc., said the activities will begin with a Mass at the Fort San Pedro, which will be attended by a maximum of 20 people, mainly city officials and the SFI Board of Trustees. 

“After that, we will do an intro of the whole event. There will be an explanation nganong dili siya live performances and we will be highlighting also the messages that were made by our officials,” Odchigue said.

Odchigue said performances of champions of the street dance competition, Sinulog-based category, and free interpretation category through the years will be showcased in a virtual presentation.

“Sukad pa gyud sa 1982. We’ve gathered pictures, footages. In fact, we’ve converted VHS files to DVD files just to make sure we deliver a wonderful presentation,” he said.

Winners of other categories like higantes, puppeteers, and floats will also be shown.

Odchigue said there will also be pre-recorded Halad entries from groups coming from other countries such as Las Vegas, New York, Portugal, and from Asia as well like Taiwan.

“Despite the fact that they cannot come here, they have sent an edited entry already that will form part in the whole presentation of the Sinulog festivity on the 17th,” he said.

“Mga Filipino communities ni sila nga naa sa overseas, pero tungod kay dili man sila makaari sa ilang usual nga panata, mao nang nihalad nalang sila og sayaw. Kini nga mga sayaw, gibuhat na nila ni ngadto sa ilang areas... Didto ni nila gihimo,” he added.

He clarified there will be no prize and subsidy for this category.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia will also offer a Sinulog dance to the Santo Niño.

For the Best of Cebu, the best performances in terms of performing arts, food, fashion, etc. will be highlighted.

The video files from the previous firework competitions will also be showcased.

The virtual Sinulog 2021 will be shown at the official webpage of SFI, sinulog.ph, SFI YouTube channel, and SFI official Facebook page. — JMO (FREEMAN)