City to help secure Pasigarbo

CEBU, Philippines —  To show support to the Cebu provincial government, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has directed his key officials to assist the Capitol in the holding of Pasigarbo sa Sugbo on Sunday at the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC).

The mayor said he already granted the free use of the CCSC where different municipalities and cities in Cebu will showcase their respective festivals.

Dubbed as the province’s festival of festivals, Pasigarbo sa Sugbo is the flagship tourism and culture program of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia in 2012.

After nearly seven years of hiatus, the “Festival of Festivals” will take center stage again on Sunday. Garcia reintroduced the festival this month in time for the celebration of the province’s 450th founding anniversary.

The province used to stage Pasigarbo at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) in Mandaue City. The facility has been standing idle for several years after it was damage by the magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 2013.

While Cebu City is independent from the provincial government being a highly urbanized city, Labella said the city government is happy to host this year’s Pasigarbo.

“The city government will give its full support,” he said.

Labella said he designated Councilor David Tumulak to coordinate with Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, chief of the Cebu City Police (CCPO), for the festival’s security plans.

“It is important that the event will be secured considering the expected number of people who will witness the activity,” said Labella.

To ensure the safety of spectators and members of the different delegations coming from the 44 towns and cities in Cebu province, Tumulak said he already set a meeting today with officials of CCPO and other concerned agencies.

“It’s not of the same magnitude as Sinulog Festival, but the emergency measures, disaster preparedness and security measures should all be put in place,” said Tumulak.

Part of the preparation is the deployment of ambulances and other emergency vehicles.

Labella has also directed Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office Operations Head Harold Alcontin to follow the emergency measures during the Sinulog.

“I already directed Harold Alcontin to implement the template that we have with the Sinulog. It’s better to be prepared than underprepared,” the mayor said.

In preparation for the influx of spectators, Labella said the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) will also prepare the roads near the venue.

He said he would not mind approving road closures if it would secure the participants and spectators.

“For CCTO, I told them to see to it that necessary measures should be implemented to secure the traffic that there will no roadblocks or bottlenecks or at least mitigate,” he said. — KQD (FREEMAN)