EDITORIAL - Rather than alcohol ban, have parties elsewhere

Because of continued rowdiness at off-site Sinulog parties, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña is reportedly considering a ban on alcohol in next year's celebration. This paper has been one of the first, if not the first, to complain about the rowdiness and hooliganism that have come to characterize such parties. This time, this paper will be the first to say that such a ban is to go overboard on the problem.

To solve the problem, the problem must be recognized for what it is. And alcohol is not the problem. In the context of the Sinulog, it is not a problem. If the Sinulog is a celebration, then it must have alcohol because celebrations and alcohol go together. One cannot have a celebration without alcohol. Even the Holy Mass has alcohol, in the form of sacramental or communion wine (in the Philippines, the preferred brand seems to be Mompo).

So what really is the problem, at least where it pertains to alcohol that Osmeña wants to ban? The problem, it must be pointed out, is when alcohol is imbibed in excess by people who illegally occupy entire streets to have their Sinulog parties. Once drunk these people start believing they own the streets and begin to harass and abuse the rest of the citizens who only want to use the streets for their own purposes.

The solution, therefore, is not to ban alcohol but to limit their use to specific places where people can have their Sinulog parties without transgressing on the rights of others to use public areas such as streets. Sinulog parties, for example, can be allowed at the South Road Properties, which can be enclosed and closely monitored and guarded by law enforcers.

If any ban has to be put in place, then it must be a ban against street parties, with or without alcohol. No street must be allowed to be occupied by revelers who think they own it. All streets much be kept open for both foot and vehicular traffic. No sale of alcohol must be allowed in the streets, only in designated party areas at the SRP.

And if these designated party areas descend into trouble, at least the trouble will be confined to these areas, which can swiftly be quelled if surrounded and monitored round the clock by hordes of law enforcers. This must be the price anyone has to pay if he wants to party. Otherwise he can have a safe celebration in open, drunk-free streets.