Sinulog Festival: A postscript!

No doubt, the Sinulog Festival has changed forever. In the past few years of the Sinulog Festival, you knew that the festivities were over after 6:00 or 7:00 PM. That's when traffic gets bad as people rush to find a way home and usually, they end up snarled in traffic because some idiot driver parked his vehicle in the middle of the road. By 9:00PM, we have peace and quiet. However, last Sunday evening by 10:00PM, traffic was still snarled in almost all the major intersections near the Sinulog Carousel route.

No doubt, this was the result of the more than 1.5 million people who trooped to Cebu City to enjoy the Sinulog Festivities. Sure, you can blame CITOM for not being around when they were needed. But the truth of the matter is, CITOM doesn't have enough people on duty to handle a city-wide traffic jam. What caused the traffic jam was simple lack of road courtesy, where drivers armed with the "Me-First" attitude move their vehicle to the point of getting themselves into a gridlock and then everyone gets stuck and no one can move. Mind you, this happened not only in one intersection, but also in many intersections.

By 9:00PM, I got into my motorcycle and went downtown and I mistakenly thought that most of the people who went to see the Sinulog came from the uptown areas, but the downtown area by that time was still crowded with people. From Colon St. I rode up towards the uptown areas, avoiding Osmeña Blvd. and Fuente Osmeña. I passed through V. Rama Ave., which wasn't crowded only to find out that when I turned to B. Rodriguez, you could see the long line of cars along Espina Village.

I made a U-turn and rode up towards M. Velez and again, this road was clogged with vehicles. I turned back and headed south, turning to P. del Rosario St. I was able to squeeze my bike through the traffic. I then passed along D. Jakosalem St. and learned that Mango Ave. was still clogged. Upon reaching Gorordo Ave. this road was virtually impassable… cars were stuck.

I turned back and went home via the Redemptorist Road and saw the Swat Team and many PNP men poised all over Juaña Osmeña corner Aboitiz St. because of the presence of hooligans. I don't know why this intersection has become a favorite spot of those hooligans. I remember last year, they belonged to that Soccer Team called Flamingo. I don't know if the same people did the same thing last Sunday. I only got a policeman telling me that they had to stay there because drunken hooligans were trying to shake cars as they passed in front of them, just like what happened last year.

The presence of these hooligans spoiled our celebrations of the Sinulog. While I laud the Philippine National Police (PNP) for putting more than enough men to neutralize these drunks perhaps they should have arrested these people, marked them so that next year, they can be prevented from entering the Sinulog premises. If we went out of our way to try and prevent terrorists from disturbing the ASEAN Summit, surely Vice-Mayor Michael Rama and the Cebu City Council can figure out a law that would prevent people from entering Cebu City during the Sinulog Festival as they only ruin the image of the Sinulog as a peaceful fiesta.

As a final note for the bad traffic we experienced last Sunday night, allow me this early to bring back the old suggestion I made years ago to turn the Sinulog Festivities into a "Carless Day" for Cebu City. To ferry people in and out of the carousel area, we can turn the South Reclamation Project (SRP) into one big parking lot for the people in the south so they can take a bus or jeepney to designated sites.

For the people in the North, we can also find a suitable parking space for them. But only public transportation should be allowed on our major thoroughfares. That should ease our traffic problems for the Sinulog while at the same time helping ease the pollution we bring into our environment. But nothing bets walking. For me, this is the best time to walk and get a little exercise while enjoying the Sinulog parade.

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Talking about the SRP, I learned that SM Prime President Hans T. Sy was in town last Friday and stayed at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel. But my friend told me that SM was finalizing its plans to invest in the SRP so they would build another shopping complex for the people living in the South of Cebu. This makes a lot of sense. SM has been getting a lot of business in SM City, which is good for the people in Talamban, Mactan or Mandaue. But not for the people living in the South. If and when this is final, the SRP would now be the investment place for new businesses coming to Cebu City.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com