CEBU, Philippines - Despite difficulty in controlling the more than two million revelers, acting Cebu City Police Office director Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa claimed that the Sinulog 2015 Grand Parade Sunday was generally peaceful.
Capa, who is also deputy director for operations at the Police Regional Office-7, said he will recommend to Sinulog Foundation Incorporated that additional crowd control personnel should be deployed next year.
He said the Sinulog Festival needs at least 4,000 police officers in the ground aside from personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Central Command, reservists, ROTC cadets, National Service Training Program students, and other force multipliers.
“I would have wanted more, two thousand (2,000) police is not enough… Next year I would request two thousand more,” Capa said.
Although they had difficulties in managing the crowd, the police were able to achieve their objective, which is to ensure the ca-rousel is moving.
He pointed out that they had problems in containing the crowd in the area leading to the entrance of the Cebu City Sports Center where people wanted to cross the route.
It also contributed to the problem the huge props of the contingents which occupy the entire area.
Capa said the crowd control personnel were overpowered by the spectators. Being assigned in PRO-7 for the first time, Capa said he had never seen such a massive crowd gathered in one place.
“I was mesmerized by the size of the crowd… There’s too many people in one place, amazingly there was no wars last night (Sunday night),” Capa said.
Capa observed that the crowd started to build up in the afternoon toward the evening where people partying in the streets.
“The kids had fun last night (Sunday night), I stayed until 3:30 in the morning we were trapped (in Mango area). It’s a miracle that despite hundreds of thousands of people no major incidents happened,” Capa said.
Meanwhile, at least 18 children were separated from their parents during the grand parade. CCPO’s Police Community Relations Branch chief Enrique Belciña said the children were already reunited with their parents after they were turned over to the police station.
A suspected pickpocket and three drunk persons were arrested by the police. (FREEMAN)