Another successful and peaceful Sinulog!

The Sinulog is over and so too with our hosting of the 12th ASEAN Leader's Summit, so it's back to the old grind. But as far as the Sinulog goes, I'm sure that you'd know how successful the Sinulog was or how many people turned out for our Sinulog Fiesta. But as far as the ASEAN Summit is concerned, I'm sure that the ordinary man on the street cannot make an honest assessment because it was an international event held here.

So for our special presentation in Straight from the Sky, we bring you the official spokesman of the National Organizing Committee (NOC) for the ASEAN Summit... Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia, his Excellency Amb. Victoriano Lecaros, who is also another famous son of Cebu. Amb. Lecaros always gave the media an hour-by-hour assessment of the goings-on during the ASEAN Summit... as most of us even in the media were given only limited access to the Mactan Island's Shangri-La Resort & Spa. If we were kept abreast of what the ASEAN Leaders were doing at the precise moment, it was Amb. Lecaros who gave it to us with his constant press briefings at the CICC.

For this show, Amb. Lecaros will give us a post-ASEAN Summit briefing on what our hosting the ASEAN Summit meant for you and me. Above all, he gives us an idea of what else we can expect from our being chair of ASEAN, which ends this July. So watch this debriefing for the ASEAN Summit on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m. tonight.

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With the Sinulog finally over, once more we give ourselves a pat on the back for the successful celebration of our fiesta in honor of the Holy Child Jesus or the Señor Sto. Niño. As of press time (that's when I e-mailed this column) I didn't hear of any untoward incidents along the Carousel Route. To be perfectly honest, this was one Sinulog that I fully enjoyed watching live from my office television on SkyCable's channel 15, with Glenda Descuatan playing as host stationed at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Although once in a while, I'd go out into the streets of Mango Ave. just to feel the pulse of the Sinulog Festival, one can immediately sense the festive atmosphere where people from all walks of life, including a lot of children or toddlers brought along by their parents. I would like to believe that our celebrating the Sinulog Festival with such merriment has passed through a full generation. Two of my younger kids were not yet born and we've already been watching the Sinulog all these years.

We also had unforgettable moments. I still can't forget the last time Super Ma'am "Imeldific" Marcos came to Cebu in 1986, when the Marcoses were still in power. She somehow insisted on having her convoy pass along the Sinulog parade route at a time when it was showering. As her Toyota Coaster passed along Mango Ave. corner D. Jakosalem, irate Cebuanos started throwing or pelting yellow confetti that stuck to the vehicle. Many Cebuanos took it as an ominous sign that anyone who desecrates the Sinulog pays a hefty price and just a month later, the Marcoses fled to Hawaii, scared by the EDSA "People's Power" Revolt.

No doubt the Balikbayans enjoyed the Sinulog. I saw so many of them on the streets or in the malls. My cousin, Dr. Jonathan Reboton of Las Vegas, Nevada, texted me to be on the lookout for the Philippine Bisayan Society of Nevada who are now in Cebu, staying at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel led by their president Ms. Mariam Pearson. I'm sure they all had fun.

As for the size of the crowd...let me say that the Sinulog got bigger this year, it was so hard to walk along the parade route. But what is of utmost importance to us Cebuanos is that, we've offered ourselves to the Holy Child Jesus at the beginning of the year, which is why Cebu is so blessed to have the Señor Sto. Niño with us through all these centuries.

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Now back to serious business. It is refreshing to note that finally, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was able to confirm through DNA testing that the man killed by the Philippine Marines last Dec.28th was really Khadaffy Janjalani, who made his name internationally famous by kidnapping Martin and Gracia Burnham in a Palawan resort in the year 2000. As AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, Jr. said, "We have neutralized the center of gravity of terrorism in the Philippines."

The Abu Sayyaf was founded by Adburajak Abubakar Janjalani brother of Khadaffy who was killed in an encounter in 1998. Since then, Khadaffy Janjalani took over the reins of this murderous terror group and has gotten international notoriety. His death virtually renders the Abu Sayyaf headless. Now we still have to account for the 400 or so Abu members.

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