EDITORIAL - Has Sinulog grown too big?

Now that the Sinulog is over, it might be a good time to reflect and ask ourselves this question: Has the Sinulog grown too big for the city's breeches? If even the answer is a limp maybe, then it should be time to plan ahead and see if some changes need to be implemented.

According to official estimates, the crowd at this year's Sinulog hit four million. It being roughly the population of the entire island of Cebu, it is as if all the people in its nine cities and 44 municipalities all descended on Cebu City at the same time.

With that kind of people gathered in Cebu City all at once, it is clear that how the city prepared for this year's edition of the Sinulog was hopelessly inadequate. The amount of garbage generated alone reached more than a hundred tons.

If even on a normal day the city can hardly cope with the collection of garbage, imagine a sea of humanity consisting of the entire population of Cebu island converging in one place with each person having some form of trash to contribute to the humongous pile.

And that is just garbage. While the celebration was considered generally peaceful, the peacefulness may as well be the product of good luck than the result of clear and efficient law enforcement preparation and plans.

Indeed, as admitted by the authorities, no street parties were supposed to be allowed but as it turned out, the whole city swung into a party mood and the police simply let matters stand because there was simply no way their numbers could enforce the ban without sparking a riot.

In other words, had some trouble erupted at some street party somewhere and the fracas erupted into a giant free for all, we would have had a situation in our hands such as we have never seen before, and all because security is inadequate.

Next year, it may be safe to assume the numbers will exceed four million, broken up into hundreds of street parties fueled by alcohol, any spark of which can trigger a violent storm. Can security preparations be adequate then or do we cross our fingers again. Then there's the trash.