EDITORIAL — Lack of crowd control

While the Sinulog 2025 can be seen as a success, it was marred by an incident involving lack of crowd control. As a result, three contingents became unable to continue street dancing following their performance in the ritual showdown.

This after the crowd pressing in on them didn’t just hamper their performance; they also became a security issue.

"The current lack of crowd control measures poses a significant safety risk to our performers. We believe that proceeding with the competition under these conditions could lead to a stampede, putting the lives of our dancers and the public in jeopardy," said a representative from the Kalunasan Cultural Dance Troupe of Barangay Kalunasan.

A member of the Banauan Cultural Group also said they couldn’t move for three hours because there was “no crowd control from the organizers or Cebu City Government.”

Meanwhile, Barangay Basak-Pardo Captain David Tumulak also said that the Barrio Basak-Pardo contingent had to stop performing past 6 P.M. because of safety concerns.

“As the organizer, I must prioritize the safety and well-being of our dancing contingent, all of whom are minors,” he said.

This is unheard of in the history of the Sinulog; three contingents deciding to no longer perform because they felt unsafe.

The devotion showed by those who worship the Holy Child during the Fiesta Señor is matched only by how festive people get when celebrating the Sinulog festival.

But in this case it would seem that people’s fervor got the better of them, leading them to spill from where they should have stayed in the sidewalks to surge toward the performers in the street.

No one feels completely safe in the crush of a crowd, especially one that is so fired up on celebration.

Was this the result of a lack of personnel? Or lack of determining where crowd control elements were needed more or needed less? These are times when we miss the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, when cadets could be tapped to help in crowd control when the regular force multipliers are being fielded somewhere else.

The city government should address this problem for the next Sinulog. We were lucky nothing untoward happened this time, but this may not be the case next time.