To avoid further increase of coronavirus cases, church and Cebu City local government leaders have agreed that the annual Sinulog Festival is still pushing through in 2021, but this time, it will be virtually.

The Sinulog Foundation Inc’s steering committee announced on Thursday, January 7 that all non-religious physical activities of Sinulog Festival this year such as the street dancing has been cancelled due to the continued thread of COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first time in recent years that the Sinulog Festival Parade, held every third Sunday of January, had been halted.

In a press conference, Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael Rama — who spearheads the organizing committee of the event — said that while the committee wanted to push through with its dance competition event at the South Road Properties (SRP) without an audience, the organizers selected and instructed participants — who came from different cities and towns from across the Philippines — that their dance performances will be recorded by production teams and the entire program will be edited as one show, which will be aired on local TV stations and streamed online.

"There will be no street dancing parade, no grand ritual showdown. Everything will be recorded and broadcast as live on January 17," he said.

"No need to go out of your homes to witness it," he added.

Rama also noted that some areas in Cebu would allow public viewing of the festival but with strict compliance to health protocols.

Meanwhile, the Cebu City Vice Mayor seeks the IATF’s cooperation for the success of the annual festival, as he formally appealed to them to allow the Sinulog grand parade to continue at the SRP, saying “there is no reason for the IATF to cancel the Sinulog when the country was able to manage through the Misa de Gallo season for nine days last December 2020”

The Sinulog virtual grand parade has been planned with the compliance to the health protocols even though at least 2,000 individuals would be at the SRP for the grand showdown, the vice mayor said.

The vice mayor also noted that since this year’s Sinulog activities are mostly going virtual, the IATF does not need to worry of crowd gathering. “If they are worried about the grand parade, tighter security can be imposed in the area to avoid any unwanted crowd,” he said.

“We should not be talking about IATF approving the Sinulog. We should be asking them what can they do to help Sinulog,” said Rama.

The Sinulog Festival is one of the most popular festivals on the Philippine calendar, attracting millions of visitors; both local and foreign tourists each year. The main event of it is the full-day procession called the Grand Parade which dancers come with vibrant costumes and choreographed routines from all over the country. The Grand Parade takes place on a Sunday and begins at 4am at the Basilica Minore Del Santo Nino where the statue is placed in a glass casing. There are also street parties, fairs, booths, and other cultural and religious events during the festival.