ATTY. FRANK M. MALILONG:

The inconvenience was a price we had to pay or better still, a burden we had to share

It rained heavily the day after the grand parade that capped the Sinulog celebration. Maybe, it was the heavens expressing relief that the week-long festivities passed without any major incident, giving lie to dire warnings of a terrorist attack. You have to give credit to the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces for their elaborate security measures. The parade route teemed with uniformed police and military personnel last Sunday and they went about their job seriously and professionally.

It rained heavily the day after the grand parade that capped the Sinulog celebration. Maybe, it was the heavens expressing relief that the weeklong festivities passed without any major incident, giving lie to dire warnings of a terrorist attack.

You have to give credit to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces for their elaborate security measures. The parade route teemed with uniformed police and military personnel last Sunday and they went about their job seriously and professionally, according to my daughter-in-law, who watched with her daughters at the corner of Jakosalem Street and Maxilom Avenue.

Some of these safety precautions did not please everyone. The week before the Sinulog, Mayor Tommy Osmeña was complaining against the decision to ban the carrying of firearms by licensed gun owners outside of their residence.

These people were strictly vetted before they were issued permits to own a gun, Tommy argued, and to deny these presumably law-abiding citizens the right to carry them was a virtual admission by the government that its licensing process was a failure. The police, however, stood their ground.

Then there was the decision to immobilize all mobile phones in Cebu City during crucial periods of the day for two successive days. I still wonder why this was done. To cripple the terrorists’ means of communication and, consequently, movement, perhaps? Or to prevent them from triggering an explosion through a mobile phone?

Whatever its reason was, the cutting off of cellular phone signals caused a lot of inconven- ience to many people, especially to those who have guests from out of town to entertain. A Cebu City official, for example, had a hard time tracking down his US-based sister’s companions to ensure that they were safe.

But all’s well that ends well. Overall, we had a peaceful Sinulog week and we owe the police and the military tons of thanks for that. The inconvenience was a price we had to pay or better still, a burden we had to share in ensuring the successful staging of an event that not only showcases our best cultural practices but more importantly emphasizes our veneration of the Blessed Child.

Postscript: I learned that the smudgers were at it again this year, having a field day smearing the faces of other merry-makers with soot during the grand parade. Threats, done repeatedly, to arrest them obviously did not work as the mischief-makers played hide-and-seek with the police or were perhaps simply tolerated by the latter who were thinking that they had bigger fish to fry.

Instead of banning it, we should just regulate Sinulog smearing. We can start by designating a smudging lane where anyone who ventures into it is considered to have given his or her consent to receive a palmful of soot or whatever dark-coloring material that has been previously screened by the police or by any official body.

Smearing one’s face has become a cultural thing, a practice that has become synonymous with the Sinulog. We should go with the flow and treat the smudgers the way the police regarded them last Sunday: they’re not as bad as terrorists.