Festival queen, not ‘elitist’ Miss Cebu, attracts tourists

Mayor said that if there are people who want Miss Cebu to continue, the rich should be the ones to spend for it, like the Ayalas or the Aboitizes

CEBU City Mayor Tomas wants the annual Sinulog Festival Queen to be grander.

He said he has no plans of reconsidering his decision to stop the yearly Miss Cebu pageant, which has been one of the activities slated for the Sinulog festivities.

Osmeña said the City Government spends P4 million annually to stage Miss Cebu and not P200,000 to P300,000. The event is already on its 32nd year this year.

Osmeña believes Miss Cebu doesn’t attract tourists to the city compared to the Sinulog Festival Queen, which showcases the lead dancers of the grand parade contingents.

“We are wasting P4 million because we are used to wasting P4 million? I can tell you that this is my sixth term as mayor and in the five terms as mayor, I have never met a single person who said he came to Cebu because of Miss Cebu. Not even once,” he said.

The mayor reiterated that the pageant is “too elitist” and only caters to the rich. Stopping Miss Cebu, he said, is one way of cutting down the expenses of the City whose financial situation, he had described, as terrible.

“We spent too much for Miss Cebu but the masses do not enjoy it. It has become an institution? For whom? Institution for the rich? That is not my policy here,” he said.

“What I am trying to say is that we are here to provide service to Cebuanos. So at some point, if it is not worth it, it is not worth it. We need to change. Just because it’s always been there doesn’t mean we keep it there. Sorry,” he said.

Rich

If there are those who want Miss Cebu to be continued, he said, the rich should be the one to spend for it like the Ayalas or the Aboitizes. He said no more taxpayers money should be used for it.

As an alternative to Miss Cebu, Osmeña said the Sinulog Festival Queen, an event he pushed before, should be improved.

He wants it to be the main event before the Sinulog grand parade, with possibly P1 million as the winning prize. In the past, the festival queen only gets P50,000 and a crown.

More beautiful

“The festival queen will bring in tourists because we are projecting Sinulog. If you make it a grand event, it will be much more beautiful. I think you can even televise it when you edit it and compress it to one hour,” he said.

Since he wants the city to save money, Osmeña said he plans to evaluate the expenses of the annual Sinulog celebration. The city spends around P30 million for it.

Osmeña also said the Sinulog grand parade will still be held at the Cebu City Sports Center and not at Block 27 in the North Reclamation Area (NRA). Former mayor Michael Rama earlier said he wants the Sinulog grand parade to be transferred at the NRA next year.

Too hot

In 1991 when he was mayor, Osmeña said, they tried to transfer the grand parade to NRA but it did not work because the area is too hot.

For next year, Osmeña wants the grand parade to be shorter so it would end early. He said this is one way of addressing the traffic and peace and order problem after the event.

“We will end it at 5 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. But we start the same time. We may just have to cut down the number of contingents. Kay kon naay carry over nga merry making, it will not go until 12 midnight. The crowd gets rowdy at times, but if we end at 4:30 in the afternoon, I assure you, I’m willing to bet it would be better,” he said.

But Osmeña said he is still willing to listen to the Sinulog Foundation Inc. board if they have other suggestions.