Pit Señor - Cebu's Sinulog Festival

Cebu has been on a festive mood since last week as the entire Cebuano population gears up for the annual Sinulog Mardi Gras, a festival that celebrates the feast of the miraculous Sto. Niño de Cebu every third Sunday of January. This year, Sinulog falls on January 15 and everyone is ready for the celebration.

The police will be fielding 30,000 personnel to secure the Sinulog as authorities expect more than 3 million people to troop to the main Sinulog parade route this Sunday. Pagasa has already warned of a rainy Sinulog but I don't think that will prevent people from witnessing the festival.

Fuente Osmeña also been transformed into a plaza of shops and stores where people can munch on just about anything or buy stuff they can bring home. Head up a few meters and you will see that the front side of the Abellana National School is also occupied with stalls selling almost anything you can imagine.

Here's hoping that this year's Sinulog festival will be peaceful and orderly just like the previous celebrations. Afterall, the festival celebrates the feast of Sto. Niño and I don't think the Child Jesus will ever allow any negative events to take place during that day.

Viva Pit Señor!

It's More Fun in the Philippines

Too early to say but I can sense that the Department of Tourism has finally found the right slogan that will surely capture the interest of tourists. "It's More Fun in the Philippines", a catchy slogan formulated under the leadership of DOT's director Ramon Jimenez, the same marketing guy who instilled chicken joy into the minds of our children.

First off, I am actually against the move to change the DOT slogan "Wow Philippines", which was formulated during the time of then Sec. Richard Gordon. It was catchy and effective. Two words that have successfully drawn the Philippines into the world tourism map. And what an intelligent move then Secretary Ace Durano made when he retained "Wow Philippines" during his administration.

"Wow Philippines" successfully competed with "Malaysia, Truly Asia", "Amazing Thailand", and "Uniquely Singapore" until one man, just for the heck of introducing a new slogan, changed it to the controversial "Pilipinas, Kay Ganda!", which sounded like the title of an early morning TV show and whose graphics became even more controversial because it was found out to have been copied from a Polish tourism brochure.

But "Wow Philippines" is dead and "Pilipinas, Kay Ganda" suffered a heart attack even before it was officially printed in our tourism brochures. And because we can't revive "Wow Philippines", I am slowly becoming a fan of "It's More Fun in the Philippines". An honest and truthful answer to the question "Why should we go to the Philippines?". It's more fun here - the people are smiling, the beaches boast of pristine waters and white sandy shores, and there are plenty of fun activities to do in the 7,100 islands that comprise the entire country.

The DOT can advertise the new slogan over CNN or BBC, costly but proven-effective, just like what the other countries are doing, but I hope the country's tourism advertisements will not be followed by news of bombings, kidnappings, and beheading in Mindanao, which are not the kind of "fun" that we are trying to sell to international tourists.