[ Manila Bulletin Online ] January 6, 2009
By PHOEBE JEN INDINO
CEBU CITY — The Sinulog Foundation Inc (SFI), official organizer of the world-renown Sinulog Festival, needs P15 million more to cover the expected P23-million expenses for this year’s mardi gras.
SFI Executive Director Ricky Ballesteros said that for this year’s version of the festival, the foundation has to raise P23 million to be able to meet all the expenses.
However, the SFI needs to raise only P15 million as the Cebu City government has allocated P8 million for the festival.
This came after the Commission on Audit (CoA) allows City Hall to have a one-time exemption from the accounting rules for the celebration.
The CoA issued recently a memorandum disallowing local government units from giving aid and grants to foundations, non-government organizations, and people’s organizations, whose leaders include elected officials or their immediate relatives.
SFI is spearheaded by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña as the honorary chairman, while its over-all chairman is Vice Mayor Michael Rama.
Meanwhile, Ballesteros said that SFI is happy with the CoA’s initiative to address graft and corruption in the government. However, the recent memorandum has affected legitimate foundations that are serving their purposes.
"We are happy that CoA has given the city government an exemption for this year, but how about the succeeding celebration?" he said.
He said that the city’s contribution is very important in the success of the festival, as its annual allocation lessens the burden of the foundation to raise funds.
Ballesteros said that even without the city’s allocation, the Sinulog celebration will continue but the activities will be limited due to shortage of funds.
"We will still continue the festival even without financial aid from the city government as Sinulog has been a strong Cebuano tradition," he said.
He said that there are also other sponsors for the festival like private companies and individuals who want to contribute for the Sinulog festival.
Ballesteros said that SFI had also sent solicitation letters to big companies that might want to take part in the celebration.
He also said that as of yesterday, SFI has already raised almost P15 million from sponsorships and ticket sales.
Ballesteros said that for this year, SFI is expecting 40 to 50 contingents from the different provinces of the country to participate in the festival.
