Rain fails to dampen devotees

CEBU, Philippines — Despite the rain, an estimated  90,000 walked with the image of the Virgin Mary down the 2.3-kilometer stretch from the Fuente Osmeña Circle to the Basilica del Santo Niño dawn yesterday.

An estimated 8,000 more hit the streets for the Traslacion, the motorcade that brought the images of the Virgin Mary and the Santo Niño from the Basilica to the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Mandaue City.

Yesterday’s penitential “Walk with Mary” marked the ninth and last day of the novena to the Santo Niño.

No untoward incident was recorded yesterday.

“Atong nakita, malampuson ang atong Walk With Mary. Ingon ana gyud atong devotion. Ang general assessment is really successful; wala tay untoward incident nga nahitabo," said Julian Entoma, operations in charge of the Cebu City Police Office.

The images stayed at the shrine in Mandaue overnight before crossing the Mactan Channel for the fluvial procession today.

The fluvial procession will bring the images of the Virgin Mary and the Santo Niño back to Cebu City to the Basilica.

The Augustinian community, the custodian of the country’s oldest religious image, said the spot where the Basilica now stands is where the image of the Child Jesus was found by Spanish soldier Juan Camus in the burned ruins of a pre-Spanish settlement in Cebu in 1565.

In Mandaue City, the city government cancelled classes in pre-school, elementary, and high schools yesterday in anticipation of heavy traffic with the arrival of the images.

"In light of heavy rain today and anticipated heavy traffic congestion due to activities related to the Sinulog weekend, I hereby declare cancellation of classes at the pre-school, elementary and high school levels for public schools. Private schools may choose to cancel classes at their management’s discretion," Quisumbing said yesterday.

About 200 policemen and 150 reinforcement personnel were deployed for the Traslacion.

Supt. Aguisanda, deputy director for operations of the Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), said the two images entered A.S Fortuna at 8:13 a.m. and were turned over by Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña to Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing and Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna.

Prior to the arrival of the images, MCPO, the barangay force multipliers and criminology students and Reserve Officers Training Course (ROTC) secured the outer portion and the grounds of the church.

The National Shrine of St. Joseph organized six prayer vigils from the different establishments, associations, and schools in Mandaue.

At the National Shrine of St. Joseph, a Mass to welcome the images was celebrated by Msgr. Daniel C. Sanico.

After the Mass, the "halok" or to kiss the Santo Niño followed. This will continue until the send-off Mass at 2 a.m. today.

From the shrine, another Traslacion will take place to bring the images to the Virgen dela Regla National Shrine in Lapu-Lapu City to respond to the request of devotees there.

Unlike in previous years where the fluvial procession started at the Ouano Wharf in Mandaue, the fluvial procession today will start at the port at the Naval Forces Central in Lapu-Lapu.

History has it that the image was brought by Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan when he landed in Cebu in 1521 and was given as gift to Rajah Humabon and his wife.

A baptism followed, which marked the beginning of Christianity in the country, considered the cradle of Christianity in the Far East.

As devotion to the Santo Niño continued to flourish until today, the Cebu archdiocese is known as the largest in the country with its number of Catholics, seminarians and ordained priests. Mae Clydyl L. Avila, May B. Miasco, Zora Charisse O. Alfanta, Jheska Mhae A. Buton (FREEMAN)