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CEBU CITY, Philippines – Various organizations in Cebu have started preparing for next year’s Sinulog, the region’s grandest festival that regularly draws in millions of visitors.
“We are expecting an influx of visitors coming from different parts of the world,” Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said Tuesday, November 19. “I want a stricter, better planned Sinulog. More peaceful.”
Garcia said the holding of the Sinulog requires thorough preparation so that it will be “one of the best ever, if not the best in the history of Cebu City.”
At the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño, the Augustinian friars said in a press conference Tuesday morning, that the strict implementation of the dress code will continue to be in place even during the Sinulog. Those who violate the dress code will not be allowed to enter the Basilica compound, but they can hear mass outside. They asked those who plan to visit Cebu to check the dress code posted on their official Facebook page.
The Augustinian friars announced during the press conference the schedules of official activities and updates on the 460th Fiesta Señor, the religious component of the Sinulog.
Father Jules Van Almerez, OSA, said two pilgrim images of the Santo Niño de Cebu will be brought to hospitals and jails in the cities of Mandaue, Cebu, and Talisay as part of the pre-fiesta celebration.
The fiesta’s opening salvo and novenario will be marked on January 9, 2025 with a “Penitential Walk with Jesus” at 4 am from Fuente Osmeña Circle to the Basilica. There will be regular novena masses at the Pilgrim Center until January 17, when a “Penitential Walk with Mary” will be held.
On January 17 and 18, the image of the Santo Niño will be brought to the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu in traslaciones. The Santo Niño will be joined by the images of the Virgen de Guadalupe and Saint Joseph.
The fluvial procession will be held on January 18, a Saturday. The highlight of the religious celebration is the Solemn Foot Procession that will start at 1 pm on Saturday, the visperas or eve of the fiesta. The procession, which ends at the Basilica where people dance the Sinulog, typically attracts a huge crowd. In January 2023, police estimated 3 million people to have joined the procession.
The theme of the 460th Fiesta Señor is “Santo Niño: Hope of the Pilgrim Church.”
“Ever since the image of the Holy Child arrived in our shores, we recall those who have clung to God in the hope that their prayers would be answered. Many can testify to the graces they received from the Infant King,” the Augustinian friars said in a press statement read at the event. “They see in the Santo Niño a haven of refuge, a rock of stability and, above all, a magnet of love drawing them close to Him, as it has done for centuries.”
The Agustinian friars also introduced Tuesday Dante T. Uy Matiao as hermano mayor and Gremar Teresa D. Uy Matiao as hermana mayor. They also announced the MV Santo Niño de Cebu of the Medallion Transport Inc. as official galleon that will be carrying the image of the Santo Niño during the fluvial procession.
On January 19, the Sinulog Grand Parade will return to its old venue, the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC). The CCSC has been the traditional venue of presentations by contingents that join the Grand Parade but these were transferred during the administration of dismissed mayor Michael Rama to the South Road Properties (SRP).
Garcia, in his press conference last Monday, said that the decision to return to the CCSC is already final. He said the majority of people support the return to the CCSC. – Rappler.
Max Limpag, a freelance journalist based in Cebu, is an Aries Rufo Journalism Fellow of Rappler for 2024.
