Sunday, November 04, 2007 Devotees can expect longer fluvial parade
MORE motorboats will be taking part in the fluvial parade to honor Lapu-Lapu City’s patron saint, the Virgin of the Rule, on Nov. 12.
Already, 60 motorboats have registered with the City’s commission on tourism to participate in the event.
The affair coincides with the start of the novena that kicks off activities for the annual fiesta on Nov. 21.
Oponganons will also get a chance to again witness the prowess of six-year-old Justin Daniel Junio, who is scheduled to swim from the city to Olango Island on Thursday.
Junio will end up swimming a distance of 20 kilometers since he will also be swimming back to the main island.
His takeoff point will be at a private beach in Barangay Marigondon.
City Councilor and commission chairman Damian Gomez said security during the fluvial parade will be tight. Participating motorboats will be escorted by vessels of the Philippine Navy and the Cebu Coast Guard.
Members and vehicles of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation will be on standby in case of emergency.
Junio gained nationwide attention when he swam across the 1.5-kilometer wide Mactan Channel from Muelle Wharf to the reclamation in Mandaue City.
His successful attempt early this year earned him a City Council resolution that declared him an “adopted son” of the City.
Junio was presented to the media in a press conference called by Rudy Villanobos, the commission’s executive director, and David Odilao of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary at a local restaurant in Barangay Maribago.
His father Jose Florencio, who is a retired colonel of the Philippine Air Force, said Junio learned to swim by accident when he was 11 months old. They left him crawling at the poolside of the Villamor Air Base.
Before they knew it, Junio was swimming all by himself.
Jose said that after the Mactan-Olango swim, they will head to the US next year because Junio wants to break the record of a seven-year-old American boy who swam across the 2.5-kilometer wide distance between San Francisco and Alcatraz Island. (AIV)
