Sunday, January 20, 2008
18 saved during fluvial parade
By Garry Cabotaje & Oscar C. Pineda
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
SEA marshals rescued 18 people, mostly children, whose motorized boat sank at the Mactan Channel, marring an otherwise orderly fluvial procession yesterday.
The procession, an annual event recalling the arrival of the Señor Sto. Niño’s image in Cebu, had just started run at the Ouano wharf in Mandaue City when the mishap occurred past 7 a.m.
Calls for help echoed over the handheld radios of Coast Guard (CG) personnel, who saw the motorized boat half-submerged in the middle of the channel.
According to the preliminary investigation, the boat took in water immediately after its wooden hull broke, causing its passengers to panic.
The Cebu CG ordered its Mandaue City station to find out what caused the accident.
The 2.91-gross-ton motorized banca, which used an 80-horsepower engine, was not overloaded. It was officially registered among the participating seacraft.
The CG identified the boat owner as Pablito Santos of Barangay Biasong, Talisay City. He figured in the news after Camp Crame padlocked his ammonium nitrate warehouse in Biasong some years back.
Seeing the passengers in panic, three rescue boats, owned by CG auxiliary officials, came to the banca’s aid.
Saved
At least 10 of the survivors were children and teenagers; the youngest was two-year-old Thea Santos.
PO3 Roger Valiente, Cebu CG duty officer, identified the other survivors as Hermie Valerie, four; Wayneson Clyr, four; Triston, seven; Christine, 11; Mika, 13; and Amity, 20, all surnamed Santos.
Also rescued were Shena, 11, and Nikki Anne del Rosario, 14; Kristine Garcia, 14; Ricardo Otanda, 15; Felise Oroga, 52; and Paul Gaceres, 60.
Like in past fluvial parades, hand-waving devotees who crowded the piers, anchored ships and the first Mactan-Mandaue bridge cheered as they welcomed the return of the Señor Sto. Niño’s image to Cebu City.
Firecrackers popped, ships’ horns blared, and devotees yelled “Viva Señor”, while others released colorful balloons into the air.
A private helicopter and the acrobatics of a light aircraft that flew over the participating vessels, showering the “Galleon” with petals, also wowed the crowd.
The fluvial parade, which kicked off at 7 a.m., arrived at Pier 1 in Cebu City two hours later.
For Mandaue City’s residents, the festivities started around 5:30 a.m. as they sent off the images of the Sto. Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe from St. Joseph’s Parish, near City Hall.
Send-off
The crowd, estimated at 10,000, left the church around 5:30 a.m. and reached the Ouano wharf before 7 a.m.
Acting Mandaue City Police Director Rodel Calungsud said the procession was generally peaceful.
It was also Parochial Vicar Eduardo Cabug’s fifth time to lead the procession. He said there were probably more people compared to last year, but the atmosphere was definitely solemn, except for a few fireworks along the way.
The heavily cordoned images were ushered into the house of businessman Ernest Ouano Sr. before boarding a awaiting yacht, some 50 meters away.
Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who is assigned in Guam, and some priests were at the doorstep to welcome the images.
Apuron then led religious leaders, Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes, his wife Sarah, police officials and devotees in a brief prayer before the two images inside the house.
Witnesses
The first Mactan-Mandaue Bridge was tightly packed with onlookers who wanted to witness the fluvial procession.
Cadungog said his men had to stop some of the people from sitting on the bridge’s edge, beyond the fence, so they wouldn’t fall.
When the images were brought out of the house, they were greeted by exploding firecrackers.
The singing of the chorus of the old “gozos” hymn, which is sung during the novena for the Infant Jesus, marked the start of the procession.
At exactly 7 a.m. the flower-adorned yacht carrying the two images set sail, making its way past smaller seacraft to lead the fluvial procession back to the Cebu City.
Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said this procession is “the religious cord that binds Cebu and Mandaue Cities.” (GC/OCP)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 20, 2008 issue)
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