THE City Council has recognized the significance of the finding of the image of the Sto. Nino of Cebu, as it declared April 28, 2015 as the 450th Anniversary of "Kaplag."
"Kaplag" is a Cebuano term for "discovery," as it refers to the finding of the image of the Sto. Nino, the oldest religious icon and the symbol of Catholicism in the country.
The City Council also recognized through a resolution the Order of the St. Augustine as the first religious missionaries to have arrived in Cebu.
It clarified though that April 28 has not been declared a holiday in Cebu City.
The highlight of the anniversary celebration will be the grand reenactment of the arrival of the Sto. Niño image in Cebu at 3 p.m. of April 28.
TV director Floy Quintos, who was tapped by the Kaplag executive committee to help in the celebration, said the reenactment will have four stations. The first station remains undetermined, the second will be in Cuenco Street, followed by the third station at the Magellan's Cross, and the last at the Pilgrimage Center at the Sto. Nino church.
The grand reenactment is said to be more historically correct, since it was thoroughly studied and conceptualized by the people behind the presentation with the help of Quintos.
Quintos said they will use original scoring based on historical voices and the writings of Antonio Pigafetta, the great Augustinian circumnavigator Fr. Andres Urdaneta, recordings of the indies and a description of what Cebu was like before.
The presentation will be put to life by an all Cebuano casting from different participating schools, colleges and universities, participants from the troops of Val Sandiego, some selected Cebuano actors and original performers of the Sinulog. One of the goals of the production is to give attention to the earliest form of the Sinulog.
Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA, executive director of the Kaplag celebration, said Archbishop Piero Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, is expected to come as representative of the Vatican. He will be joined by more than 50 bishops from 48 countries.
The 450th Anniversary of Kaplag will also commemorate the 450 years of Augustinian presence in the Philippines and the 50th anniversary of Sto. Niño church as a "Basilica Minore." (Ojharra Catherine Manlosa and Pia Noreen Bilar, CNU Communication Arts interns)