OVER 600 police personnel and force multipliers in Lapu-Lapu City will secure the route for the motorcade on the day of the seaborne procession.
Superintendent Rex Lomente, chief of Lapu-Lapu City Police Office Operations Division, said they will also implement the Oplan Bakal Sita during the activity.
The first bridge will be closed starting at 2 a.m. but it will be reopened once the last vehicle in the motorcade passes.
The motorcade of the Señor Santo Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe will start from the National Shrine of Saint Joseph in Mandaue City after the mass at 2 a.m. on January 20. It will pass the Mandaue Mactan Bridge.
Supt. Rex Lomente, chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office Operations Division, advised devotees to bring only transparent bags and avoid lighting firecrackers during the event or bringing and releasing balloons. “They have to cooperate,” he said.
Lomente said police personnel will also be lining up on the first bridge to control the crowd that will wait for the religious icons to pass.
In a press conference Wednesday morning, City Mayor Paz Radaza said tarpaulins and banderitas are now placed on the route of motorcade to welcome the Santo Niño.
The Lapu-Lapu City Government has put up wide screens in the city auditorium, Plaza Rizal and in the basketball court, all adjacent to the Nuestra Señora Virgen dela Regla (NSVDR) National Shrine.
A mass will be held in NSVDR after the Santo Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe’s images are transferred to Lapu-Lapu.
“Wala’y firecrackers. The only thing magsaba-saba is ang DBC (No firecrackers are allowed. Only drum and bugle corps will make noise),” she added.
Radaza is expecting a big crowd to witness the activity for this is the first time that Lapu-Lapu will be the starting point of the seaborne parade. (FMG/SunStar Cebu)