Volunteers, on Wednesday, October 25, 2017, start to decorate the 145-year-old carroza that will be used to transport the coffin containing the remains of Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal in time for his burial today.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA
All SET FOR VIDAL’S BURIAL
From decking out a 145-year-old carroza down for the funeral procession, the preparations on how to toll the bell, to removing every speck of dust at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral’s mausoleum.
Nothing was left to chance as authorities — church, police and local government units in Cebu — plan every minute detail to make sure that today’s burial of Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal will proceed without a hitch in a most solemn way possible, amid projections that a big crowd will come to send off a well-loved prelate to his final resting place.
Vidal, while a native of Marinduque, needed to be buried in Cebu because the Cebu Archdiocese “is his bride and Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral is his home,” said Fr. Erik Orio, the priest in charge of the Cathedral mausoleum, where bishops who have served the Catholic Church in Cebu are interred.
“Cebu is where he offered his life, where he dedicated his life,” Fr. Erik Orio told reporters yesterday.
Rain or shine, the funeral procession will continue, said Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Cebu.
In case it rains, they will only need to transfer Vidal’s coffin to a funeral car placed on standby, added Tan.
Orio, who is overseeing the funeral procession and burial, said that the carroza will be manually pushed by members of Couples’ for Christ.
A human cordon composed of Knights of Columbus members will guard the carroza to maintain the solemnity of the procession, added Orio.
The carroza, which was built in 1872 upon the request of the first Cebuano bishop, Juan Gorordo, has up until now been used only during the Holy Week procession to carry the image of Jesus Nazarene, according to Orio. The carroza is kept at Casa Gorordo museum, which is operated by the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.
Rocky Arcenal, one of the workers maintaining the carroza, said they felt honored that the carroza that they cared for will carry the coffin of Cardinal Vidal.
Orio said the carroza will have minimal flowers for decoration and will be surrounded by a wreath made of cloth, with four white candles erected in every side of the carroza.
Death knell
Upon the start of the funeral procession, Orio said the church bell will be manually rang, in a de profundis manner, which is described as a “heartfelt cry of appeal expressing one’s deepest feeling of sorry and anguish.”
The death knell, or the tolling of the bell for the dead, will continue all throughout the funeral procession, which will start at the Cathedral after the 9 a.m. Requiem Mass and will also end at the Cathedral’s mausoleum, where the late prelate’s remains will be interred.
The mausoleum, built in 1983 inside the Cathedral’s compound, was renovated in time for Vidal’s burial, said Engineer Norevic Laroa, a member of the funeral committee.
Laroa said they repaired the ceiling, added lights, installed an air-conditioning system and a sliding door, and cleaned the whole mausoleum.
Cardinal Vidal’s tomb will be situated at the left side of the late Julio Cardinal Rosales, Vidal’s predecessor.
Follow rules
The Cathedral, meanwhile, was closed at midnight Wednesday to allow the preparation for the funeral.
The church will reopen at 7 a.m. today to begin accommodating those who will be attending the funeral Mass, which will be celebrated by Archbishop Jose Palma, with at least two dozen other bishops and about 500 priests from all over the country.
For the funeral march, Orio urged the public to follow the rules to avoid chaos and to have a peaceful procession.
He said the sequence of the funeral procession was as follows: altar servers, followed by the Paschal Candle bearers, deacons, priests, the carroza of Cardinal Vidal, bishops, the family and the household of Cardinal Vidal.
“These are all in a line of four persons,” Fr. Orio said.
Upon the arrival in the mausoleum, the priests are going to proceed back to the clergy-designated pews inside the church, where they can view on a television screen the final rite of interment going on inside the mausoleum. Only the bishops, the three cardinals, the household and family of Cardinal Vidal will remain in the mausoleum.
Security
Those who have not been part in the initial preparation were asked to just stay on as participants or spectators to avoid confusion, appealed Nagiel Bañacia, the head of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
Bañacia said a lot of organizations volunteered to help in the funeral procession, but he said they would no longer entertain those who have not been accredited to help marshal the procession.
To ensure that no untoward incident will happen during the procession, a command system has been set up involving the disaster response units of the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay and the police offices of each of these cities.
Cebu City Councilor Dave Tumulak, the city’s deputy mayor on police matters, said they have coordinated with the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Central Command (Centcom) to secure the safety of those who will attend the funeral.
As early as 5 a.m., sea patrols and checkpoints will be set up around Cebu City’s land and sea borders to ensure that no one could take advantage of the large gathering and create chaos.
“This to make sure that no troublesome people can get in. All hospitals starting midnight will be in code white. Public and private hospitals. Code white means all emergency supplies are intact, ready (and) prepared,” he added.
Tumulak reiterated that they are prepared to extend the original 600-meter funeral route if the attendees will exceed 10,000.
Buses and parking
Tumulak urged vehicle owners to park their vehicles at the South Road Properties (SRP) and avail of the buses that the city will deploy in this area to bring them to the Cathedral.
“We have 22 buses. Free rides tomorrow for the public. We will start to pick up at 7 o’clock. It will end at 8:30 a.m. and will resume by noon going back to their routes,” said Tumulak.
Cebu City Traffic Office head Francisco Ouano said they will start closing the roads that will be affected by the funeral march at around 9 a.m.
The roads will reopen only once the crowd has all dispersed, he added.
Lapu-Lapu City also decided to provide two city-owned buses and an Elf truck to ferry people who will attend Vidal’s burial Mass and procession, said Mayor Paz Radaza.
She said the buses will depart at 7 a.m. from the City Hall grounds and will drop off passengers in Plaza Independencia, which is a walking distance from the Cathedral.
The buses will return to Plaza Independencia at 1 p.m. to ferry Lapu-Lapu City–bound passengers, with priority given to senior citizens, the mayor added.
Mandaue City also offered free rides to Mandauehanons who will attend Vidal’s funeral Mass.
Four vehicles, coming from the City Hall grounds, will also be bringing passengers to Plaza Independencia starting at 6 a.m., said Acting Mayor Carlo Fortuna.
Like in Cebu City, all flags at government offices in Mandaue have been flown at half-mast since the death of Vidal on October 18. / with a report from correspondent Miguel Ernest Ermac