ALL is set for Lapu-Lapu City’s annual fluvial procession this Sunday, November 12, after a final briefing was held yesterday by the fiesta committee.
Now on its 17th year, the fluvial procession is in honor of the city’s patron, Nuestra Señora Virgen dela Regla or Our Lady of the Rule.
The procession also marks the first day of novena Masses for the Blessed Virgin.
Initiated by the City Tourism Commission, the fluvial procession will be held in coordination with the Metro Ferry Corporation, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, Pacific Cebu Resort Inc., Lapu-Lapu City’s Fiesta Executive Committee, Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF), Philippine Red Cross, the Lapu-Lapu City government, Department of Education, tour operators and Catholic religious groups, among others.
Tourism Commissioner Donatila Amores heads the fluvial committee this year while Tourism Commission Chairman Hembler Mendoza will be the overall coordinator.
Following a 5:30 a.m. Mass at the Marigondon Parish Church, the icon of the city’s patron will be brought by motorcade to the Pacific Cebu Resort where it will be boarded on a galleon, owned by the heirs of Ernesto and Mary Ouano.
The vessel, which will be decorated with flowers by Marian devotees, is the same galleon used in Cebu’s annual Santo Niño fluvial procession each January.
A chopper from the Philippine Air Force (PAF) will drop flower petals along the parade route at the vicinity of Marcelo Fernan Bridge and then at Muelle Osmeña near the Virgen dela Regla National Shrine in Barangay Poblacion before the galleon docks signaling the end of the procession.
Mayor Paz Radaza and other city officials will be at Muelle Osmeña to welcome the image as it makes its way to the nearby church.
The best decorated and most symbolic pump boat will be awarded prizes. This year’s board of judges are PAF officials Col. Vicente Naldoza Jr., Capt. Arlene Lao and 2nd Lieutenant Jerome Quiros.
The Lapu-Lapu City fiesta is on November 21.