ALL ambulant vendors might not be allowed at the vicinity and the adjoining streets of the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño during the novena Masses and the feast of the Child Jesus in January next year.
Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, Police Regional Office director in Central Visayas (PRO-7), who is also a devotee of the Sto. Niño, said he made a promise to make it easier for the people to go inside the basilica complex.
“Mahirap talaga makapasok. Dun lang ako sa labas (everytime I attend novena Masses). That is my promise to Sto Niño na ayusin natin,” Espino said.
(It is difficult to enter the church. If I’ll go to Sto Niño, I’ll just stay outside. That is my promise to Sto Niño to make the pathway more accessible).
Even before he was assigned in Cebu, Espino said that he has been attending novena masses at the basilica and noticed the clogged roads leading to the church.
He said the streets surrounding the basilica have become narrower and more congested.
This as vendors and their stalls take up sections of the road on both sides.
“I’ll ask the Cebu City government for their help to make the vicinity of the basilica to be free from any obstructions,” Espino said.
He added that he already talked with the Augustinian fathers of the basilica about the issue.
The church officials positively responded to the plan on clearing the vicinity of vendors.
Espino said that once the plan would push through, police personnel would be deployed in the area a week prior to the celebration to help clear and guard the area.