Santo Niño devotees raise their replicas of the image of the Child Jesus during the Mass that opens the nine-day Novena Masses in celebration of the Fiesta Señor at the Pilgrim Center of the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño on Jan. 9, 2020. |CDND Photo/Gerard Vincent Francisco
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Churchgoers are advised to brace for more rules to be implemented in line with the celebration of Fiesta Señor this year.
Aside from prohibiting non-Cebu City residents access to the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño de Cebu, the holding of the Traditional Sinulog dances after every Novena Mass will also be stopped.
Augustinian friars managing and running the Basilica made this announcement in an advisory released on Sunday, January 10, 2021.
“As advised by IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases), Cebu City government, CCDRRMO (Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office) and BMSN (Basilica Minore del Santo Niño) Safety and Security, there’ll be no more traditional Sinulog all throughout the Novena Masses,” portions of the advisory read.
On the other hand, local officials have opened Plaza Independencia to accommodate more devotees who want to physically attend Novena Masses within the vicinity of the Basilica.
Police Colonel Wilbert Parilla, deputy director for operations of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), confirmed in a phone interview with reporters on Sunday that this is ‘just one of the many measures’ they intend to impose for the Fiesta Señor.
“Every day, we do critiques and assess the situation. With this, we are expecting a lot of additional measures to be implemented in the coming days,” Parilla said in Cebuano.
The Fiesta Señor celebration for this year kicked off last January 8 with an opening salvo Mass.
Around 3,000 devotees gathered for the first Novena Mass and a total of 24,000 individuals were recorded to have attended all Novena Masses on the first day of the week-long event in honor of Señor Sto. Niño. /dbs
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