Lorega Street (left) corner MJ Cuenco Ave. will be closed to traffic from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and also Gen. Echavez Street corner Lorega today for the Eat Bulaga TV program. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Tanods brace for ‘Aldub’ fan frenzy today
As early as 6 a.m. today, 66-year-old Guillerma Lopez will scout for an area in the narrow roads of barangay Lorega San Miguel to get the best view of the phenomenal love team called AlDub.
“Sukad sa kadugay nako nagpuyo dinhi kay karon pa jud nga giduaw mi’g artista. Excited kaayo ko nga makakita nila kay pareson kaayo (I’ve lived here a long time, but this is the first time that actors will visit our barangay. I am so excited since they (AlDub) are perfect for each other,” Lopez told Cebu Daily News.
Lopez is among the thousands of fans who are expected to flock to Lorega Street today, hoping to get a glimpse of Alden Richards, Maine “Yaya Dub” Mendoza, and the rest of the cast of Kalyeserye of television network GMA-7.
The risk of crowd frenzy turning into a mob in the narrow streets of the urban poor barangay poses a challenge to local officials.
Barangay Captain Fritzgerald Herrera said the Police Regional Office 7 will field five policemen to reinforce 24 barangay tanods.
Network personnel will provide “bouncers” and security personnel as well during the show.
Firetrucks and an ambulance will be on standby in the area.
“Fire trucks will also be on alert since most houses will be left empty because GMA personalities will be here and people are expected to flock to the area,” Herrera said.
He said more than 6,000 Lorega residents are expected to take part in or watch the show.
The Kalyeserye, an impromptu sitcom that features the split-screen romance of Alden and Yaya Dub, is part of the Juan for All, All for Juan segment of Eat Bulaga, the longest running noontime television variety show in the country.
The show starts at 12 noon, but the Kalyeserye usually goes live at 1:30 p.m. This is not the first time that the Juan for All, All for Juan segment is held in a barangay in Cebu, but this is the first time since the AlDub tandem was formed in July this year.
Closed
Lorega Street, from the corner of New Imus St. to the corner of Echavez St., will be closed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today for the TV show, said Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) operations chief Jonathan “Joy” Tumulak,
Lorega Street will be closed to vehicle traffic from Gen. Echavez St. to Imus New Road today for Eat Bulaga’s “Juan for All. All for Juan”. Motorists are advised to take alternative routes.
“The road is just a secondary road, so there is no need to worry,” he said, adding he is confident that traffic flow along Imus and Echavez streets as well as in surrounding areas will be manageable.
The CCTO will deploy 10 traffic enforcers to ensure this.
Tumulak said an information drive was made with the Lorega barangay captain to prepare residents for the disruption.
By 6 a.m., cars parked along the road will be asked to clear the area.
Tumulak urged motorists to avoid these streets and take alternative routes until after 3 p.m. today.
Crowd control and celebrity security are a major challenge for GMA 7 everytime the Kalyeserye cast visits a barangay.
star power
For the past couple of months, the show’s hosts have kept the names of the barangays they would visit a secret as a security measure.
The AlDub, a combination of the names of Alden and Yaya Dub, couple has been mobbed before.
Mendoza sustained an accidental blow on the forehead from an excited fan early this week.
When Richards showed up for a Kapuso Fans Day in Gaisano Mactan last October, the television network estimated a crowd of more than 10,000.
Tumulak said the crowd today will be asked to stay at a specific area to avoid any emergency.
No one outside the crew and show hosts will be allowed inside the Lorega sports complex, which will serve as the base for the actors.
security
Barangay tanod Ma. Milagros Milano told CDN that she and 23 other barangay watchmen form three groups as crowd control units.
Segment
Two tanods are assigned at the barangay sports complex.
“Based on the advisory given to us, the first segment (of Juan for All, All for Juan) which is the Bayanihan will start from the barangay (sports) complex to the barangay hall. Eight of us will be on standby in the area, aside from the actors’ bouncers and police,” Milano said in Cebuano.
In this segment, participating residents are asked to bring certain items as well as used plastic bottles and to race to occupy numbers laid out on the street. The hosts then pick a random number.
Its occupant and those of the next four numbers win cash prizes and gift packs.
When Cebu Daily News visited the area yesterday, a GMA Network team was there to put up a communication station to the right of the barangay hall.
Milano said flaglets and tarpaulins will be put up tonight along Lorega St. to make it festive.
The Bayanihan is usually held at the start of Eat Bulaga.
Aside from AlDub, the Kalyeserye also features hosts Wally Bayola, Jose Manalo and Paolo Ballesteros who would be dressed in drag as characters Lola Nidora, Lola Tinidora and Lola Tidora.
Halfway through the segment, TV hosts pick a name from a list of barangay residents and call the winner by phone.
The Kalyeserye actors in the barangay locate the winner’s residence to award cash of at least P50,000 and grand prizes like gift packs, appliances and one time, a truckload of cement.
To avoid a mob, hosts sometimes ask the winner to just meet them halfway or go to a spot where the hosts are in the barangay.
In today’s show, the hosts will be at the barangay sports complex.