Hundreds of Mandaue City residents welcome the icons of Sto. Nino and Our Lady of Guadalupe as they arrive in the Subangdaku area in Mandaue City in this 2014 photo.
Mandaue City Hall employees and officials will ride bicycles instead of motorcycles to welcome the image of the Señor Sto. Niño during the Traslacion this Friday.
This is their way of minimizing the smoke from hundreds of motorcycles that traditionally escort the Sto. Niño image, said Glenn Antigua, Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM) operations chief, yesterday.
He said City Hall employees have already shown interest in escorting the image of the Holy Child from the Cebu City-Mandaue City border in A.S. Fortuna St. in Banilad, Mandaue City on Friday.
Antigua also advised devotees to avoid using balloons and firecrackers to welcome the Sto. Niño image.
Balloons may get caught in electric wires and cause a power interruption while firecrackers are banned.
He also advised commuters and motorists going to work in Cebu City on January 15 to leave their homes early to avoid getting stuck in traffic during the motorcade that will bring the icons of the Sto. Niño and the Our Lady of
Guadalupe from Basilica del Sto. Niño to the National Shrine of St. Joseph in Madaue City.
Traslacion is the Spanish word for transfer.
Antigua said the new route, which will pass through Banilad, will pose a bigger traffic problem because of the lack of diversion roads.
He also cited the ongoing road repairs in some areas in A.S. Fortuna Street.
He said they were told only two weeks before the event about the change, after they had already done the plans and preparations for the old route, which passes through Subangdaku.
“So we will just try our best to adjust. The Mandauehanons are used to the usual route. Even the schools, the barangays along the route are ready. They even have street dancers who will offer (presentations) to the image of the Sto Niño. We will just have to adjust, especially the barangays along the route,” said Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cortes.
Cortes called for unity and vigilance to make the religious activity successful and cited the Holy Family as a symbol for unity for the Mandauehanons.