NEW IN FIESTA: NIÑO HOSPITAL ‘VISITS’

Image of the Holy Child will also be brought before 10T inmates in 4 detention facilities in Cebu in the second week of January 2018, aside from government-run hospitals

For the first time, the image of Señor Sto. Niño will be making the rounds in government operated hospitals in Cebu City next week.

The image of the Holy Child Jesus will be staying for three days and two nights in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center starting Dec. 17 to give patients, hospital staff, and attending relatives a chance to offer their prayers.

The image will then be transferred to the Cebu City Medical Center on Dec. 19 for another three-day pilgrimage.

Councilor Dave Tumulak, Sinulog executive committee chairman, said the image of the Holy Child Jesus will be brought to all the hospital wards. A vigil in the medical centers will also be held.

“They may have no time to light candles in the Basilica. Depressed pud ni sila. We will also open a specific time for the residents who live nearb hospitals if they also want to see the Sto. Niño. But our priority, of course, will be the patients,” he said.

The image is also expected to be brought before some 10,000 inmates in four government-operated detention facilities in Cebu in the second week of January as part of the Fiesta Señor.

Inmates’ faith

Tumulak said the image of the Child Jesus will spend around two hours each in the Cebu City Jail male and female dormitories, Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, and Operation Second Chance Center. All these facilities are in Kalunasan.

“This is a chance for them to strengthen their faith. Even though they are inmates, they are still entitled to their religious rights,” he said.

On the morning of Jan. 9, the image will be transported from the Basilica to OSCC where a mass will be held.

It will then be transferred to the City Jail female dormitory at 5:30 p.m. where it will stay for two hours before it will be taken to an area in the facility for the jail guards and warden to offer their prayers.

At 6 a.m. of the following day, the image will be brought to the jail’s holding areas to give the devotee-inmates equal chances of offering their prayers. A sendoff mass in the afternoon will be held before the image is brought back to the Basilica del Sto. Niño.

Meanwhile, the City Government will also limit the posting of banners and streamers on the streets that form part of the procession and Sinulog grand parade routes. /