Sto. Niño send-off dry run causes traffic due to delay

Few hitches were experienced yesterday during the dry run for the send-off of the Señor Sto. Niño during the seaborne procession in Lapu-Lapu City on Jan. 20.

City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Andy Berame said they almost canceled the dry run after they thought that the team from the National Shrine in Saint Joseph (NSSJ) in Mandaue City would not come.

The Lapu-Lapu City Government coordinated with the Mandaue City Government for the activity.

The dry run was supposed to start at 2 a.m. but the motorcade began only at 5 a.m. in Lapu-Lapu.

This is because they learned that the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño and members of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 also did a dry run for the Traslacion, Berame said.

He then said that those coming from Cebu City traced the route of the Traslacion then went to NSSJ before the motorcade reached Lapu-Lapu Cty.

As a result, Berame said, the commuters experienced slight traffic since the dry run in LapuLapu started late.

In the original plan, the dry run for the send-off mass was supposed to start in NSSJ but it started in Basilica instead.

The Traslacion will be held on Jan. 19 and will start at 7 a.m. in the Basilica, proceeding to NSSJ.

The sendoff mass in NSSJ, on the other hand, will be at 2 a.m. on Jan. 20 and will proceed to LapuLapu for the seaborne procession.

Berame also said there were 20 vehicles expected to join the motorcade, but it turned out that 25 vehicles joined the dry run.

Despite the hitches, Berame said there was no problem with the route of the motorcade, which starts at the foot of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge in the Lapu-Lapu City side up to the Naval Base Rafael Ramos, the starting point of the seaborne procession.

“It’s all systems go. What we need to consider on the actual day is the weather,” he said.

Navy Lieutenant Nomer Bilbao said there will be two sea vessels from the Philippine Navy, five from the Philippine Coast Guard and five from the Philippine Maritime Police that will surround the galleon carrying the images of Señor Sto. Niño and Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Navy will issue a special card to the devotees who want to board the galleon. /