CEBU CITY -- Authorities here deployed about 1,000 police personnel and 500 soldiers to secure the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC), the procession route along Osmeña Blvd. and the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño, for the National Youth Day (NYD) opening program and mass on Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas, director of Police Regional Office 7 (Central Visayas), said they have put in place security measures to ensure that pilgrims and other participants of the preliminary activities in this city’s biggest sports center are secured.
The police observed that after noontime, the NYD pilgrims from different dioceses across the country began to gather at the CCSC for the 4 p.m. opening program.
Rev. Fr. Mark Barneso, steering team leader for NYD 2019 in Cebu, expects 15,000 to 20,000 people to attend the opening ceremony, some 12,000 of whom are official delegates from different parts of the country. Close to 3,000 are volunteers and about 5,000 are Catholic Church members taking part in the event.
Barneso said the volunteers are from various parishes in the Archdiocese of Cebu.
“Our delegates could experience Cebuano hospitality. They could experience a Cebuano family,” he said in a radio interview.
He confirmed the glitches on Tuesday regarding fetching some pilgrims but he said “all is well, they are manageable.”
The priest said the arrival of some delegates from Luzon has been affected by the temporary closure of the Clark International Airport as a result of the 6.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Zambales and Pampanga.
“There were delays pero kaluoy sa Ginoo na-manage man tanan (but in God’s mercy, we were able to manage all),” he added.
Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) deputy chief for operations, Lt. Col. Wilbert Parilla, said the police and the military tasked to secure the CCSC premises and the procession route have been deployed since Tuesday morning.
Before 6 p.m. Tuesday, motorists will experience heavy traffic along Osmeña Blvd. as a sea of pilgrims and devotees will participate in a solemn procession from the CCSC to the Basilica, he said.
“We advise the motorists to take alternative routes,” he added.
The same security plan that the police implemented during last January’s Sinulog festival will be implemented to secure the opening program and Holy Mass for the National Youth Day, he said.
“No big backpacks are allowed inside the Basilica," Parilla said, adding that they will only allow the backpacks specially designed and distributed to the NYD participants.
Cebu Archbishop Jose S. Palma, who will deliver the opening remarks at the CCSC, said he expects a fruitful National Youth Day in Cebu, and hopes for the best for the youth pilgrims.
At the CCSC, the pilgrims and devotees will be treated to a Sinulog dance performance before a solemn veneration of the miraculous image of the Señor Santo Niño de Cebu. (PNA)