The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will heighten security alert during the Holy Week with the focus shifted to assist the city government and the church in preventing further transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Lt. Col. Wilbert Parilla, CCPO’s deputy chief for operations, said in a press conference Friday that there will be no Holy Week activities permitted outside churches, although the Archdiocese of Cebu is yet to issue guidelines.
The traditional procession on Holy Wednesday, the Visita Iglesia (churches visitation) on Holy Thursday, the Seven Last Words on Good Friday, as well as the Easter Sunday’s “Sugat-Kabanhawan” (encounter of the Virgin Mary with the Risen Lord) will not be allowed if done outside the church. Holy Week this year will be observed from March 28 to April 4.
Parilla also said they will deploy more men to help Cebu City Environmental and Sanitation Team and the Market Administration’s Office at the Carbon Public Market to regulate market-goers who will buy ingredients for the holiday’s staple called “Binignit”.
Binignit is a Visayan dish from Cebu which is traditionally made with glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk with various slices of sabá (banana), taro, and sweet potato, among other ingredients.
At the height of the pandemic last year, photos of people crowding at Cebu’s biggest trading hub to buy the said ingredients went viral on social media and had been blamed to be the reason for Covid-19 transmission.
“We have plotted the security plan for the Carbon Public Market to prevent from happening the incident last year when market-goers ignored the basic health and safety protocols just to buy ingredients of Binignit,” Parilla said in Cebuano.
The police will establish three entry and three exit points to avoid overcrowding.
Parilla said they will no longer require marketgoers to present identification cards and quarantine passes to prevent them from being subjected to a long queue.
The same arrangement will also be implemented in different public satellite markets in the city. (PNA)
