Placer mayor spends P2M for contest

CONTINUING his family’s tradition of honoring the Sto. Niño every year, the Cebuano mayor of Placer, Masbate is coming home to lead 99 dancers in thanksgiving and offering their dance to the Holy child.
A near death experience during his childhood had Placer Mayor Joshur Lanete practicing his devotion to the Sto. Niño for the past 20 years, but it is the first time that his town will be joining the Sinulog.

Choreography

Placer town is among the first-time participants in the Sinulog 2009 grand parade, and promised to surprise the crowd with their free interpretation entry conceptualized by multi-awarded choreographer Barry Luche.

Lanete decided to use his own money to sponsor the contingent that will bring to Cebu his town’s Himag-Ulaw Festival, a celebration of praise and thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest in farming or good catch in fishing.

The mayor said the costume, props, practices and transportation would reach some P1.5 to P2 million, which they will offer to the Holy Child.

“All of this will be my personal expenses because I have always made a personal offering to the Sto. Niño since I was a child. When I was seven years old, my bed and pillows caught fire. Everything was on fire except me and the Sto Niño image in my room and since then, I would dance every year in our village’s Sinulog celebration, until recently,” Lanete told Sun.Star Cebu.

In a phone interview yesterday, the mayor said he also believes the Sinulog grand parade is the best venue to promote Placer as a tourist destination.

When asked what the Sinulog crowd can expect from them, he said: “We will just execute and present the concept of Barry Luche, and we all know what he has done for other contingents in the past.”

Luche, a Cebuano, has choreographed award-winning performances of the Bantayan town and Iligan City contingents in previous grand parades.

Meanwhile, Archdiocesan media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay clarified yesterday that the Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal is well and will still be able to open and close the solemn procession in honor of the Sto. Niño on Saturday afternoon.

The 77-year-old prelate will not be joining the six-kilometer procession but will open and close it with prayers, he said.

As scheduled, Vidal will also celebrate the 6 a.m. Pontifical mass at the Basilica del Sto. Niño on Sunday, the feast day of the Holy Child.

In a phone interview last night, Dakay rectified reports that Vidal was very ill, saying that the prelate’s medical check up in Manila turned out well.

“Reports that his condition got worse are not true. He came home smiling, safe and was given a clean bill of health by his doctors in Manila. He was examined and they found him okay. But of course, because of his age, his diabetes, arthritis and anemia are all there, which is normal and is part of aging. There is nothing to worry about, nothing serious,” Dakay said. (LCR/Sun.Star Cebu)