PROVINCIAL prosecutors come and go but the Sinulog tradition of the office lives on. After 29 years, the staff of the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor still commemorates the Sinulog.
During the fiesta, they pause from their paperwork every 4 p.m. to pray the novena for nine days, which ended last Friday.
They celebrate too. The staff gathered at the administration office Friday for some lechon, lumpiang shanghai and vegetable soup.
The celebration has grown simpler as the years went by.
“Before, we used to join the Sinulog parade,†remembered Leticia Villa, a retired stenographer of the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor. The stenographers are the heart and soul of the office’s Sinulog tradition.
Villa told Sun.Star Cebu that back in 1980, the staff of the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor danced during the parade. The Sinulog was not a contest then.
Danced too
“Our boss then was very religious,†said stenographer Delle Revas in Bisaya, of then provincial prosecutor Loreto Durano, who started the tradition.
Everybody—prosecutors, stenographers, clerks and others—joined the celebration.
“We really participated,†said Luzviminda Glomo, also a stenographer, in Bisaya.
Aside from keeping the tradition, they also pray to the Sto. Niño for good health.
“Yes, yes, yes,†was Rodel Revas’ answer when asked if he would continue the tradition after the retirement of the organizers of the Sinulog celebration. Rodel is the 27-year-old son of Delle, and a clerk at the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor.
“The younger generation is open to the tradition,†assured Glomo.
“It’s a good tradition. It gives moral and divine inspiration to the office,†said Provincial Prosecutor Pepita Jane Petralba, who inherited the custom.
“I hope it will live on even after I leave,†Petralba added. (JGA/Sun.Star Cebu)
