Big crowd of devotees expected to join Bambino Festival in Pasig

BAMBINO FESTIVAL. Photo: pasigcity.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines—Owing to the recent calamities that struck the country and Pope Francis’ upcoming visit, Pasig City officials are expecting a crowd of around 15,000 as the city celebrates on Sunday its annual Bambino Festival grand parade.

Parade chair and barangay affairs officer in charge Joselito Comsti attributed the large crowd they are expecting to flock Pasig’s streets to people “who want to strengthen their faith and devotion to the Sto. Niño (child Jesus),” in light of the typhoons that have wrought destruction in a number of provinces in the country, most recently Typhoon “Seniang.”

And since the fest’s highlight event would be celebrated for the first time in its 14-year history a week earlier, Comsti said that “the crowd would definitely be bigger because it doesn’t coincide with any other [Sto.Niño-related] event.”

First celebrated in January 2002 under the administration of then Pasig Mayor Soledad Eusebio, Bambino Festival “highlights the significance of the Blessed Child in the lives of the Pasigueños,” according to Pasig Museum executive director Noel Rivera. He said it was conceptualized over a decade ago to allow the city residents to have a celebration of their own that would honor the Sto. Niño.

According to Comsti, the local government in mid-December decided to reschedule the celebration of the two-week festival, which is traditionally set on the third Sunday of January, like Cebu’s Sinulog, to allow “Pasigueños to attend and hear Pope Francis’ Mass at Luneta Park on January 18.”

With the earlier schedule, Rivera said some activities of the fest had to be cut short. For example, the museum’s exhibit of over a hundred images of the Sto. Niño was cut short from nine days to two days and the free film viewing for kids was trimmed from four to two days.

The mass baptism, on the other hand, which the city government sponsors and usually held before the grand parade, is set on January 31.

Rivera added that it also slightly affected the number of Sto. Niño images in the museum this year. From at least 130 last year, the exhibit is down to 119, which was opened on Thursday and will be on display till today.

He explained that since the images are family-owned, they were only able to ask the families to put them on display after the New Year celebrations.

Despite the changes, however, Rivera said that at least with the earlier celebration of the fest, which has the theme “Biyaya at Pagkalinga sa Pamilya,” “Pasigueños need not worry that they would be missing out on the Bambino fest or the Papal Mass.”

Comsti said that as in recent years, close to a thousand images of the Sto. Niño from the city’s 30 barangays and 15 parishes would be paraded around a 4-kilometer route from City Hall to the Immaculate Conception Cathedral.

Pasig police chief of operations Senior Insp. Rodrigo de Dios said that 80 policemen and at least 500 force multipliers would be deployed to secure the parade route and ensure the safety of those who would be participating in the parade, which is expected to last for more than four hours.

De Dios reminded the public to be mindful of their belongings and parents to pay close attention to their children.

Pasig parish priest Fr. Orly Cantillon said he hoped that “the devotion to the Sto. Niño translates to love and compassion to children who are forsaken by society.”