Cebu ready for EDSA fete, PNoy

CEBU, Philippines - Three days of several meetings later, Director General Jose Mari Oquiñena of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) yesterday said everything has been finalized for the 28th EDSA anniversary commemoration in Cebu City Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Oquiñena said matters they tackled with the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and other groups have been resolved and details, like the possible traffic and people witnessing the event going in and out of the venue, have been sorted already.

President Benigno Aquino III is expected to attend the activity in his first activity at the Capitol grounds.

Aside from President Aquino, his cousin Senator Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, cabinet secretaries, business group leaders are also expected to witness the event.

Actors Ogie Alcasid and Dingdong Dantes are reported to be coming also to add glamour to the celebration.

Oquiñena disclosed that 80 to 90 percent of the program is good as go already. The event would start with the raising of the flag at 8 a.m. It would be followed by Cebu Gov. Hilario Davide III’s welcome address and Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr.’s opening remarks before President Aquino would deliver his address.

The Salubong March, where civilians give soldiers flowers when met by soldiers in EDSA is reenacted, would follow next. Oquiñena said the celebration would be short but memorable.

After the celebration, the president would visit for an hour in Bantayan town, one of the worst hit areas of super typhoon Yolanda, before going to Palo, Leyte.

Ethel Natera, Capitol information officer, told the media that Dantes would portray the role of former President Fidel V. Ramos during the Salubong.

In the reenactment, Dantes, together with the “military”, would march from the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Parish (Capitol Parish) three blocks away to the Capitol grounds.

On the other hand, Senator Aquino and 3,000 University of Cebu, Cebu Normal University, and Cebu Technological University students would act as “civilians” and start their march from the vicinity of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-7 office also to the Capitol grounds, where the two groups would meet and give each other flowers and miniatures of Philippine flags.

Natera said Aquino would visit the livelihood training in Bantayan town that the local government unit initiated.

Oquiñena invited the Cebuanos, especially those who have children, to bring their families to the Capitol grounds to witness the celebration so they can appreciate the very important moment in the history. (FREEMAN)