EOC braces for biggest Misa de Gallo crowd today

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) prepared for the biggest crowd as the nine-day Misa de Gallo culminated today.

EOC deputy chief implementer and City Councilor Joel Garganera said they anticipated the influx of churchgoers today. He said that based on experience, the first and the last days are always the most-attended.

The first two days of Misa de Gallo in Cebu City was described as unorganized where social distancing protocol has been violated. Due to the massive crowd outside of the major churches, authorities had difficulty enforcing the health measures.

The city, however, managed to improve the situation in the following days. Among the control measures include implementing reblocking, road closures, putting up markers, and deploying Kaohsiung buses as temporary holding area for violators.

In fact, Garganera reported that on the eighth day of Misa de Gallo only four minors were apprehended and sent home contrary to the close to a hundred minors on the previous day.

“We learned the hard way. We have no manual for this,” Garganera said.

Garganera hopes that everything will work according to plan. The EOC had been briefing other agencies involved in the security early yesterday to ensure that everything works according to plan.

“We hope and pray that everything will work according to plan. What we have learned the past eight days, we will fully execute it tomorrow (today),” Garganera added.

He also reminded everyone that prayers should be coupled with vigilance.

“The best gift we can give to ourselves and our community is our health and safety.  Let’s keep looking out for each other, wear your mask, observe physical distancing and wash your hands regularly. Have a safe Christmas everyone,” said Garganera.

As of December 22, Cebu City is back to 104 active COVID-19 cases. —FPL (FREEMAN)