As the Catholic Church's 51st International Eucharistic Congress formally starts today at the Plaza Independencia, several roads near the venue will be closed to traffic to give way to thousands converging for a mass.
For the past days, traffic authorities have been busy announcing the road closure schedules for IEC events to forewarn motorists and the riding public. These road closures near the IEC venues will run for a week to prioritize the participants.
As for the security, thousands of policemen have been deployed to secure the venues. Authorities are not taking any chances as they heighten alert status, considering the many church officials and the thousands from all over the world participating in the congress.
In fact, the intensified alert has already been implemented since the annual celebration of the Fiesta Señor in Cebu City. Hundreds of policemen from outside Cebu who arrived to help secure the Sinulog have remained in their posts for the duration of the IEC.
As Cebu hosts one of the major events of the church, all eyes will focus on how the congress will fare. So security plays a very vital role in its success. That is why the authorities are calling for everyone's cooperation.
Any untoward incident that jeopardizes the safety of the participants will certainly create a bad image for Cebu and the Cebuano people. It will surely deal a huge blow to the effort making Cebu the hub of international conventions and conferences.
However, we are very confident that Cebu can pull off another success. If Cebu was able to host last year's series of ministerial meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit without a single glitch, there's no doubt that it can successfully set the stage for the IEC.
Cebu has been chosen as the IEC host considering the fact that it is Asia's cradle of Christianity. Being the place where the seeds of the Catholic religion were sowed almost five centuries ago, no other site worthy of hosting the major event than Cebu itself.