The entire country is expected to experience light to moderate rains the whole week, the weather bureau said Sunday.

Due to bad weather, at least 20 flights from Manila to destinations, including Legazpi and Naga cities in the Bicol region, Catarman in Northern Samar and Basco in Batanes, were canceled or diverted Sunday.

The death toll from floods and landslides in Bicol, Visayas and Mindanao in the past few weeks has risen to 51, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

Damage to agriculture, infrastructure and private property has reached P1.6 billion.

In Cebu City, President Benigno Aquino III asked Filipinos to pray for the nearly 1.5 million people affected by floods, promising government aid to feed and temporarily house more than 400,000 displaced people.

Despite the rains, tens of thousands of devotees of the Señor Sto. Niño and revelers poured into the streets of Cebu City and Kalibo in Aklan for the Sinulog Festival and the 799th Ati-Atihan Festival.

Touching, kissing image

It had been raining for two straight days in Cebu, but thousands of devotees flocked to the Basilica del Sto. Niño and lined up for hours just for a chance to touch and kiss the Holy Child’s image.

Throngs of revelers packed the sidewalks and streamed into the streets, unmindful of the rain, as they watched dancers in colorful costumes (with each contingent numbering from 50 to over a hundred), floats and higantes (giants made of paper machés) snake through the parade route.

At least two million people poured onto the streets of Cebu to watch and take part in the Sinulog Festival and about 200,000 in Aklan for the Ati-atihan, according to crowd estimates by the police.

Newly installed Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said millions of Catholics were Sto. Niño devotees because they considered the Holy Child as the epitome of someone who needed help from other people.

“When we look at the Sto. Niño, we are reminded that as a little child, he needs the love of Joseph, Mary and the love of other people. He emphasizes that he needs others. (In the same breadth), the province needs the city, the city needs the province just as provinces need each other,” Palma said.

Quoting a song, he said, “People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.”

Wet dancers, spectators

The heavy downpour in Cebu that began at dawn drenched the dancing contingents but they still continued to perform their dance routines on the street—to the delight of the equally wet spectators.

Senior Supt. Melvin Ramon Buenafe, Cebu City police director, said 2,000 police personnel were deployed at the parade route, excluding soldiers who helped in securing the event.

Movie and television personalities from rival networks GMA and ABS-CBN lent their star power to the Sinulog Festival and boarded their floats that took part in the parade.

Drums, lyres

In Kalibo, the beating of drums and the melodic sounds of lyres echoed until past midnight as residents and tourists joined the street dancing, popularly known as “sadsad,” especially around Pastrana Park, the town’s public plaza.

Thousands of devotees also visited Kalibo Cathedral to pray before the Sto. Niño image and for the traditional “Pahilot or Paepak” in which those seeking cure for sickness join a healing rite of the Sto. Niño of Kalibo.

Supt. Samuel Nacion, officer in charge of the provincial police, said the crowd in the main streets reached around 200,000. The revelers included foreign tourists, including those visiting Boracay Island and Filipinos residing in other countries.

Snake dance

On Saturday evening, the festivities shifted to Magsaysay Park where the traditional fireworks display was held at about 11 p.m. Thousands also joined the famous “snake dance” inside the park, which lasted until past midnight.

The festival ended with the traditional Mass held early in the morning and the religious procession and street dancing in the afternoon.

Edwin Trompeta, Western Visayas tourism director, said on Sunday that more groups joined the festival this year.

Pagan ritual

The Ati-Atihan Festival, considered the merriest and most fascinating of festivals and staged every second weekend of January, traces its roots to a pagan ritual of Aetas in the 13th century.

The pagan ritual was later transformed into a Christian tradition in the 18th century after a Spanish priest baptized 1,000 inhabitants of Kalibo. The name of the town is said to have been derived from “isa ka libo” (one thousand), referring to the number of those in the place who were baptized first.

The festivities will shift to Iloilo City this week for the Dinagyang Festival on Jan. 17-23, also in honor of the Sto. Niño.

More fatalities

Amid the rains in many parts of the country, the NDRRMC reported that it received reports of four more fatalities from floods.

In an interview with reporters in Camp Aguinaldo on Sunday afternoon, NDRRMC Executive Director Benito Ramos identified the four as Edgelenn Banjao, 29, and his father Librado, 57; and Antonieta Padilla, 36, and her son Jeremy, 17.

The Banjaos were reported missing on Jan. 12 when they tried to cross a river in Barangay Nibo, Manjuyod, Negros Oriental. Their bodies were found on Sunday, Ramos said.

The Padillas were reported missing on Jan. 11 when they tried to cross a spillway on a tricycle driven by Antonieta’s husband in Barangay Abante in Pamplona town in Negros Oriental. Their bodies were also found on Sunday.

Ramos said the NDRRMC received a report on Sunday that a motorized banca (boat) sank off Pandan town in Catanduanes province due to big waves. All but two of the 24 passengers have been rescued.

Ramos also reiterated his earlier warning to fishermen on the eastern seaboard, especially in Sorsogon, Albay, Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte and Catanduanes, to avoid setting out to sea.

The NDRRMC said that as of Sunday morning, a total of 1,580,543 people in 25 provinces had been affected by the floods.

Phil. Daily Inquirer