By Nestor Abrematea
TACLOBAN CITY- Residents of this city mark June 30, its 129 Tacloban City fiesta in honor of Sr.Sto.Niño de Tacloban, patron saint of Leyte.
Naval Bishop Emeritus Filomeno G. Bactol, DD, will be the main concelebrated fiesta mass celebrant at 9:30 in the morning at the Sto.Niño Church to be jampacked by hundreds of devotees.
Bishop Bactol, himself former parish priest of Sto.Niño, will be concelebrated by more than 100 priests from the Archdiocese of Palo and bishops from the nearby dioceses of Leyte and Samar.
Palo Archbishop John F. Du will be the main celebrant in the afternoon fiesta mass following the fluvial around San Pedro Bay to San Juanico bridge and land procession from the Tacloban City Port Area to major thoroughfares of the city.
Naval Bishop Rex C. Ramirez is the vesper eve mass celebrant.
Tacloban City has its different date of Sto.Niño fiesta celebration as legend has it that the image of the Sto.Niño was lost when it caught fire off Simirara in Romblon while being brought to Manila for refurbishing and Tacloban, then a barangay of Basey, Samar was hit by cholera with a number of people died.
When the image arrived in Tacloban City, the cholera epidemic stopped and residents started celebrating the fiesta in honor of Sto.Niño de Tacloban which is also the patron saint of the entire Leyte province.