Divisoria roads closed as Manila gears up for Sto. Niño feast

The start of the celebration will be hinted by a line of banderitas (flaglets) throughout the district and streamers with the popular chant: “Viva El Sto. Niño!” decorated on the archways of streets and there will be masses beginning on the eve of the fiesta. (File photo: Jeck M./Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

MANILA — Some roads along the city’s commercial district of Divisoria will be closed from Friday to Sunday in line with the feast of the Santo Niño.

In a radio interview, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said just like what happened during the Traslacion or the procession of the Black Nazarene, no road obstructions will also be tolerated along the streets of Recto, Ylaya-Tondo, and Candelaria.

“Kakailanganin po ng syudad ng Maynila yung area na iyon para sa kapistahan ng Sto. Niño ng umaga. Ang nangyayari po kasi diyan, pagdating ng ala-singko ng umaga, kailangan kami mag-flushing (Manila [the public] needs that area to celebrate the feast of Sto. Niño in the morning. What happens there really is at 5 a.m., we need to do [water] flushing),” Domagoso said.

Domagoso said this is to maintain cleanliness in these areas.

“Ano yan eh, may karne, isda, gulay, kumakatas yan sa kalsada, kaya every morning of our lives, we’re dealing with it every day (In those areas, the stench from the meat, fish, vegetables flow through our roads. It’s a daily struggle for us),” he added.

The mayor wants clean roads to pave way for a solemn festival as thousands of Catholic devotees would gather at the Tondo Church in Manila to honor the image of the Holy Child Jesus Christ.

In the past years when Tondo’s waterways and tributaries were more pleasant, the residents celebrated the feast with a grand fluvial procession.

The start of the celebration will be hinted by a line of banderitas (flaglets) throughout the district and streamers with the popular chant: “Viva El Sto. Niño!” decorated on the archways of streets and there will be masses beginning on the eve of the fiesta.

Processions are also held in the morning and before sunset through main thoroughfares on the actual feast day which falls on the third Sunday of January.

It occasionally stops for a fireworks display and the release of doves.