“Pray for renewal, truth for all,” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said in his homily during the 6am Sinulog Pontifical Mass at the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu church yesterday.
“Before the Lord we should feel “small”, we have nothing to brag about,” Palma explained.
The archbishop also urged the Catholic faithful to pray for priests especially since 2018 is the Year of the Clergy of Consecrated Life. He also reminded the people to continue to be prayerful just like the late Cebuano Archbishop Teofilo Camomot who is a candidate for sainthood.
Despite the slight drizzle, the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu church was filled with devotees.
Meanwhile, Senior Supt. Renato Dugan, chief Police Community Relations Officer in Central Visayas, said no untoward incidents were reported, at the time of this writing yesterday afternoon, and the crowd estimate was 1mn which is relatively similar to that in 2017.
Like last year, the Sinulog grand parade started in Barangay Carreta going to the Cebu City Sports Complex in Fuente Osmena.
Dugan told Manila Times that cellphone signals shutdown in specific routes of the Sinulog parade brought positive impact in terms of security measures especially on possible bombing incidents.
 The National Telecommunications Commission turned off the signal in some cell sites of the Sinulog route between 2pm and 6pm on Saturday and 8am until further notice yesterday.
Law enforcement augmentation from different towns and cities in Cebu was placed at 7,672 including members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.