“Totus Tuus”, the week-long event to mark the 31st anniversary of the visit of Blessed John Paul II to Bacolod City on Feb 20, 1981 kicks off today with the arrival Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines Giuseppe Pinto.

The Bacolod City Police has formed a special Task Force led by Supt. Alexander Ermeo to ensure the security of the Apostolic Nuncio during his visit.

City Police Operations branch chief, Senior Insp. Lester Leada, said 90 policemen from BCPO will be deployed at the San Sebastian Cathedral while about 20 policemen from the Negros Occidental police provincial office will secure the Provincial Capitol lagoon.

Leada said that portions of Rizal-Luzuriaga streets and Rizal-San Juan streets will also be temporarily closed today. He said northbound vehicles could use Cuadra Street while southbound ones may use San Juan Street as alternate routes.

The Papal Nuncio is expected to arrive at the Bacolod-Silay Airport at 9 a.m. today. Students, teachers and residents are expected to line the streets from Silay to Bacolod cities to welcome him, Leada said.

SECURITY

City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said that they will also deploy plain clothes policemen to watch for crime elements who may took advantage of the occasion.

De la Paz said a crowd control management team will also be on stand-by to guide those who will welcome the Papal Nuncio in the streets.

“Totus Tuus”, was the papal motto of JPII which means “I’m yours completely”. The event is in response to his call to make family the focal point of evangelization, Msgr. Victorino Rivas, vicar general of the Diocese of Bacolod and director of the Pope John Paul II National Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Bacolod City, said.

FAMILY LIFE

“A beautiful marriage and family life filled with love can influence the development society in the areas of politics and economics,” Rivas said.

Their week-long celebration will center on the national conference on nuptial theology titled “Blessed John Paul’s Nuptial Theology: Call to Family Ministry, Agenda for Humanity” at Planta Centro Bacolod Hotel.

Fr. Jose Granados, vice president of the Pontifico Istituto Giovani Paulo II Per Studi su Matrimonio E Famiglia, Rome, who will be the keynote speaker of the conference, yesterday said JP II just before his death, said he would like to be remembered as a pope of family and life.

JP II believed that the family is crucial for the evangelization of the church, because the family is the way in which the Church is present at the heart of society, Granados said.

HEALTHIER IN PHL

The situation of the family in the Philippines is healthier than in other parts of the world, he also noted.

He thanked Rivas for the great work the institute for marriage and family in Bacolod is doing in carrying out the mission of the Church.

About 200 participants are expected to attend the national conference on nuptial theology, among them the Diocesan directors and executive officers of the Commission on Family and Life, heads of Family Life Movements, heads of Catholic schools, Family Life ministers, and clergy, Rivas said.

ACTIVITIES SCHEDULED

The event will start with a welcome dinner at the Planta Hotel tonight where the Apostolic Nuncio will deliver a message, while Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra and Negrops Occidental Gov. Alffredo Marañon Jr. will deliver welcome messages.

On Tuesday speeches will be delivered by the Archbishop of Cebu Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines, and Granados.

There will be numerous other speeches throughout the conference that ends on February 17.

The Centro Giovanni Paolo II, which will serve as “retreat and resort facility” in Brgy. Punta Taytay will be officially launched tomorrow night, and the Centro Giovanni Paolo II Research Center at Lacson Street will be opened on Wednesday.*CPG/APN

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