Although it's all of five days before the Big Day, all signs of a festive mood are all over the place ushering the start of the fiesta season in Bohol. The town of Corella is the spearhead of the pack with its fiesta celebration falling on this day, April 27, but the main focus is this city's fiesta observance, which will be marked on May 1. All over the city, the trappings of a grand celebration are in place like the ubiquitous “banderetas” crossing overhead along the city's main thoroughfares. City Hall has its emblem etched in this year's city fiesta with Saulog sa Tagbilaran, a package of nightly activities starting from April 22 until May 1. With Tagbilaran having a new man at the helm, City Mayor John Geesnell “Baba” Yap leaves no stone unturned to make the celebration as exciting as ever.

During Yap's fiesta watch, at least two forms of entertainment were in place – one at downtown and in the uptown part of this city. The uptown part triggers a controversy when City Hall ordered the closure effective last Monday the rolling ball, a form of gambling that attracted a lot of customers during its nightly operations. Hiding under the legal cover of the “carnaval,” the rolling ball became an attractive game of chance to incorrigible gamblers catching the attention of city hall watchers. The carnaval remains in operations with its usual rides. The downtown entertainment segment enjoys a smooth patronage as it is made of pure and wholesome fun. Actually, Thursday's city fiesta will be highlighted by the religious event as wont any celebration.

The religious highlight is the pontifical mass at 9:30 AM with The Most Rev. Leonardo Medrozo, D.D., bishop of the diocese of Tagbilaran as the main celebrant while all priests led by Msgr. Jeffrey Malanog, vicar-general of the St. Joseph Cathedral, as concelebrants. The St. Joseph Cathedral is the center of today's religious activities. The cathedral in whose honor the patron saint is named undergoes a massive retrofitting job of its exterior and interior parts after some of its columns suffered cracks as a result of the October 15, 2013 earthquake. Several churches in Bohol also suffered partial and total damages. While other Bohol churches crumbled to the ground resulting from the force of the earthquake, parishioners in this city are lucky to enjoy the blessings of having the cathedral suffering only minor damage.