PRELUDE TO ‘TRASLACION’ Police officials are hoping the solemn and orderly thanksgiving processionof the Black Nazarene onTuesday will be replicated during the Jan.9 annual traslacion. –RICHARD A. REYES
Manila police now want to shorten the period of the “traslacion” of the Black Nazarene on Jan. 9 after the thanksgiving procession of the religious image from late Monday to early Tuesday took only less than two hours.
The “andas” or carriage carrying the blessed image left the Quiapo church at 11:45 p.m. on Monday and was back at 1:24 a.m. on Tuesday for a record one hour and 39 minutes after completing the 2.37-kilometer route, Quiapo church rector Msgr. Hernando Coronel said.
Last year’s thanksgiving procession lasted 10 hours and 22 minutes.
After the “generally peaceful” procession, Brig. Gen. Debold Sinas said they would recommend the same security plan for the annual traslacion or procession on Jan. 9, which is expected to draw more than 6 million devotees.
Sinas, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, however, admitted that this has yet to be approved by officials of the Quiapo church and leaders of the Hijos del Nazareno, the honor guards of the image during the annual procession.
According to Coronel, this is the “most solemn and orderly” thanksgiving procession, which marks the start of the nine-day novena Mass for the Black Nazarene.
The procession took off in an “orderly” manner, he said. “There were no ‘estandartes’ (banners) nor unruly mob that used to climb the andas.”
According to organizers, there were no reported incidents breaching law and order, security, and safety. There were, however, 18 people who were given medical attention, including eight policemen managing the crowd.
Changes were also made for this year’s thanksgiving procession. Gone were the ropes, which devotees used to pull the andas forward. Instead, priests and church servants led the andas as they prayed throughout the procession, while devotees holding candles walked behind them.“There are prayer stations along the way. Everyone had candles and was praying the rosary. The thanksgiving procession tried to emulate the Sto. Niño procession in Cebu and the Peñafrancia procession in Bicol,” Coronel said.
Sinas credited the devotees’ cooperation with police security measures for the much quicker pace of the procession.
“The reason why the procession had taken so long for years was because of the unruly crowd blocking off the route, especially those trying to grab a hold of the ropes moving the andas,” he said.
More than 9,000 policemen, along with soldiers and other volunteers, were deployed to the procession route to control the mammoth crowd of devotees pegged at 70,000. This was bigger than the more than 7,000 policemen deployed during last year’s traslacion.
During their dialogue with church leaders on Jan. 2, Sinas said he would propose to use the template used by NCRPO for the thanksgiving procession for the traslacion.
“The longer the time that we consume in the procession, the more it is susceptible to crimes and threats,” he said.
Sinas said he would also suggest banning devotees from clambering up the andas and wiping towels off the image throughout the 7-kilometer procession.“With this setup, we expect there would be no more Spider-Man who will hold on to the Black Nazarene,” the NCRPO chief said.
“Spectators will be limited at the sides, while devotees joining the procession will be placed at the back of andas, holding their candles while praying the rosary,” he added.