MANILA, Philippines — In a move to ease the movement of the andas during the traslacion of the Black Nazarene, over 2,000 policemen will form an “andas wall” in front and on the sides of the religious figure.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Brigadier General Debold Sinas said over 13,500 police personnel and another 3,000 personnel from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will be deployed for the religious event.
A total of 2,144 personnel will be forming the andas wall, Sinas said.
To give devotees access to the Black Nazarene, the back side of the andas will not be covered by the human wall.
“Isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit nagtagal ang procession, dahil sinasalubong. Wala nang maka-forward. So ang gagawin namin, lahat na from point one hanggang sa dulo, may mga pulis na yan to prevent na crowd na mag-stand by doon sa dadaanan ng andas,” Sinas said in a press briefing in Quiapo, Manila.
(The reason why the procession takes long to finish is because people wait for the andas and block the front side of the andas. No one can move forward. So what we will do is there will be police stationed from point one to the end of the route to prevent the crowd from standing by the route.)
Sinas added that forceful access to the ropes attached to the andas will not be allowed.
“Bawal yung isang grupo na papasok at makikipag-agawan kasi doon maraming aksidente,” Sinas said.
(We are not allowing a group to suddenly join and forcefully take the ropes because that’s when a lot of accidents take place.)
Further, Sinas said that “tambol” (drums) will also not be allowed so that devotees can instead focus on reflection during rosary prayers.
The 2019 procession lasted for 21 hours, leaving Quirino Grandstand at 5:08 a.m. and arriving past 2 a.m. the following day.