Tight security up for Nazarene feast in Cagayan de Oro

DEVOTION A father brings his child to touch the revered image of the Jesus Nazareno in a Catholic parish in downtown Cagayan de Oro City on Jan. 6, ahead of the Jan. 9 feast day. —Menzie Montes/Contributor

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — Authorities here have set up elaborate security preparations to ensure the safety of up to 20,000 devotees expected to join the traditional “traslacion,” or procession, during the feast of Jesus Nazareno on Thursday.

Msgr. Perseus Cabunoc, rector of the Jesus Nazareno Parish church, said the security preparations undertaken by the local government and law enforcement forces would ensure the safety of the devotees.

Next to Quiapo in Manila, this city has become the main pilgrimage destination for Nazarene devotees from Mindanao and even the Visayas, especially for those joining the procession, which is a form of penance as it emulates Christ trudging on Calvary.

READ: PH Red Cross says help stations ready for Nazareno 2025

Replica

The Nazarene procession started here in 2009 after the Minor Basilica in Quiapo gifted the local church with a replica of the statue of the dark-skinned Jesus bearing the cross. This is kept at the Jesus Nazareno Parish church, which was also declared the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Black Nazarene.

The devotees here during the Nazarene feast day reached over 100,000 in 2023, but the crowd has radically gone down to just over 18,000 last year.

Cabunoc said they were expecting from 15,000 to 20,000 devotees this year, mostly from local communities and those from Zamboanga del Norte, Surigao, and Bukidnon provinces, and Iligan City.

The nine-day novena for the Nazarene feast started on Dec. 31, 2024, and will end on Jan. 8, the same day the image will be transferred to the Saint Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral for a vigil until midnight.

At 4 a.m. on Thursday, a Mass will be celebrated before the 6 a.m. traslacion along a 2.5-kilometer route from the cathedral to the Jesus Nazareno Parish church, expected to take two hours.

Police Lt. Col. Nerfe Valmoria, operations chief of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office, said they would mobilize up to 500 police officers, village watchmen, and Philippine Coast Guard and Army personnel to secure the route, the cathedral, and the parish church.