Security for Black Nazarene feast doubled–Estrada, MPD
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Tuesday assured the public and devotees that security measures would be doubled to prevent incidents in this year’s Black Nazarene procession.
In a statement, Estrada said the Manila Police District has already established an incident command system to deal with the huge crowd in the hours-long procession on Monday, which is expected to draw millions of people.
“We have made all the proper preparations and final coordination with different agencies involved in the traslacion. We can say we are ready to deal with emergencies,” Estrada said.
MPD director Senior Supt. Joel Coronel said the incident command system, an all-hazard management body composed of local agencies and private sector partners, “has been filled up and all coordination and preparations have been completed.”
“We have established our incident command system and our contingency preparation, nag-i-improve pa tayo (we would still be improving) in time, getting better every year and hopefully this is not the last of the series of adjustments,” Coronel said.
“Our coordination is better than ever with different agencies, with the rescue management office, DOH (Department of Health), DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways), MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority), PNP (Philippine National Police) and private organizations like Red Cross,” he added.
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The MPD chief said among the tasks of the incident command system are crowd control, emergency health response, and planning and logistics.
Coronel said the police are expecting at least 15 million devotees to participate in this year’s six-day celebration, including around two million who will be joining the traslacion. CDG/rga
