ICC Note: Philippines heightens security ahead of the procession of the Black Nazarene, expected to be joined by millions of devotees next Tuesday. Although there has been no terrorist threat as of this time, the authorities want an accident free event. Drones and snipers stand ready to protect the crowd. Every Jan. 9, the annual feast day, millions gather to celebrate the Feast of the Black Nazarene by taking part in the spectacular religious procession known locally as the “Traslacion,” during which devotees carry a replica of the statue across Manila.

01/05/2018 (PhilStar) – Should there be a threat on the safety and security of the multitude of devotees, the Church might be forced to suspend the procession of the image of the Black Nazarene on Jan. 9, officials said yesterday.

“In case of a worst case scenario, the Quiapo Church has a Plan A and Plan B that would be implemented with the help of the Philippine National Police (PNP). We will determine what action should be taken. We are prepared,” Quiapo Church parochial vicar Fr. Douglas Badong said.

He cited an earthquake or an explosion, depending on the degree of damage and the situation, might force them to order the annual Traslacion (procession) to stop.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde however gave assurance that there is no terror threat to the holding of the Traslacion.

“Though we monitored no terrorist threat as of this time, we cannot relax or lower our guard… We want the occasion to be free of any trouble,” Albayalde said.

Badong, for his part, said there has never been an instance where Church authorities postponed or suspended the centuries-old tradition of procession of the Black Nazarene because of a security threat.

“The hours of the procession just got longer, but it was never cancelled,” he said. The Traslacion 2017 recorded the longest procession at 21 hours.

Quiapo Church rector Monsignor Hernando Coronel said they are hoping and praying for the best, but also to prepare for the worst possible scenario.

“We are also thinking of the possible worst case scenario, whether man-made or natural. It could be an earthquake, a tsunami or fire. There are disaster scenarios and we trained for that under our incident command… We think that we learn from the experiences and lessons on how to prepare, how to cope with these calamities, eventualities and hoping we could prevent some of them,” Coronel said.

Millions of devotees are expected to join the procession of the Black Nazarene next Tuesday.

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