NCRPO says celebration of Black Nazarene procession ”successful”

January 10, 2020

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Friday said the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene was “successful”.

Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, the acting NCRPO director, said they were able to manage order from the Quirino Grandstand until they transferred the image of the Black Nazarene to the Quiapo residents.

“We finished the Traslacion and it’s very successful with no major untoward incident and it was faster and all that was planned was done,” Sinas said.

“We were able to implement our plan and succeeded in particular, opening the major boulevards… including the Ayala Bridge by 9:30 am,” he said.

Sinas admitted devotees managed to break the security walls they created but it still help in providing initial security in the areas they handled.

“We are happy that the Church leadership is happy with that… so with that we declare our coverage and security preparations for Traslacion 2020 as a success,” he said.

Despite questions about their presence during the procession, Sinas said it is their way to show their personnel they are with them as thousands of police personnel secured the procession.

“We lead our people. We set example. So we showed our people that we are there, we lead them. We did not (only) show off there,” he said.

Based on their record, from January 7 to January 10, they were able to charge 59 violators of different city ordinances and warn 14 others.

As per the unruly devotees who pushed portalets at the police, Sinas said they were not able to catch them. For those who destroyed the police mobile, he said they are checking CCTV footage to identify the perpetrators.

All the Metro Manila district directors thanked the public for their cooperation and appealed to them to observe a more orderly Traslacion next year.

Around three million devotees joined Thursday’s annual celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. Ella Dionisio/DMS