All security preparations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) are in place to secure this year’s procession on the Feast of the Black Nazarene or “Traslacion” on January 9 after it helped ensure a peaceful celebration of the New Year.
PNP spokesperson Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo said the final walkthrough of the procession route for the Traslacion 2025 was held last Dec. 27.
“Our monitoring will continue. The Ligtas Paskuhan monitoring will last until January 6 but there will be no let-up in our security preparations since after three days, we will have to deal with the Traslacion,” Fajardo said in an interview over Teleradyo Serbisyo on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1.
“The final walk-through for the Traslacion has been finished and it’s all systems go for the PNP,” she added.
The PNP will implement strict security protocols and procedures at the procession route from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church in Manila, according to Fajardo.
“We appeal to the public to cooperate and follow the protocols. We ask for understanding if there will be any inconvenience that will be caused by the security protocols but we are doing this for the safety of everybody,” she said.
According to the Manila Police District (MPD), around 14,000 police personnel will be deployed to ensure the safety of the millions of devotees expected to flock to the Quiapo Church to express their faith to the Black Nazarene.
Meanwhile, the nationwide celebration of the New Year’s welcome was “generally peaceful”, according to the PNP.
“Based on our overall assessment, no significant untoward incident occurred that could somehow disrupt the New Year’s celebration although there were several reports about fire-cracker-related injuries. As a whole, the celebration was generally peaceful and orderly,” Fajardo said.
From Dec. 16 to 6 p.m. of Dec. 31, the PNP recorded 20 cases of indiscriminate firing nationwide. The incidents were reported in the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon (Region 4A), Western Visayas (Region 6), Central Visayas (Region 7), Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9), and Northern Mindanao (Region 10).
Four individuals were injured due to these cases of indiscriminate firing.
Further, the PNP arrested 14 individuals tagged in these cases: 11 civilians, a police officer from Rizal province, a personnel of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor), and a security guard.
“Hopefully, there will be no additional cases. Compared to last year, there were also 20 cases of indiscriminate discharge of firearms,” Fajardo said.
Meanwhile, the PNP confiscated 593,000 illegal firecrackers which have a total value of P3.9 million.
“Our campaign will continue because there are instances that some sellers would continue to sell illegal firecrackers even after the New Year’s Day,” Fajardo noted.