The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will deploy thousands of their personnel to secure the Feast of Jesus Nazareno on Thursday, January 9, particularly during the highly-anticipated ‘Traslacion’ or the procession of the revered image of Jesus Nazareno from Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church in Manila.
The AFP Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) will field around 1,000 personnel while the PCG will mobilize its Coast Guard District-NCR equipped with watercraft and rubber boats to assist the 14,000-strong security contingent from the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“In coordination with the organizer of the activity, the PCG will provide a medical team in the designated area where we will be tasked to man the post. Our personnel will also be stationed near the Pasig River to ensure quick response if ever there will be untoward incident. We all know that the thick crowd might cause anybody to fall from the bridge along the procession route,” PCG spokesperson Commodore Algier Ricafrente said in a radio interview over dzBB on Sunday, Jan. 5.
“Our personnel will be on standby onboard small boats and rubber boats to guard all the bridges along the procession route,” he added.
Meanwhile, Colonel Rommel Recinto, deputy commander of AFP’s JTF-NCR, said personnel from the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy, and Philippine Marine Corps will be tasked to ensure the safety of devotees who will participate in the traditional “Pahalik” at the Quirino Grandstand.
Military personnel will also be conducting patrol in entry nd exit points all over Metro Manila to ensure the safety of devotees participating in the Traslacion.
According to the AFP, one battalion of Marines will also be placed on standby for rapid deployment if the need arises.
One of the most popular religious traditions in the Catholic faith, the Feast of Jesus Nazareno traditionally draws millions of devotees, and this year’s crowd is expected to further increase compared to previous years as the nation has fully recovered from the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
200K passengers in port
Meanwhile, the PCG estimated that there would be around 170,000 to 200,000 passengers in ports on Sunday, the final weekend before the return of most of the workers and students back to their work or classes.
“Based on the statistics last year, we expect around 170,000 to 200,000 passengers in ports today (Sunday). Since we started our monitoring during the Christmas season, the daily average of passengers that we have accommodated in ports nationwide does not reach below 160,000 except on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day because most of the passengers did not travel to celebrate the holiday,” Ricafrente said.
The PCG spokesman admitted that the schedule of trips in ports has yet to return to normal due to the surge of passengers.
“In our estimate, this surge may last until Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully in the coming days, the number of passengers will not be that high so that the trips could return to normal,” Ricafrente noted.