The “Traslacion,” or the annual religious procession of the image of the Black Nazarene from Quirino Grandstand back to Quiapo Church in Manila on Friday, Jan. 9, has remained generally peaceful and orderly, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced.

Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr., acting PNP chief, said initial observations showed a generally peaceful situation despite the massive turnout of devotees that has reached 698,500 as of 7 p.m., according to the monitoring of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Authorities expect this year’s crowd will exceed last year’s 8.1 million participants.

“So far, the Traslacion is running smoothly and is generally peaceful. The crowd is large but most devotees are disciplined. Our police personnel are fully deployed and visible along the route. We are maintaining a high level of alertness to ensure everyone’s safety,” Nartatez said.

As of the monitoring period, the bulk of the crowd -- 405,100 devotees -- was monitored along the processional route on Arlegui Street as the carriage carrying the venerated image of the Black Nazarene slowly made its way to Fraternal Street. There were 82,000 devotees at the Quiapo Church; 120,000 on Nepomuceno to Carcer/FR Hidalgo Streets;  and 65,000 on Palanca Street to Arlegui Street, while others were dispersed elsewhere.

Nartatez, together with Police Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Aberin, regional director of NCRPO, inspected the Quirino Grandstand early morning on Friday to assess conditions on the ground and check the readiness of police units.

He described crowd behavior and overall safety as “orderly and manageable” as of this writing.

Nartatez is expected to continue monitoring developments from the PNP Command Center, which serves as the central operations hub during the event, at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Around 18,000 police personnel were deployed for the event and areas of deployment were divided into 13 segments: Quirino Grandstand/Katigbak to Padre Burgos/Round Table; Round Table to Ayala Taft/Ayala Boulevard; Ayala Taft/Ayala Boulevard to Mercedez Street; Mercedes Street to Ayala Bridge; Ayala Bridge to Carlos Palanca Ilalim; C. Palanca Ilalim to Arlegui corner Quezon Blvd. North;

Arlegui to Duque de Alba to Castillejos Street; Arlegui corner Nepomuceno to Carcer/FR Hidalgo; San Sebastian/Bilivid Viejo to Gonzalo Puyat; ZP De Guzman to FR Hidalgo; FR Hidalgo to Quezon Blvd. corner Arlegui Street; C. Palanca Ilalim to Villalobos Street; and Quiapo Church.

Nartatez said security preparations and crowd control measures were working as intended.

“Based on our initial assessment, the security measures are effective. We are seeing orderly crowd control and quick police response. Coordination with other government agencies and volunteers is continuous. We are closely monitoring the situation and are ready to adjust our deployment as needed,” he noted.

So far, Nartaez said no major security concerns have been recorded so far.

“There were only minor incidents such as cases of fatigue and medical concerns. These were immediately addressed. No major security incident has been recorded so far,” he said.

As of writing, a total of 351 incidents were recorded throughout the procession, mostly involving minor medical concerns such as devotees and even hijos passing out due to exhaustion and heat. Tuaño said they were promptly attended to by medical teams on the ground.

Meanwhile, at least one fatality was reported after a media personnel suffered from cardiac arrest while covering the Traslacion.

Citing reports from the Manila Police District (MPD), the PNP identified the fatality as Itoh Son, a photojournalist for "Saksi".

The photojournalist had reportedly come from another assignment before heading to Manila Police District Station 5 near the Quirino Grandstand ahead of the Traslacion kickoff early Tuesday morning. Upon arriving at the station entrance, the journalist collapsed allegedly due to extreme exhaustion, and was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead by the attending doctor.

The fatality reportedly had flu in the past few days but he still continued covering the Traslacion, as well as pre-Traslacion events including the “Pahalik.”

According to the PNP, police units will maintain their deployment until the procession ends as Nartatez thanked devotees for their cooperation.

“To all devotees, thank you very much for your cooperation and faith. Let us remember that this is a religious event. Let us practice discipline, respect, and concern for one another,” he said.