Police Lt. Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez, Jr., acting chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), commended all ground commanders and uniformed personnel for hard work and perseverance for the almost 31 hours of Black Nazarene procession this year, which is considered as the longest Traslacion.

And for Nartatez, this year’s Traslacion also proved once again the impressive show of faith and devotion of millions of Filipino devotees.

“On the part of the Philippine National Police, this is also a remarkable display of discipline, perseverance and commitment to our mandate of serving and protecting the people,” said Nartatez.

Despite the fatigue and inadequate sleep, Nartatez said ground commanders and personnel stood their ground made sure that both public safety and crowd control management were strictly implemented in their respective posts.

“I commend all our commanders and personnel on the ground not only for successful implementation of security measures but also for the excellent real-time adjustment of security plans that all led to the peaceful and meaningful Traslacion.I am so proud of you!” said Nartatez.

More than 18,000 policemen, some of them came from Central Luzon and Calabarzon region, were deployed to secure the annual religious activity.

The Traslacion started at around 4 a.m. on Friday, January 9 when the “andas” or carriage left the Quirino Grandstand and ended at 10:50 a.m. when the andas entered the Quiapo Church.

More than 7.3 million Filipino devotees were reported to have converge in various parts of the City of Manila based on drone shots and crowd estimates from the Quirino Grandstand, along the procession routes, and up to the destination at the Quiapo Church.

It took 30 hours and 50 minutes before the entire procession was concluded, the longest so far in the history of Traslacion.

Nartatez said the overall outcome of the operation reflected the commitment and professionalism of police personnel deployed before and during the event.

“Overall, we consider the Traslacion generally peaceful and orderly despite the sheer volume of devotees. This reflects the professionalism, discipline, and dedication of our police personnel who were deployed from the start of the series of activities up to the execution of the security plan,” Nartatez said.

He added that operational readiness played a key role in preventing major untoward incidents.

Nartatez, however, expressed sympathy over the reported three fatalities, a photojournalist covering the event and two devotees, during the religious procession due to medical problems.

Nartatez, on the other other hand, expressed gratitude to all personnel of other government agencies for augmentation forces, for the members of the media for hard work and extended duty to update the people, and the public for cooperation.

Despite the historic procession this year which lasted for almost 31 hours, Nartatez said the image of the Black Nazarene reached its destination at the Quiapo Church with no major incident or peace disturbance recorded.

There were no procession from 2021 to 2023 due to Covid-19 restrictions and in 2024, the entire Traslacion only lasted for 15 hours.

Nartatez, who was then the director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), oversaw the security implementation of the 2024 Traslacion which is considered as the fastest and the safest Black Nazarene procession.,

For this year, Nartatez said the early preparation and strict implementation of the security measures that include real-time adjustment on the ground, also helped a lot ensuring the peaceful Traslacion.

Nartatez earlier said that coordination meeting and preparations for this year’s Traslacion started as early as two months ago.

While there were recorded minor and injuries and minor medical issues, Nartatez said the almost 31-hour Traslacion was peaceful.