MANILA Mayor Honey Lacuna commended and conngratulated the devotees to the Black Nazarene, Quiapo Church authorities and the Manila Police District under Director PBGen. Andre Dizon, for the successful , peaceful and orderly activities related to the Feast of Black Nazarene and the ‘Walk of Faith’ that replaced the ‘Traslacion.’
“Peaceful sya. Of course, marami ang gusto pa rin ‘yung Traslacion but I think the Church is contemplating on adopting what we did this year. Siguro may tweeking lang kung hanggang saan namin pwede i-stretch yung Traslacion,” said Lacuna, who also personally attended the slated events to check on their flow and watched the passage of the ‘Walk of Faith’ along with city officials that included barangay chair Evelyn de Gyuzman.
Dizon also congratulated and praised the ‘excellent’ performance of the security forces from the MPD, Northern Police District, Southern Police District, Eastern Police District, Quezon City Police District, Bureau of Fire Protection, the Metro Manila Development Authority and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
“Walang nagtangkang manggulo. Ligtas po ang lahat,” Dizon said, as he reported a few minor cases like 88 devotees suffering hypertension; 16 high blood during the procession and 23 had high blood at the Quirino Grandstand.
Dizon said tthe “Walk of Faith” which was joined by around 90,000 devotees started at around 1:30 a.m. at the Quirino Grandstand and reached the Minor Basilica of Quiapo at 3:46 a.m. with Mayor Lacuna watching it personally as it passed by the Manila City Hall.
The MPD chief said the crowd did not reach 50 percent of those during pre-pandemic, saying: “It was because ‘yung image ng Black Nazarene, ‘yung de-karo, hindi natin natunghayan sa Traslacion.”
Lacuna said that hourly masses continue to be celebrated and that such will go on until 12 midnight of Monday.
As of 10 a.m., the estimated crowd at the Quirino Grandstand from 12 midnight was around 110,000 while in Quiapo, the attendees reached 120,000. (JERRY S. TAN)
