‘Traslacion’ 2020 the fastest in history and the most orderly – church leader
The “Traslacion” of the Black Nazarene on Thursday was the fastest in the history of the annual procession.
This year’s procession only lasted 16 hours.
The “andas” or carriage of the image left the Quirino Grandstand at past 4 a.m. and arrived at Quiapo Church just before 9 p.m.
“It’s the fastest... after seven years,” Father Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of Quiapo Church, said.
The procession in 2019 lasted for 21 hours.
Aside from being the fastest, the priest said this year’s procession was also the most orderly.
“Most orderly procession
so far,” said Badong.
“We can attribute this to the combined efforts of the church and the local government, the support of the mayor, the different government agencies, and the police,” he added.
As for the devotees who were disappointed because they were unable to go near the image due to the “andas wall,” Badong explained that the purpose of the formation was to make the procession orderly.
“They are not being prevented from going near the Nazareno. The andas wall was put up not to prevent them to go near but in order to make the procession route peaceful and orderly only,” he said.
The “andas wall” he was referring to was the phalanx of policemen positioned in front and on both sides of the carriage during the procession.
Palace apology
Malacañang likewise appealed for the understanding of devotees if they were not able to fully show their devotion during the “Traslacion” saying the Philippine National Police (PNP) only did what was necessary to keep everyone safe.
Devotees of the Black Nazarene expressed frustration over the PNP’s security measures during the procession, particularly the so-called “Andas Wall” and their wearing of combat boots which resulted in some devotees getting hurt.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles apologized if the devotees thought their devotion was breached but said the PNP only did what was best for everyone.
“They needed to put some order to secure our fellow Filipinos there so kaunting pasensiya na lang sa ating mga kababayan pero kailangan talagang gawin kasi kailangan talaga nating ma-secure (please understand that they needed to do what they did to secure the procession),” he said Friday.
“[It was] Necessary for us to do so humihingi na lang kami ng pasensiya sa ating mga kababayan (so we apologize). These times kasi you can never be too sure so medyo i-uplift (so we had to uplift our) security and public safety is our utmost concern,” he added.
Nograles said the devotees were likely just not used to the measures implemented by the PNP because it was the first time the police were involved in the “Traslacion.”
“If we implement something for the first time, usually ganoon talaga, maraming maninibago at magre-react (it’s only natural that they will react),” he said.
“At the end of the day, tignan na lang natin yung resulta. Naging successful naman, wala namang naging untoward incidents, wala namang untoward deaths, wala namang nangyari na totally disruptive or the loss of life (let’s just look at the result. It was successful. There were no untoward incidents, deaths, or anything totally disruptive),” he added.
The former lawmaker asked the devotees to also make the necessary adjustments but said the PNP and the organizers of the “Traslacion” can always reassess and find the middle ground. (With reports from Jel Santos and Joseph Almer Pedrajas)