CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 8 January) — Hundreds of police personnel were given last-minute instructions Monday afternoon, hours before their deployment to secure the “traslacion” of the Black Nazarene here, which is expected to gather a huge crowd of devotees.
Colonel Wilbur Salaguste, Philippine National Police – Region 10 (PNP-10) operations head, said the police officers would be deployed along the more than two kilometers stretch from the St. Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral to Jesus Nazareno parish church in Barangay Lapasan.
Salaguste said the police contingent coming from the provinces of Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental and Misamis Occidental are augmented by soldiers from the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division and the Philippine Coast Guard.
He said that at least 500 policemen would ring the coach carrying the “Callejeron” or the replica of the Black Nazarene while it is carried by devotees along the major streets of the city.
“Be gentle with the devotees. Do not lose your cool,” Salaguste told the police personnel who were given last-minute instructions at the PNP-10 regional headquarters in Camp Alagar here.
With last month’s bombing of a Catholic Mass in Marawi City at the back of their minds, Salaguete said they are taking no chances and have planned for the Black Nazarene security since December last year.
Salaguete said they expect the Black Nazarene procession to attract 150,000 to 200,000 devotees coming from all over Mindanao.
Salaguste said all communications services would be jammed as soon as the “traslacion” or the procession would start Tuesday morning.
The communication jamming would be lifted only as soon as the procession would reach the Jesus Nazareno parish, he said.
The Black Nazarene procession started in Cagayan de Oro only in 2009. It is a tamer version with that of Quiapo in Manila, but has become a major religious event in the city since then. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
