Despite threats, zero casualty was achieved in the 22 hours and 19 minutes of Traslacion of the Black Nazarene during its festivity on Monday
There was no casualty recorded in the 22 hours long Traslacion as part of the 2017 commemoration of the festivity of the Black Nazarene on January 9, Monday.
There were terror and criminal threats from terrorist groups in Mindanao before the start of the procession, also called Traslacion, but there was no casualty from among the thousands of Catholic devotees who joined and guided the centuries-old image of the Black Nazarene until it was peacefully and safely back to its home, the Basilica Minore in Quiapo district in Manila City.
The 2017 Traslacion started around 5:30 in the morning of Monday at the Quirino Grandstand at the Luneta and the carriage carrying the cross-bearing Jesus Christ reached Plaza Miranda through Villalobos Street at around 3:10 dawn of Tuesday.
Counting time until the Hijos de Nazareno (Sons of the Nazarene) has guided the carriage until it has entered into the church gate at 3:27 in the morning, the Traslacion lasted 22 hours and 19 minutes, about an hour longer than the 2016 procession.
According to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), who guarded the security, there were no untoward incidents in this year’s Traslacion, although there were at least one thousand devotees who were treated for various conditions.
The injured incurred minor wounds, experienced dizziness and fainting spells.
In 2016 Traslacion, there were two casualties recorded.
The yearly Traslacion of the Black Nazarene is regarded as the biggest religious gathering of devotees in the predominantly Catholic Philippines. The festivity commemorates the first parafe transferring the revered icon of the Christ Jesus from a church in Intramuros to the Quiapo Church in the city of Manila on January 9 in 1967.
Most of the Filipino devotees believe that touching or getting close to the life-sized statue, which came to the country in the early 1600s when the Philippines was a colony of Spain, can lead to the healing of what are believed to be incurable ailments, and might also bring good fortune.
The devotees wore T-shirts printed with God’s Fifth Commandment —“Thou shall not kill” — relative to the series of killings in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte has assumed office.
The series of killings, mostly considered as extrajudicial killings, have become part of national issues because it has become so rampant following the war waged against illegal drugs.
