(Photos courtesy of the Office of Civil Defense-National Capital Region)

QUEZON CITY (PIA) -- Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MMDRRMC) Senior Vice Chairperson and Office of Civil Defense NCR Regional Director Romulo M. Cabantac, Jr has congratulated and expressed his gratitude to all the members of the regional council, Quiapo Church officials, and Manila City DRRM Council members involved in ensuring a safe, peaceful and meaningful Feast of the Black Nazarene this year.

The MMDRRMC activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for the the Black Nazarene event in Manila, where over 1.2 million devotees participated in the different activities to celebrate the annual feast.

Through the Office of Civil Defense-NCR, Manila City DRRM Office, Emergency Cluster and the MMDRRMC Regional Agencies’ Operation Center raised its alert status to RED from Jan. 6 to 10 relevant to the monitoring and consequence management needed.

The Incident Command System (ICS) was also utilized. The virtual EOC was also set up to ensure close coordination with the members of the council at the same time ensuring the strict observance of minimum health protocols.

The Operations Center or Multi-Agency Coordinating Center (MACC) was established at the 6th floor Pope Benedict Building, Quiapo Church-Manila. OCD NCR Operations Section personnel rendered 24 hours duty at the MACC while closely monitoring all related activities to the feast.

Prompt coordination with the duty team at the OCD NCR Operations Center for the preparation of relevant reports was observed. MMDRRMC Member Agencies and concerned Local DRRM Offices also submitted their preparedness measures for the feast.

As of 4 am of Jan. 10, the MMDRRMC has not recorded any casualties and untoward incident in observance of the feast. Members of the council and concerned local DRRM offices continuously monitor the situation.

The Feast of the Black Nazarene or Traslacion, one of the annual mass gatherings being monitored by the MMDRRMC yearly, was modified to ensure that the celebration will be safe from the spread of COVID-19 virus. The traditional “Pahalik” was replaced with “Pagpupugay” where devotees pay their respect to the Black Nazarene. 

Based on the data released by Quiapo Church Command Center, a total of 1,268,435 devotees joined the celebrations from Jan. 6 to 10.

"This is far from the 5 million total projected during the pre-pandemic Traslacion, but double the number during the pandemic Traslacion," Fr. Earl Valdez, Quiapo Church spokesperson, said in a statement Tuesday.

A total of 925,782 devotees went to the Quiapo Church while those who were at the Quirino Grandstand were 254,653 devotees.

Another 88,000 faithful joined the "Walk of Faith" procession where they walked from the Quirino Grandstand to the Quiapo Church on Jan. 8

Data also showed that most devotees came on feast day itself on Monday at 709,945 while another 409,785 people showed up the day before.

On Jan. 6, the first Friday of the year, some 95,160 devotees participated while devotees on Jan. 7 and 10 were 49,175 and 4,370, respectively. (PIA-NCR)