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Monday, January 10, 2005
Thousands attend Black Nazarene procession
MANILA -- Hundreds of thousands of barefooted devotees inched their way through Manila Sunday for an annual procession honoring a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ after police said they had foiled an attempt by Islamic militants to bomb the festival.
More than 2,000 police - double last year's number - 14 ambulances, six fire trucks, bomb-sniffing dogs and hundreds of civilian volunteers were deployed along the route of the tumultuous procession in Manila's Quiapo district honoring the Black Nazarene, a wooden life-size statue brought from Mexico by Spaniards in 1606.
The heightened security came after police on Saturday filed charges of illegal possession of explosives and firearms against five men who allegedly planned to bomb the procession.
Terrorists?
The five men were among 17 people taken into custody Thursday in a raid on an Islamic center where homemade bombs and an array of weapons were found, said Senior Superintendent Federico Laciste, chief of Manila's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
The 12 others, including three women, were released without charges.
Laciste said the five men allegedly belonged to a terrorist group called Hukbong Khalid Trinidad or Khalid Trinidad Army, part of the clandestine Rajah Solaiman Movement.
He said the group planned to set off bombs during the procession, which attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees, including Vice President Noli de Castro.
JI link
A police intelligence report last year said the Jemaah Islamiyah-linked Rajah Solaiman Movement primarily seeks converts to Islam in the Philippines' predominantly Roman Catholic north to carry out terror attacks.
"We have pre-empted their plan to plant a bomb," Metro Manila police chief Avelino Razon said shortly before the start of Sunday's procession.
He said police would remain vigilant because "terrorists are just waiting for the moment that we let down our guard, and that is when they would strike."
Mobile police "satellite command posts" were set up along the route, Razon said, as policemen said they were especially watching out for unattended or abandoned boxes that might contain explosives.
500T devotees
Superintendent Romulo Sapitula said about 500,000 devotees jammed Quiapo to take part in the festival.
Sapitula, speaking as the statue was not yet halfway through its route, said the celebration had so far been peaceful.
The statue was paraded around key streets, passing first through Plaza Mirando then Villalobos, and Hidalgo Street.
He said some 20 devotees had to be treated by paramedics after fainting or sustaining minor injuries due to the jostling of the crowd.
The sea of people, mostly men, pressed forward in hopes of touching the statue or grab a piece of the rope used to pull the cart it was in to ask special favors or give thanks for granted ones.
Heavy traffic
Thousands of devotees had flocked to Quiapo church even the night before the feast, in preparation for Sunday's procession.
Volunteer marshals of the church brought out the image of the Black Nazarene around 1:45 p.m. on Sunday.
It was placed back in the church before sunset.
The march caused heavy traffic along the major thoroughfares in Manila like España, Lerma, Palanca, Isetann service road, Arlegui and Quezon Boulevard.
National Capital Region Police Office Chief Avelino Razon Jr. commended the 2,000 policemen who were securing the celebration.
He said the feast was observed peacefully. (AP/With JFF)
(January 10, 2005 issue)
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