THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Wednesday that no terror threat has been monitored in time for the annual procession of the Black Nazarene (traslacion) slated on January 9, in which millions of devotees are expected to attend.
"So far, wala tayong nare-receive na threat or any terror threat in relation to this traslacion. Hopefully we will have zero incidents here," NCRPO Director Oscar Albayalde said.
Albayalde said the 4,995 police personnel of the Manila Police District (MPD) will be augmented by the policemen from the NCRPO.
(Video by Al Padilla)
Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Dionardo Carlos said police personnel from Camp Crame have also been asked to prepare if additional troops are needed on the ground.
“We will remain on the full alert status. Pero depende pa ito sa current situation doon. The NCRPO will be in-charge for that,” he said.
The PNP was placed on full alert after President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of lawlessness following the Davao City night market bombing where at least 15 people were killed.
For his part, MPD Director Joel Coronel said their local government unit has established an incident command system (ICS) to monitor the event.
He said members of the ICS will be in-charge of the event’s command and control, public safety, crowd control, emergency health response and planning and logistics.
Coronel said they are expecting 15 million devotees of the Black Nazarene to flock the Quiapo church during its six-day feast celebration, where at least 1.5 million will be joining the procession.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said the use of drones for aerial shots will not be allowed during the conduct of the procession on Monday "to assure the safety and security of the devotees."
"We also ask from the media and the public not to have their drones in the air," Lieutenant Colonel Llewellyn Binasoy said.
"We would like to give this fair warning to everyone that part of the security measures is the 'no-fly' zone during the procession. There are regulations being followed. Kaya nga po ang pinapanawagan natin ngayon huwag na magpapalipad ng drones," he added. (Sunnex)