MANILA and Quiapo Church officials had expressed hope that devotees who would join the Traslacion making a comeback after three years would at least try to keep the procession route clean.
To their dismay, 468 metric tons of waste in areas where devotees of the Black Nazarene converged for the religious procession were collected by Manila’s Department of Public Safety from January 6 to 10.
“The total volume of garbage collected during the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene from January 6 to 10, 2024 has increased significantly as compared with the garbage collected from the previous years,” the city government said.
“A total of 158 truckloads and a volume of 468 metric tons was collected for the year 2024,” it added.
Last Tuesday alone, 128 metric tons of waste were collected from the Quirino Grandstand down to the routes leading to the Quiapo Church.
The Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park is the venue of the traditional “Pahalik” and the “Misa Mayor” during the religious festivities.
During the pre-pandemic Traslacion in 2020, city authorities collected a total of 265 metric tons of garbage, equivalent to 99 truckloads.
Among the garbage collected were single-use plastic bags, bottles, cups, cutlery and plates, including non-biodegradable polystyrene food containers, fast-food paper packaging, leftovers, soiled diapers, improvised sleeping materials, cigarette butts and disposable vapes.
Data provided by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority showed that its personnel collected another 20.3 truckloads of garbage equivalent to 243.72 cubic meters or 86.03 metric tons from January 6 to 10.
‘GENERALLY SUCCESSFUL’
The comeback was a success for the grand procession of the Black Nazarene.
Nazareno 2024 Adviser Alex Irasga said the Traslacion, the first since 2020, was generally successful as highlighted by the record-setting completion time of the annual procession.
“Our celebration and festivities are generally successful,” said Irasga. “If we look at the number of those that adhered to our call, we made the event more orderly and sacred.”
This year’s Traslacion was completed in a record 14 hours and 59 minutes. It started at 4:45 a.m. at the Quirino Grandstand, and ended at 7:44 p.m. at the Quiapo Church.
Irasga also noted how the iconic image of the black Christ still smelled fresh and looked good even after the hours-long procession.
“When we took the image out of the glass enclosure, it still smelled good and it was still clean. Unlike before, after the procession, it was wet, smelled of sweat, and had food particles,” he related.
Aside from the grand procession, Irasga said the event was also successful in bringing devotees closer to the Lord.
Proof of this, he said, was the high number of those that attended the Fiesta Masses at the Quiapo Church as well as the Misa Mayor at the Quirino Grandstand.
“Many devotees attended the Masses at the Quiapo Church and Quirino Grandstand. There were more people that attended Masses this year,” noted Irasga.
Data released by the Quiapo Church showed that a total of 6.1 million devotees attended the activities at the Quiapo Church, Quirino Grandstand, and joined the procession last January 9 alone.
In the entire procession, a total of 3,227,090 barefoot devotees participated. At the Quiapo Church, a total of 1,947,508 devotees stayed at the home of the Black Nazarene.
At the Quirino Grandstand, where the traditional pahalik was held, there were a total of 939,000 devotees.
“The figures listed is a cumulative count of all records from the start of the day at 00:00H, until the return of the procession to the Quiapo Church at 19:44H, with the total time of 14:59:10,” said the Quiapo Church. — With Gerard Naval
