Black Nazarene feast generally peaceful – NCRPO

The Black Nazarene returned to Quiapo Church after 20 hours. (Screengrab from the Inquirer.net’s video)

MANILA – The feast of the Black Nazarene has ended generally peaceful early Sunday morning with 1.5 million devotees joining the celebration this year, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said.

In an interview, Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao, NCRPO head said that there were no major untowards incidents during the during the ‘Pahalik’ on Friday until the ‘Traslacion’ or grand procession on Saturday which was attended by millions of devotees.

He said the procession started early after the mass at the Quirino Grandstand early on Saturday. The procession was expected to last for many hours as its pace was very slow due to the huge crowd and flock of people waiting along the image’s procession route.

The procession, which lasted for about 20 hours, ended as the Black Nazarene’s carriage finally reached Quiapo Church around 2:05 a.m. on Sunday.

NCRPO reported that two devotees died while 531 were treated for various ailments and injuries.

This was confirmed by Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas, NCRPO spokesperson.

Molitas identified the fatality as 48-year-old Mauro Arabit, a resident of Evangelista St., Quiapo, who died of acute coronary syndrome or a condition where the blood supply to the heart is being blocked.

He was declared dead on arrival at 3:00 a.m. by attending doctors at the Dr. Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center.

The other fatality was a devotee who suffered a seizure while resting after pulling the rope of the image’s carriage at the beginning of the procession.

The victim, Alex Fulyedo, a 27-year-old resident of Sampaloc, Manila was declared dead at 11:40 a.m. Saturday.