THE Manila Police District will impose a 48-hour gun ban in Manila from Jan. 8 to 10 for the annual celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene next week, MPD Chief Joel Coronel said Thursday.
He said the gun ban will cover the temporary suspension of permits to carry firearms, except those of uniformed personnel, from midnight of Jan. 8 to midnight of Jan. 10.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has suspended classes and government work on Jan. 9 in the city to give way to the Traslacion or the Feast of the Black Nazarene.
Work in all courts in Manila will also be suspended on Jan. 9 due to the expected influx of devotees participating in Traslacion.
In an advisory released on Thursday, the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office said all work in the high court, Court of Appeals and trial courts in Manila will be suspended due to the “difficulty of travel to and from the courts located in the city of Manila due to the annual procession of the Black Nazarene.”
Coronel said the people who may have “compelling reasons” to seek exemption from the gun ban should simply avoid Manila during the ban.
He also recommended to Estrada a liquor ban and hoped an executive order on the matter would be issued.
If ordered by Estrada, the ban would prohibit the sale, distribution and consumption of liquor and other alcoholic beverages within a 500-meter radius from the vicinity of the procession route, including the Rizal Park and Quiapo Church, between 6 p.m. on Jan. 8 to 6 a.m. on Jan. 10.
“Establishments which are accredited by the Department of Tourism shall not be covered by this ban,” Coronel said.
Around 7,000 uniformed personnel will be deployed to secure the procession.
Coronel said intelligence authorities had monitored no “credible actual, direct threats” that would force them to cancel or postpone the event.
The public may also expect “intermittent shutdowns” of mobile phone signals within the vicinity of the carriage or “andas” along the procession route, he said.
Around one to two million people were expected to join the procession of the image of a dark-skinned Jesus Christ from the Quirino Grandstand to Quiapo Church, priest Douglas Badong of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene said on Wednesday.
On the other hand, almost 19 million are projected to participate in the 10-day series of activities marking the annual feast, which officially kicked off on Dec. 31, 2017.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines had also issued a no-fly zone within the vicinity and the airspace above the procession route, Coronel said. With Rey E. Requejo