If ain’t broke…

The Traslación in January 2012 is the recorded longest ever held procession in the history of this annual celebration. It ended 22 hours after leaving the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta in the early morning of Jan. 9, arriving at Plaza Miranda around 5:15 in the morning the next day. The procession took longer than usual since the wheels of the andas (carriage) broke at a point of the procession near Manila Hotel. The rope broke some distance away near Liwasang Bonifacio a few hours afterward.

It was only recently the Black Nazarene procession has been called by a short name as Traslacion, which in Spanish means moving something from one place to another.

In the past years, “fanatic” devotees tried to divert the image from the previously defined routes. Reportedly, these attempts were being done so that the Traslacion will pass their homes and businesses located off the planned route to receive the good luck and blessings of the image.

But, for the first time in the city’s history, former president and now Mayor of Manila Joseph Estrada declared Jan. 9, 2014 as a special non-working holiday due to the impassability of some thoroughfares and projected congestion in others. Since then Mayor Estrada continued with this tradition. The serious injuries and even deaths of devotees due to exhaustion, heat, fatigue, or being trampled upon by the crowd were significantly brought down.

In the annals of Traslacion, over six million Catholic devotees reportedly joined the Black Nazarene procession in January 2011. However, it remains a mystery how they came up with the numbers in the counting of warm bodies who joined Traslacion.

As of last census estimates last year, there are 107.1 million Filipinos and almost two-thirds of us are Catholics. Our Church leaders and other government authorities expect this year’s Traslacion may draw in five million Black Nazarene devotees. Or, this constitute about six percent of our total Catholic faithful.

Five million people still are five million warm bodies at any one place at any one time.

Thus, part of the preparations for this Church-based festivity is traffic rerouting implemented on the annual procession and the day before. Primarily, the Manila Police District, with reinforcements from the Philippine National Police (PNP)-National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) is handling the security concerns. With the advent of terrorism threats, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) have become permanent members of the Traslacion inter-agency organizing committee. 

As added safeguards, the Philippine Coast Guard takes charge of the whole stretch of the Pasig River along the Jones, Quezon, and MacArthur bridges to ensure the safe passage of the humongous procession.

For this year’s Traslacion, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced these millions of Black Nazarene devotees would still not be allowed to use the MacArthur Bridge once again. The devotees of the Black Nazarene would have to use the Jones Bridge since the MacArthur Bridge is still being retrofitted.

As far back as year 2014, the MacArthur Bridge has already been off limits to the Traslacion because of the ongoing repairs. Thus, the processional route was altered due to it and due to a rise in accidents and structural deficiencies in nearby bridges. DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) director Melvin Navarro was quoted saying the MacArthur Bridge remains unsafe and might not be able to bear the weight of the multitude of devotees if they would pass through the structure.

Both the Jones Bridge and the MacArthur Bridge are structures that cross the Pasig River. The Jones Bridge connects Burgos Drive to Binondo while the MacArthur Bridge connects Burgos Drive to Sta. Cruz. Although the MacArthur Bridge is closer to the Quiapo Church, which is formally called the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, the DPWH official admitted this could not be used yet as they are encountering problems in retrofitting the 70-year-old bridge.

However, in any ordinary days in the roads and streets of Metro Manila, any out-of-the-ordinary occurrence is bound to create traffic problems. Like viruses, these problems tend to replicate, compounding the already horrific transport situation.

If a road mishap such as two cars bumping each other could create traffic problems that could lead to a standstill, how much more if one bridge is closed not for one or two days but for 30 months. Such is the problem facing most office workers, students and motorists living in the northern and eastern side of Metro Manila and working, studying or going to commercial business roads of Makati City.

This is because the DPWH already announced the closure to traffic of the Estrella-Pantaleon bridge starting Jan. 12 to make way for the construction of a new bridge. The closure of this Estrella-Pantaleon bridge near Rockwell will mean two and a half years or 30 months of inconvenience to commuters while they widen it by two lanes.

The eight-year-old Austrian-made bridge which cost P300 million will be demolished and in its stead a new one will rise. China donated P5 billion for this new bridge and the Binondo-Intramuros bridge as well as part of the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Do they really have to tear down this bridge, when it still is very usable, safe and can carry the weight it originally was intended for? The Estrella-Pantaleon bridge has now become the bone of contention between two camps:  those pushing for the project and those opposing it.

Perhaps the national government can strike a balance between these two interests, by constructing a totally new bridge in another location but also crossing the Pasig River, perhaps? Or by going on with the widening of the bridge by two lanes, closing it partly but leaving a good portion open for light vehicles and pedestrians, while the construction is going on?

As one popular adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.