RTA sees Traslacion traffic to be manageable

By NITZ ARANCON
and LITO RULONA
Correspondents

THE Roads and Traffic Administration expects the vehicular flow in downtown Cagayan de Oro this morning to be manageable despite the thousands of religious devotees expected to take part in this year’s Black Nazarene procession.

Engr. Nonito Oclarit, RTA assistant head, the vehicular traffic build-up would likely be similar to last year’s “traslacion” because organizers decided to start the procession early.

Aside from holding it before the morning rush hour, Oclarit said, the procession route is also relatively short.

The replica of the original statue of the Black Nazarene was moved from the Nazareno church to the St. Augustine Cathedral yesterday. It would be paraded in an over two-kilometer procession back to the Nazareno church on CM Recto Ave. starting at 5 am today.

Oclarit said the procession is expected to be concluded at around 7 am.

“Buntag pa man sayo ang translacion, so, we expect nga dili pa kaayo ma-build up ang traffic anang mga orasa,” he said.

Oclarit noted that the procession route is just 2.4 kilometers, much shorter that the previous years’.

Mayor Oscar Moreno has ordered a temporary reouting scheme for public vehicles because Apolinar Velez St., Recto Avenue and roads that traverse these would be temporarily closed to vehicular traffic during the procession.

Oclarit said the reouting scheme would affect public jeepneys from and headed to Bugo, Lapasan, Macabalan, Puntod, Kauswagan, Bonbon Bayabas, Patag, Bulua and Iponan.

The reouting scheme would be similar to what the RTA implemented during the August 2017 fiesta parade, he said.

Meanwhile, the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Department would be fielding bouncer-like personnel during the Black Nazarene procession in the city this morning.

CDRRMD officer Allan Porcadilla said the department picked its above average, heaviest and strongest male personnel to make emergency response work easier.

Porcadilla said these men, whom he called “gentle giants,” were tasked to respond and carry devotees who would faint away from the crowd during the procession.

He said city hall ambulances and emergency response stations would also be on standby mode along the procession route from the St. Augustine Cathedral up to the Nazareno church on CM Recto Ave..

The police would deploy three platoons more from Camp Alagar to help in security operations, said city police spokesman Chief  Insp. Mardy Hortilloza. He said the military would also field troops to the city streets this morning.

City director Senior Supt. Robert Roy Bahian cancelled all leaves of absences of city-based officers so they would report for work today.

Authorities would also strictly enforce the liquor ban ordered by Mayor Moreno, and would be  monitoring and strictly regulating drones in the city today.