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Devotees of the Black Nazarene still tried to visit Quiapo Church in Manila despite the cancellation of the physical mass and the traslacion due to the threat of Omicron variant.

Manila Police District Director Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco said there are devotees of the Black Nazarene who still want to see the church despite the cancellation of the physical activities.

"There are some devotees who really want to see the church although we already announced that Quiapo will be closed and the mass will only be accessed virtually," he said in a radio interview on Sunday.

"They really want to physically see the Quiapo Church, this morning there are people who gather in Sta. Cruz Church because they thought there would be mass. We requested them to just go home and now there are devotees gathering in Barbosa. They are staring at the Quiapo Church. We also ask them to go home because they are starting to gather," he added.

Francisco said the MPD has deployed thousands of policemen to secure the vicinity of the church where all roads were closed.

"We deploy around 2,000 policemen to cover the security, and to remind the people to avoid gathering in the area due to COVID-19," he said.

Francisco said their personnel that have been deployed to secure the Quiapo area since Friday are divided into three shifts and they will continue their checkpoint operations until 10pm Sunday. Robina Asido/DMS