IN NAGA CITY: Hundreds of devotees join Black Nazarene procession

By Juan Escandor Jr. NAGA CITY---On the 29th year of the devotion, hundreds of devotees of the Black Nazarene participated in the procession on Tuesday night. From Tabuco to the Metropolitan Cathedral, the devotees, including five other images of the Black Nazarene, wound through the main streets in this city stopping the traffic where they passed by. The devotion to the Black Nazarene here was introduced by Olimpio Colambo who was persuaded to bring the devotion to Naga City by Flavio Redondo, a guide at the procession of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Emma Colambo Benaid said. Benaid, 62, said Colambo, her father, became the founder-president of the devotion to the Black Nazarene in Naga City. She said the Black Nazarene devotion here starts Dec. 31 when the image of the Black Nazarene which her family owns is transferred to the Holy Cross Chapel. Benaid, who is the present president of the devotion to the Black Nazarene here, said the daily novena starts with the transfer of the image of the Black Nazarene until the feast on Jan. 9. She said the image of Black Nazarene will be returned to its permanent home in the barangay of Palsong in Bula town on January 14. Fr. Felix Abaño, parish priest of the Holy Cross in Bgy. Tabuco here, said the devotion to the Black Nazarene has grown year after year. He said unlike the procession in Quiapo, the devotees here are more disciplined with no shoving and pushing to touch the image of the Black Nazarene.