NAGA CITY — Hundreds of local residents gathered Saturday for a city-wide cleanup drive in preparation for the upcoming Peñafrancia festivities, an annual event that draws more than one-million devotees and tourists to the city and Camarines Sur province every September.

Volunteers from various sectors — including women, youth, uniformed personnel and city government employees — swept streets and picked up trash along the route of the Traslacion, the procession marking the start of the novenary week for Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the patroness of the Bicol Region.

Known as the longest Marian procession in Asia, the Traslacion draws thousands of barefoot devotees, locally called “voyadores,” who pull the image of the Virgin on a wooden structure called an andas.

The 1.3-kilometer procession moves the image from the Peñafrancia Shrine to the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral, where it will remain for the duration of the festival.

According to the city government, this year’s Traslacion is scheduled for 11 September.

Residents also cleaned the banks of the Naga River, which serves as the route for the fluvial procession. During that event, a barge carries the image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia back to its home at the Peñafrancia Basilica Minore, signaling the end of the festival on 19 September.

Saturday’s cleanup gathered several sacks of garbage while clearing canals and waterways of debris.

The preparations follow an announcement in June by Naga Mayor Leni Robredo canceling the Miss Bicolandia beauty pageant, traditionally one of the festival’s main highlights.

Robredo said the decision followed a recommendation from the pageant committee after Malacañang declared a state of national energy emergency triggered by conflict in the Middle East.

She explained that longtime sponsors confirmed they could not provide expected financial support under current economic conditions.

The cancellation drew mixed responses from residents and internet users, with some expressing disappointment over the loss of entertainment and others supporting fiscal restraint.

Despite the pageant’s cancellation, the city government assured the public that most cultural and religious events will proceed as planned.

Official festivities begin 6 September with the Peñafrancia Marathon. Key events include the South Star Drug Run on 13 September, the Tagboan Painting Competition on 17 September and the Music and Food Festival from 15 to 19 September.

Also included in the festivities are the Scouts Parade on 16 September, the Civic and Float Parade and Voyadores Festival Dance Competition on 17 September and the Bicol Regional Military Parade Exhibition on 18 September.

After being ordained in Naga City — then known as Ciudad de Nueva Caceres — Covarrubias commissioned a local artisan to carve a wooden replica of the Virgin Mary to introduce the devotion to the “cimarrones,” the indigenous settlers near Mount Isarog.

Local tradition holds that the first miracle attributed to the image occurred when a dog slaughtered to provide blood for painting the statue was thrown into the Naga River and came back to life, eventually returning home to its owner.