Thursday, Jan 09, 2014

Manila:

Millions of barefoot devotees packed the Philippine capital’s streets Thursday for one of the world’s biggest Catholic parades, honouring an ancient statue of Jesus Christ they believe has miraculous powers.

A man jumped from a bridge during a procession of hundreds of thousands of barefoot Catholic devotees.

“It must be the heat. He was also high after sniffing on solvent,” said a swimmer of the Philippine Coast Guard who helped save the man, one of 900 devotees who were either injured or got ill at the start of a religious procession from Manila’s central Luneta Park to the 428-year old Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene (informally known as Quiapo Church) on Manila’s Quiapo district.

Late in the afternoon, a 38-year-old man fell from the carriage of the Black Nazarene as he tried to climb up to kiss the statue, believed to be the acme of venerating the 407-year old religious icon. He was brought to a nearby hospital.

The number of feverishly religious participants escalated to millions, organisers said, prompting observers to say, “Dangerous injuries always happen to the miracle-believing crowd that gathers for the procession of the Black Nazarene annually.”

Zenaida Aquino, 18, a resident of southern suburban Cavite stayed overnight at Luneta Park to be near the carriage of the Black Nazarene at the start of the procession at dawn. “She fainted. She must be hungry. She is pregnant and has been praying for a safe delivery,” said a member of the Philippine Red Cross, one of groups including the military, the police, and the fire department that were deployed before and during the procession.

“A woman with her five-year-old child came to us because of broken bones in her wrist. She tried to hold on at the rope dangling from the carriage of the Black Nazarene,” said a personnel of the Philippine Red Cross, which has medical centres in the periphery of the four-kilometre-long procession.

“I wanted to thank the Lord for saving my husband from a recent accident,” said Sonia Mallari, whose mother and father, in their 70s, were with her at the procession. “I am praying for their long life,” she added.

“We didn’t mind staying overnight — barely eating and sleeping at the Luneta Park, which was lined up with portable toilets for us,” said Mallari.

Several devotees were crushed as they tried to remove several container vans that barred the procession from entering the structurally weak MacArthur Bridge — a popular route for the devotees.

“We convinced them and calmed them down and they followed the prescribed route — to pass through Jones Bridge in Escolta,” said Manila Vice-Mayor Isko Moreno.

“Those who were brought to the medical centres were treated for wounds in their feet, hypoglycaemia, elevated blood pressure, and dizziness,” the Red Cross said.

Accidents also took place when venerating devotees swooned to kiss the feet of the black statue, or touch its face with handkerchiefs, towels and shirts, which devotees keep for good luck.

Vendors who joined the devotees earned good money by selling these items.

At 6am, about 15,000 attended the special mass at the Quiapo Church, that was officiated by Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Tagle who reminded everyone not to forget the spiritual lessons of the calamities that have happened in the Philippines.

“Often, we forget about our brothers from Tagum, Davao, who were affected by the Typhoon Pablo (last year); our brothers in Nueva Ecija, who were mostly farmers, who lost their livelihood because of Typhoon Santi; our brothers in Bohol (who suffered an earthquake). Until when will we remember the victims of Yolanda (Typhoon Haiyan) in central Philippines,” said Tagle in Tagalog.

He also talked about the country’s social calamity — the alleged misuse of lawmakers’ development funds.

Authorities declared a holiday to allow devotees to attend the popular procession, which involved the transfer of the Black Nazarene from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park to Quiapo Church. Since Wednesday, devotees have been waiting for the Nazarene’s arrival (from the Quiapo Church) at the grandstand.

More than 80 per cent of the 100 million nationals in the Philippines belong to the Roman Catholic Church, following the country’s Spanish colonisation in the 16th century.

Augustinian priests brought the wooden statue from Mexico in 1607. It turned black during a fire in a galleon that Spain used for trade between its two colonies, the Philippines and Mexico.

By Barbara Mae Dacanay Bureau Chief

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