Hundreds of thousands of people prayed for relief from natural disasters Saturday in a barefoot religious procession across the capital of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines. The annual festival centers on a black icon of a cross-bearing Jesus Christ, which many Filipinos believe can perform miracles to cure the sick, drive away bad luck and bring prosperity.
“They look like giant waves,” Senior Insp. Oscar H
olguera, head of Manila’s mobile police division, said of the sea of humanity swarming around the carriage being pulled by bare-foot devotees holding lengths of stout rope.
The devotees wore scarlet shirts and hurled white handkerchiefs and towels at an ebony-hued wooden statue of the “Black Nazarene,” with which volunteers touched the figure’s cheeks before throwing back the cloths to the crowd.
Magtibay told local radio the parade was expected to reach its final destination, the Quiapo Church in central Manila, early evening.
“There are a lot more participants today than last year,”
Holguera told Agence France-Presse, estimating the size of the crowd at several hundred thousand people.
(A crowd of devotees swarm the Black Nazarene during yesterday’s procession. photo by the Manila Times)
“Many people are turning to religion after a year of disasters,” he added.
Tropical storms, floods, landslides and maritime disasters killed nearly 2,000 people across the Philippines in 2009, a year in which an election-linked massacre claimed 57 lives and a volcano also erupted. More than 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic and Holguera estimated that at least two million people in this city of more than 10 million had joined or watched the procession.
The life-sized sculpture of Jesus bearing a cross is said to have been carved in Mexico and brought to the Philippines by Augustinian missionaries in the early 17th century during Spain’s galleon trade.
“Filipinos identify with the image because of the trials they undergo year after year,” said a Manila parish priest, Aris Sison.
“I’m praying for good health and good luck,” said 58-year-old Ricardo Palacio, a Manila porter who said his wife left him and their four children several years ago.
“He cured my illness and enabled me to walk again,” said 78-year-old grandmother Maria Medalla, who told Agence France-Presse, she left her home near the erupting Mayon Volcano southeast of Manila last week so she could join this year’s procession.
Meanwhile, two people died and 402 others were injured in the procession, authorities reported.
The first fatality, as reported by ABS-CBN News’ website, is 42-year-old Rodrigo Ocampo, who was rushed to the Ospital ng Maynila and died after suffering a heart attack.
The other who died was 40-year-old Bernardino Basilio, who suffered severe injuries after falling from the Black Nazarene’s carriage even before the procession started. He was pronounced dead at the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital.
As of 4:18 p.m. Saturday, Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) volunteers and staff have reported 402 patients afflicted with minor health hazards in the procession.
According to the Red Cross, most of the injury cases that have been reported are dizziness, foot injuries, hypertension and lack of oxygen.
Every year, the Feast of Black Nazarene has been marred by deaths and injuries of devotees during the procession. AFP WITH REPORT FROM ROMMEL LONTAYA (the Manila Times)
