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26 PENITENTS NAILED TO CROSSES ON GOOD FRIDAY

San Fernando, Pampanga, March 30, 2002 (BULLETIN) By Fred Roxas & Freddie C. Velez -Twenty-six penitents, three of them women, were crucified in three separate places in the country in an annual reenactment of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death on Good Friday.

Thousands of people converged on barangay San Pedro Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga, to witness 17 penitents, including a woman, nailed to crosses.

Six people in Bulacan - four in Paombong and two in Malolos towns - and three others in Zamboanga were also crucified.

Pampanga Provincial Board Member Robert David, coordinator of this year's Good Friday rituals in barangay San Pedro Cutud, said of the 17 penitents, six were first timers. He estimated this year's crowd at 20,000, the biggest so far in more than 30 years.

The reenactment of Christ's suffering almost 2,000 years ago was done complete with the dramatization of the "Via Crucis" or Way of the Cross undertaken by Jesus Christ in a hill near Jerusalem.

For the first time, penitent Ruben Enaje, 35, a house painter, took over the role of Jesus in the drama from Chito Sangalang who retired after playing the role for 15 years.

In the Good Friday drama, Enaje was "arrested" by horse-riding "Roman soldiers" at about 11:30 a.m. yesterday. He then carried his wooden cross to a makeshift Golgotha in an open rice field some four kilometers away.

Thousands of spectators, including foreign tourists, arrived in the barangay as early as 9 a.m. to get vantage positions near a hill where the penitents were nailed to crosses in groups of three.

The lone woman in the reenactment of the crucifixion in the barangay was Amparo Santos. It was her 15th year.

The first-timers were Elmer Baking, Rolly Trola, Joel Ortega, Dionisio David, and brothers Loren and Efren Balinas.

One penitent, Sarte Cuenco, walked some 40 kilometers from his place in Tarlac to Pampanga starting in the evening of Maundy Thursday.

The others who were nailed were repeaters Ramil Lazaro, Bob Veles, Arnols Maniago, Angelito Manansala, Roland Ocampo, Romelito Vergara, Victor Caparas, and Romeo Sarmiento.

Barangay Captain Zoilo Castro said all the penitents executed waivers exonerating the organizers from blame for whatever might happen to them.

In barangay Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan, four people, including a woman, were also nailed to wooden crosses at noon yesterday beside a Catholic chapel.

First to be crucified was Rogelio Tandel, 20, of barangay Bulihan, Malolos, Bulacan. He was nailed to the cross for about 14 minutes before thousands of people, including foreign tourists, who have flocked here since Maundy Thursday. It was his second time on the cross.

Apple Marcos of Sto. Rosario, Paombong, was next to be nailed. It was the 20-year-old woman's fourth year.

The third, Joey Sacalan, 29, of barangay Calizon, Paombong, was dragged, beaten up and whipped by "Roman soldiers" before he was crucified. He stayed nailed to the cross for 20 minutes. He was taken down after singing the Lord's Prayer. It was his sixth year to be nailed to the cross. He told reporters that he was constantly seeing visions in dreams, telling him he should be nailed to a cross every Good Friday.

The last was Buboy Dionisio, 23, a faith healer, of Sto. Rosario, Malolos, Bulacan.

As early as 7 a.m. yesterday, about 100 bareback flagellants made the Stations of the Cross while lashing their bloodied backs with whips made up of ropes with sharp bamboo sticks.

In barangay Barihan, Malolos, Leonilla Castillo, 45, of San Miguel, Bulacan, and Quirobin Sonny Bautista, 42, of Hagonoy, Bulacan. were also crucified.

In Mount Pulongbato overlooking Zamboanga City, thousands of penitents scaled a hill where three members of a Christian cult were also nailed to crosses in a Good Friday rite of sacrifice for peace in Basilan.

"We are setting an example for sinful people to change so there can be peace," said Jose Felipe, a 24-year-old carpenter and member of the Kristo Rey cult who was undergoing his second crucifixion.

"In war, the civilians are always at the losing end," he said before four-inch nails were driven through his palms as several women prayed in Latin and Chavacano, the local dialect.

The 200-meter-high hill overlooks Zamboanga City, a predominantly Roman Catholic city of 600,000 people, and the narrow strait that separates it from Basilan, where the Muslim Abu Sayyaf hold three hostages - an American missionary couple and a Filipina nurse.

Roel Natividad, a city councilor and Kristo Rey member, said previous crucifixions were done for the spiritual benefit of the group but that this year's rites were sacrifices for peace for Basilan.

A US-backed military operation is under way on Basilan against the Abu Sayyaf.

"We are doing this for peace, but we are ready to defend our city from any group, Muslims or Christians, which will try to foment trouble," Natividad said.

He said his group joined a recent rally to back the counter-terrorism exercise involving 660 US soldiers, including 160 from the Special Forces, deployed with front-line Philippine troops in Basilan.