Bargayo crucifixion at Mantalongon Park

For the sake of the environment and culture this time, Gilbert Bargayo, the popular crucifixion devotee from Carcar City, decided to be nailed again on the cross on Good Friday, breaking his earlier pledge to stop his reenactment of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion after 14 times of doing it in the past.

The last time Bargayo was “crucified” was at Guadalupe, Cebu City in 2006. It was his 14th and he said it was his last as it completed the 14 Stations of the Cross. His other “crucifixions” in the past were twice in Cainta, Rizal, four times in Tacloban City, once in Lapu-Lapu City, and six times in Carcar when it was still a town.

This latest decision of Bargayo to reenact Christ’s crucifixion by being actually nailed to a cross has a new cause and in a new place, a family estate turned into a park at barangay Mantalongon in Dalaguete, a town next to Carcar.

It will also be a new experience, he said. “Bag-o gyud ni para nako tungod kay kining lugara, putli kaayo, isa sa kinaiyahan og makahinulsol gayud ang mag Station of the Cross.”

The place is the Cristo Rey Mountain Park administered by a former diplomat Jose Maria Canton of the Almagro Family Estate, where Bargayo and his team will reenact the Stations of the Cross and the Crucifixion.

Canton yesterday told The Freeman that the park is over two hectares wide, and has life-size statues in each of the 14 Stations of the Cross. He said his aunt, former Dalaguete mayor Conrada Almagro, put up the park and the garden. “It was used by the family because the Almagros are deeply religious,” Canton said.

Last January when Canton was named the administrator of the property, he decided to open the park to the public, with the coming Holy Week the time to start it through an activity he dubbed as “Pasyon sa Mantalongon.”

The “Pasyon” will begin at Villa Caridad, a hill away from the park where the remains of an old monastery are still visible. Bargayo and the pilgrims will then walk for half a kilometer to the Cristo Rey Park where they will go through the different Stations of the Cross.

Bargayo will be crucified at the peak of the hill fronting the Cristo Rey 15 feet statue. Another must see is a Grotto of the Virgin Mary found after 50 steps uphill.

Canton said city folks as well as those from neighboring towns will be satisfied with the view and the facilities the park offers.  — Ferliza C. Contratista/RAE