Nazarene devotee trampled to death

A male devotee was killed during the annual procession of the Black Nazarene early yesterday afternoon after wood planks covering an excavation on C. Palanca street in Quiapo, Manila collapsed beneath him.

"He was trampled on after he fell," Senior Superintendent Romulo Sapitula of the Manila Police District (MPD) said, adding that hundreds of others were also injured in the stampede.

According to Medical Officer 4 Shirley Yabut of the Manila Health Office, the stampede probably killed the victim, who was initially identified as Ruben according to the name patch on his shirt. The Philippine General Hospital (PGH), where the victim was brought for treatment, said his name was Dante.

"The wooden manhole cover gave way because there were many people stepping on it," Yabut said. "The victim fell into the manhole while others tripped over him and might have landed on him. He died of cardiac arrest."

Thousands of devotees trooped to Manila yesterday to catch a glimpse of or touch the statue of the Black Nazerene as it was carried down the streets of Quiapo.

Several men were standing on a wooden manhole cover when they fell and were stepped on, witnesses said. It took time for the men, bloodied and unconscious, to be carried out one by one from the jammed square fronting the Quiapo Church, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Vidal Querol said.

Lito Marcellana of the Fire Emergency and Paramedic Assistance Group rushed the victim to PGH: "We brought him to the ambulance and gave him cardio-pulmonary resuscitation but, after a few minutes, it was decided that he should be brought to PGH. While on the way, I was giving him CPR until we reached the hospital, (where) the doctors pronounced him dead," he said.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza said he was saddened by death of a devotee of the Black Nazarene. "We will review the use of the wooden manhole covers in Manila... It is just sad that this particular manhole cover caused an accident," he said.

Sapitula said that, as of 4 p.m. yesterday, the celebration reached its peak with a crowd of 600,000 devotees. He added that a total of 250 police officers — 100 plainclothes police and 150 uniformed law enforcers — had been deployed to secure the area.

The number of injured devotees also increased to 20 from 16 in 2005, though there were no fatalities recorded in last year’s celebration. A certain Nilo Garcia of Marikina City collapsed and succumbed to a heart attack also on Palanca steet in 2004.

As early as 6 a.m., the Quiapo Church and surrounding areas were packed with devotees jockeying for position to hear Mass celebrated by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales. Since 1787, the Quiapo Church has been called the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene.

The accident marred the otherwise peaceful but riotous procession of the Black Nazarene, a life-sized wooden statue brought from Mexico by Spaniards in 1606.

The statue of the black Jesus Christ carrying the cross has survived a major fire and the carpet-bombing during World War II that flattened most of Manila.

The statue was blackened by a shipboard fire in 1606, on the journey from Acapulco to Manila, and has since been called the Black Nazarene.

Though burnt, the image was still preserved and honored by the people of Manila and, since then, many who became devotees of the Black Nazarene reported miraculous occurrences they credited to the statue, such as healing the sick and granting wishes.

"Let us ask the Nazarene to give us the spirit of baptism for us to have new hope, new spirit, new minds and renewed care for our being," Rosales said in Filipino during the homily of the Mass commemorating the Black Nazarene’s feast day.

According to Rosales, God sent Jesus to the humble Jewish city of Nazareth "to mold him into a simple way of life that eschews ambition, that shows there is nothing to be proud of. Jesus lived among the small and those who lacked for material things. God did this so Jesus would grow to become an easy companion, so he would not be among the learned and those of high standing.

"When you are raised in a simple way of life, you can easily be recognized, win friends, because your vocabulary is the vocabulary of the simple, common people. This is what Jesus was like," Rosales said.

Rosales also took the opportunity to explain in his homily the Catholic Church’s Pondo ng Pinoy program, which has raised millions of pesos used to feed thousands of poor Filipino children.

The image of the Black Nazarene is also brought out for a procession on Good Friday.

Hundreds of police, volunteers and first aid teams backed by ambulances were deployed along the parade route to maintain order, unsnarl a monstrous traffic jam, keep away pickpockets and guard against possible terrorist attacks, Querol said.

The Philippines has been struck by deadly bomb attacks and is considered a breeding ground of al-Qaeda-linked Muslim militants, who are mostly hiding in Mindanao but are believed to maintain terror cells in Manila.

The festival showcases the predominantly Roman Catholic country’s unique brand of Catholicism, which has been melded with folk superstitions.

As the Black Nazarene, which many believe holds mystical powers, was brought out of the church on a carroza pulled with ropes by dozens of men, a sea of devotees surged forward to try to touch the statue to atone for sins, ask favors or give thanks. Some hurled towels for marshals to wipe on the statue.

All around, hawkers peddled food, rosaries and towels with Christ’s image while long-haired faith healers, some claiming to have powers to revive the dead, walked about in white robes offering succor to the sick. A brass band paraded around the scene.

Prominent personalities present at the celebration included Atienza, his son Kim, son-in-law and Manila Rep. Miles Roces, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao, Querol and Manila police director Chief Superintendent Pedro Bulaong.

Vice President Noli de Castro was there also, fulfilling his vow or panata to walk on bended knees from the door of the Quiapo Church to the altar.

"For more than 20 years, I have pulled the ropes of the Black Nazarene’s carroza and walked on my knees during the Feast of the Black Nazarene," he said in a mixture of English and Tagalog. "This is the only time that my knees hurt. Perhaps it is the weight of my wishes."

Besides making prayers for his personal fulfillment, De Castro said, "I prayed and asked the Black Nazarene for political peace. If there is political peace, everything will follow, like a stronger economy."

While the Vice President’s devotion to the Black Nazarene has posed problems for his security detail, De Castro said "the other devotees also protect me. There is an unusual number of devotees now, there are more of us. My vow is that, for as long as my body can take it, I will participate in the procession and the pulling of the rope."

Recalling 20 years of devotion, which began when he would visit the basilica on his way home to Manila’s Arlegui district from work at a radio station in Makati, De Castro said: "My first request was a job as a broadcast journalist because work for me was on and off and my career wouldn’t take off. Honestly, I didn’t ask for a career in TV, but it was given to me."

Devotee Pedro Ampo, 67 of Pasay City and his wife Emerita, 60, had been holding vigil in Quiapo since 3 a.m.

Leonardo Lim Sr. of Tondo, Manila, said he has been a devotee of the Black Nazarene for the last 33 years: "They said the Nazareno is miraculous and I have received many blessings, such as being able to work in a construction site in Japan and the fact that my children have been free of illness."

Many people faint from the heat or get hurt in the crushing crowd each year, but most devotees keep coming back.

Dante Reyes said he attended the religious festival 23 years ago to secure the Black Nazarene’s help in curing his child.

"I came here to pray for my sick child because no hospital could cure him then," he told The Associated Press Television. "Now, my child is well and working."

Marilyn Cayetano, 48, keeps coming back each year to thank God after emerging without even a bruise in a vehicular accident.

Besides the tumultuous parade of the original Black Nazarene image, there was another image within the basilica that drew crowds. A long queue down the side of the basilica tested the patience of devotees seeking to kiss the supine image of the Black Nazarene inside the church or wipe it with their handkerchiefs.

Marching bands abounded, though not all played religious music. One band played the theme song of the 1970s television series "Hawaii 5-0" and yet another performed the song "Get this Party Started" by Pink.

Ambulant vendors serviced the huge crowd, selling everything from images, necklaces and calendars featuring likenesses of the Black Nazarene to flowers, candles, cold beverages and native rice cakes. — With Pia Lee-Brago, AFP and AP