Good Friday Crucifixions Return to Philippines After End of Duterte-Era Coronavirus Restrictions

The city of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines, held its first unrestricted Good Friday crucifixion ceremony since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 this week, nailing eight people to crosses as a form of penance for sin.

Among those being crucified were two long-time veterans of the practice: Ruben Enaje, 62, who was crucified for a 34th time; and Wilfredo Salvador, 66, who told reporters he had been engaging in the practice for 15 years. An anonymous woman wearing a head covering was also among the eight crucified, refusing to be identified when reporters asked.

The neighborhood of San Pedro Cutud in San Fernando has been hosting live crucifixions – devotees carry their crosses on their backs to the site of the event and are then nailed by their palms to the cross briefly before being attended by a medical team – for decades before former President Rodrigo Duterte abruptly ended the practice in 2020 as part of sweeping civil rights restrictions banning religious gatherings during Holy Week, the holiest time in the Christian calendar, allegedly to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Prior to attempting a full ban of Christian activities during Holy Week, Duterte had spent years attacking Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular, urging civilians to “kill bishops” and claiming he was molested by a priest as a child. Duterte has publicly named the priest: Father Mark Falvey, S.J., who faced prolific accusations of child sex abuse in California.

While the crucifixions are the most high-profile acts of penance in the country, in addition to the small number who participate, thousands of Filipinos participate in Good Friday processions to mark the execution of Jesus, three days before the Christian faith teaches that he rose from the dead to save humanity. Among those are at least hundreds who self-flagellate nationwide, using small multi-tailed whips, while marching and praying.

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Duterte also attempted to suppress the processions in 2020 and 2021 – “No more religious gatherings. Full stop!” Duterte spokesman Harry Roque warned in 2021 – but largely failed.

This Friday – under a new president, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. – was the first since the pandemic that San Pedro Cutud legally and unrestrictedly held its crucifixions. Thousands reportedly attended the event to observe and pray along with the penitents.

The Associated Press (AP), reporting from the community, noted that “about a dozen villagers” at registered to be crucified but only eight of those followed through. The town’s administrators reported that about 15,000 people observed and otherwise participated in the ritual through self-flagellation and prayer.

“Ahead of their crucifixion on a dusty hill, Enaje and the other devotees, wearing thorny crowns of twigs, carried heavy wooden crosses on their backs for more than a kilometer (more than half a mile) in the scorching heat,” AP recouinted. “Village actors dressed as Roman centurions later hammered 4-inch (10-centimeter) stainless steel nails through his palms and feet, then set him aloft on a cross under the sun for about 10 minutes.”

The occasion was the first in years in which foreign tourists were allowed to observe.

“In Poland, we are Christians, too, but it looks different, it looks totally different,” Ewelina Kosciecha, a Polish visitor in San Fernando, told the Filipino outlet ABS-CBN. “So I fully respect it because each country has their own way of expressing [their Christianity].”

“They like this because there is really nothing like this on earth,” Johnson Gareth, a British tour organizer, told AP. “It’s less gruesome than people think. They think it’s going to be very macabre or very disgusting but it’s not. It’s done in a very respectful way.”

Catholic Church leaders are far less tolerant of the practice than the foreign observers, annually discouraging the practice as unnecessary, contending that the reason for Jesus’s crucifixion is precisely to remove the need for more human suffering.

“It’s no longer necessary to shed blood because the shedding of blood was done by Jesus Christ for us. We don’t have to hurt ourselves anymore because we cannot add to the merit of Christ’s passion,” Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan Socrates Villegas told the Asian outlet Coconuts last month, in an article profiling Ruben Enaje.

The government of San Fernando has vowed to support the ritual so long as it is done in a safe and orderly manner.

“As long as there [are] individuals that do their penance, the city government will continue to support and regulate this,” Vice Mayor BJ Lagman told ABS-CBN on Friday.

Ruben Enaje holds the record for being crucified the most times, marking his 34th occasion on Friday. Enaje, a painter, has said in multiple interviews that he began participating in the ritual in 1986 after falling from a height of three stories while doing a job and escaping unharmed. He attributes his safety to yelling “Dios ko!” (“My God!”) mid-fall.

“While I was falling I uttered the words ‘Dios ko!’ (‘My God!’), and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, but fully conscious!” Enaje said in 2020. “It was a miracle I survived the fall without a bone broken. In fact, when I was on the ground, I did not stand up immediately thinking I broke my legs and body, but after a few moments I found out I was okay. I owe my life to Jesus that’s why every Good Friday I have to undergo the crucifixion ritual.”

This year, Enaje dedicated his crucifixion to ending the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

“It’s just these two countries involved in that war, Russia and Ukraine, but all of us are being affected,” Enaje told reporters after his crucifixion on Friday. The Philippine economy has suffered tremendously as a result of market disruptions tied to Ukraine, particularly leading to skyrocketing onion and other food prices.

Enaje said this was likely his last crucifixion due to his age, but that he would decide definitively next year.

Wilfredo Salvador, who dedicated his crucifixion this year to an ailing nephew, told reporters that he planned to continue beyond his 15th on Friday.

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“I will not stop this for as long as I am alive, because this is what gives me life,” Salvador told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Outside of San Fernando, Manila held one of the largest processions in the world to mark Good Friday, attracting 11,000 people participating in the traditional procession of the Black Nazarene, according to the Philippine Star. Like the crucifixions, the procession took place for the first time in its full splendor since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic began in 2020.

“The four-kilometer motorcade started at 11 p.m. on Maundy Thursday and lasted past midnight, according to the Manila Public Information Office,” the Star reported; the procession began on Thursday.

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