MANILA: Tens of thousands of people ignored government advice and flocked to Manila on Saturday to celebrate the feast of the Black Nazarene, a statue believed to have healing powers.
An estimated 400,000 people have been through the city’s Quiapo district since 4am local time, Lieut Col Carlo Magno Manuel, spokesman for the Manila Police District, told reporters. Because of coronavirus restrictions, only 400 visitors at a time were allowed inside the church where the statue stands.
Worshippers wearing masks and face shields gathered along the avenue outside the Quiapo Church where the first of 15 masses for the feast of the Black Nazarene began before dawn.
People patiently waited to enter the church or watched the back-to-back masses broadcast live on large screens outside.
The orderly scenes were in contrast to the normal frenzied procession involving hundreds of thousands of pilgrims risking life and limb to touch the icon in the belief it can heal the sick.
More than a million people have taken part in the annual pilgrimage over past years. On Saturday, most people appear to have heeded the advice of authorities and health experts, who urged devotees to stay home and attend mass online.
Authorities were quick to disperse the crowd of early morning visitors and ensure strict adherence to physical distancing, the Department of Health said.
The Philippines has the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia, at more than 485,000 as of Jan 9.
The feast of the Black Nazarene is one of the country’s biggest annual security challenges as the faithful of Asia’s most Catholic country troop to the capital.
The life-sized statue — brought to the Philippines in the early 1600s when the country was a Spanish colony — is traditionally pulled through the packed streets of the capital on a float in one of the world’s biggest displays of Catholic devotion.
But fearing it could turn into a virus super-spreader event this year, authorities cancelled the parade for the first time in decades and instead urged people to watch the masses livestreamed on Facebook.
Worshippers attending the church in person could look at but not touch the icon, which was placed out of reach on the balcony above the entrance.
For many, that was enough.
“I’m so happy with what I’m seeing here now,” said George Arevalo, 32, after attending mass.
Arevalo said he touched the statue for the first time during the 2017 procession, an act he believes ensured his epileptic wife, who was pregnant at the time, was able to deliver a healthy baby.
The risk of catching the coronavirus, which has infected nearly half a million people in the country, did not bother Marlene Ordiales, 58, who believed the Black Nazarene would protect her.
“I don’t mind the pandemic. I leave it up to him,” Ordiales told AFP as she waited to enter the church.
The statue is called the Black Nazarene because of its charred colour, believed to have occurred when it survived a fire aboard a ship en route from Mexico.
In the weeks leading up to Saturday, it was taken to several churches around the city to give devotees the opportunity to see it in the hope of avoiding a huge crowd on feast day.
But many, like Jasper De Guzman, were determined to take part.
“We shouldn’t be afraid because Jesus is with us,” the 47-year-old said.
“The pandemic can’t stop us.”