The Lenten tradition of self-flagellation and crucifixion by some devotees at a century-old Catholic Chapel in Bgy. Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan drew thousands of the faithful as well as local and foreign tourists on Good Friday, April 7.

The first man to be nailed on a wooden cross was followed by a female, then by another man on Good Friday. April 7, 2023, in Barangay Kapitangan, Paombong, Bulacan. (Photo courtesy of Maulino Ang Jr.) The devotees and spectators flocked to the man-made Golgotha in the village to witness three faith healers' re-enactment of Christ's passion and death with actual nailing on the wooden cross Aside from patiently waiting for the crucifixions to start under the hot tropical sun, thousands of foreign and local visitors, all wearing face masks, also lined the streets to watch the bloody Lenten ritual of hundreds of bareback flagellants whipping their backs with thorny objects. At exactly 11:00 a.m., the crucifixion started for two men and a woman, all of them faith healers. The native actors playing the roles of Roman Centurions pulled out the nails from their hands and feet during the bloody Lenten rituals at a man-made Golgotha beside the Catholic Chapel in this town. The faith healers, whose names were not disclosed, were first dragged and whipped by native centurions before they were raised to a wooden cross where stainless steel nails were driven into their spread-angled hands and feet before thousands of spectators. The woman was the second to be “crucified” at the man-made Golgotha erected at a rice field where scores of faith healers and barebacked flagellants fulfill their Holy Week vows every Good Friday. Due to the pandemic, the last Bloody Lenten rites in Bulacan that also drew a huge crowd was in the year 2019 wherein two faith healers were crucified. Timoteo "Tammy" Mondragon, 33, of Bagong Silang, Caloocan City was nailed at a wooden cross for the first time, while faith healer “Ka Precy,” 50, was nailed to the cross for the 7th consecutive time. A group of elders told Manila Bulletin that most of the penitents who were nailed to the cross every Good Friday in the village claimed that they saw visions and heard “divine voices” telling them to fulfill their vows. They said the Golgotha in Bgy. Kapitangan has become some sort of a “graduate school” for faith healers. “Karamihan sa mga nagpapako ay naging magagaling na albularyo at may mga sariling kapilya kung saan nanggagamot ng libre sa mga taong maysakit,” (Many of those who were crucified became good faith healers and built their own chapels where they started treating sick people for free)," they said. The group also said that among these “fulfilled faith healers” were Amparo Santos, popularly known as “Mother Paring” of Guiguinto, Bulacan. They said Mother Paring has fulfilled her Lenten vow by getting herself nailed to the cross every Good Friday for 15 consecutive years before she retired 10 years ago. "She now conducts spiritual healing sessions at St. Joseph Chapel in Bgy. Tabe, Guiguinto," they said. The group also mentioned the name of Buboy Dionisio, who also did the bloody ritual of getting nailed to the cross on Good Friday for 16 consecutive years, from 1997 to 2013. Another faith healer whom the elders remember was a woman only known as “Lucy” who also fulfilled her Lenten vow by getting crucified for 15 straight years. Aside from the bloody Lenten rites at Bgy. Kapitangan, huge crowds also visit the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy in Marilao; Padre Pio Mountain Healing and the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto Shrine, both in the City of  San Jose Del Monte; the Banal na Bundok in San Miguel, and other age-old traditions like the Senakulo in the cities of Malolos and Baliuag City.