CEBU CITY – Despite the lack of an approved budget from the City Government, the “Buhing Kalbaryo” was staged for its 16th year without a hitch.
Between 5,000 and 6,000 people turned up to watch it, said Cebu City Police Office Chief Mariano Natuel Jr. and Guadalupe Police Station Chief Andres Bayarcal.
This was the same number of people from 2011 and 2012, even if Good Friday this year proved hotter than it was in the last two years when actors also staged the Passion of Christ.
That same day in the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, a reflection on the final words of Jesus Christ highlighted the themes of forgiveness, repentance, and caring for parents and those in need.
Today’s Easter celebration is expected to draw crowds to churches as well as beaches, as families wrap up a long weekend that is usually a peak travel season in the country.
The live streaming of the Sugat and Easter mass can be watched at www.sunstar.com.ph or www.sunstar.com.ph/holy-week.
No major crimes or road accidents were reported in Cebu from Holy Thursday to Black Saturday.
Street play
The “Buhing Kalbaryo” play, which focuses on the last days of Christ on earth, started in the Archdiocesan Shrine of San Nicolas de Tolentino in Barangay San Nicolas.
It started past 10:30 a.m. and showed how Jesus was laughed at for claiming to be the Son of God and how he was denied by one of his favored disciples, Peter.
After the stage play, the Stations of the Cross started. Stage actors took the play to the streets from Barangay San Nicolas to Barangay Calamba to Barangay Guadalupe, where the 14 Stations of the Cross were displayed.
Some of the people went along with the play like a sort of procession, while some of the audience preferred to watch and wait from the sidewalks for the play to pass their way. Some waited at the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama walked the entire way with his two children, Michelin and Mikel.
Rama admitted he sometimes had to sneak inside his vehicle to douse his head with water because the heat was unbearable.
Dramatic
From a bird’s eye view, the procession was an array of colors, as most of the participants had with them umbrellas of many shades.
Because of the scorching heat, Basak Pardo Emergency Rescue (BPER) and Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) ambulances were on standby.
At the Guadalupe church, many foreigners joined the crowd that waited to watch the dramatization of the death of Jesus Christ. One of them asked Sun.Star Cebu if the person playing Jesus Christ would be crucified for real. (He wasn’t, although in Tuburan town, Gilbert Bargayo had his Good Friday performance this year.)
Rama basked in the success of Buhing Kalbaryo, even when there was no budget approved for it.
The Cebu City Council’s committee on budget and finance had sought a recommendation from the City Accountant’s Office if the P475,000 proposed budget for the event can be charged against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) funds.
But in an interview last Wednesday, City Accountant Diwa Cuevas said she had yet to make the recommendation because the committee report did not reach her in time.
Offering
Businessman George Chu was not worried days before the activity, because of well-meaning private businesses.
Former councilor Jocelyn Pesquera said the stage was built courtesy of Dakay Construction and the sound system was donated by Sarua Records.
“It’s an offering to God so the reenactment, notwithstanding (the budgetary constraints), will go on. As they say, the show must go on,” said Rama.
Rama said it was a challenging show this year but successful, nonetheless.
While he asked the Team Rama to join the Buhing Kalbaryo, the mayor said some of them had their own sacrifices for the Holy Week.
Seen in the area were Councilor Edgardo Labella, Basak Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak, congressional candidate Aristotle Batuhan, and candidate for councilor Althea Lim.
Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK) candidates may not have been there but some people wore the blue and yellow BOPK shirts and carried umbrellas marked “OYAB ta” -- Oyab apparently an acronym for Osmeña, Young, Abellanosa -- to shield them from the heat of the sun.
Siete Palabras
At the Cathedral, clergymen from Cebu’s different religious orders led the reflections and prayers on the Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ.
In his reflection on the first words, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,” Fr. Emilio Larlar of the Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) said that despite the betrayals by his peers, Jesus remained forgiving and even prayed that God would forgive them as well.
Larlar, who is the vice prior and vice president for administration of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), said that through Jesus’ death, we are taught the value of forgiving others.
“Sa tanan sugo nga gihatag sa Ginoo, kini ang lisud tumanun. Apan sa tinuoray lang, wala’y lisud buhaton sa kinabuhing Kristohanon (Among God’s commands, this is the most difficult to follow. But in truth, those who seek to live as Christians can overcome such difficulties),” Larlar said.
On Jesus’ second words “On this day, you shall be with me in Paradise,” Fr. Noniel Pe of the Order of Friars Minor said that the lesson of the repentant thief should be pondered by all believers.
Mercy
Pe, parish priest of the San Vicente Ferrer Parish in Barangay Sambag II in Cebu City, said that the thief who sought Jesus’ pity at the Cross was a testament of how immeasurable God’s mercy is.
“How blessed is the repentant thief for he would be the first to accompany Jesus to the Kingdom of God,” Pe said.
According to the gospel, the third of Christ’s seven last words were, “Woman, behold you son. Son, behold your mother.”
Fr. Rolyn Vics of the Claretian Missionaries said that the Virgin Mary’s role as a mother to Jesus Christ was not just a simple relationship between mother and son. Vics, who is the parish priest of the San Roque Parish in Barangay Subangdaku, Mandaue City, said that while Jesus carried the extreme weight of his mission, he never forgot his mother or show concern for her, even as he faced death.
Vics said that should be a reminder to the faithful to love and honor their parents.
On Jesus’ fourth words “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Fr. Emerando Maningo of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer said that Jesus talked of being isolated from the grace, whether from God or within our own society.
Maningo, who is one of the parochial vicars of the Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish (Redemptorist) in Cebu City, said that when Jesus uttered the words, he not only referred to himself but also everyone else who felt forsaken.
Care
Today, they may include those living in the far-flung areas, whom government nor the church have not reached; or they may refer to parents abandoned by their children, and vice versa.
The fifth of Christ’s seven last words were, “I thirst.”
Fr. Rodrigo Salac of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) said that the unquenchable thirst that Jesus felt on the cross echoes also the abandoned children walking the streets every day.
Salac, who is the parish priest of the St. Arnold Janssen Parish in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, said that like Jesus, a lot of street children around the country also thirst for the love and care of their parents.
He mentioned children who are left to fend for themselves on the streets, or who resort to drugs or crime to ease their hurts.
“It further worsens when these children are called the problems of society,” Salac said.
Surrender
On Jesus’ sixth words, “It is finished,” Fr. Benedicto Pelias of the Mission Society of the Philippines (MSP) spoke of how Christ accomplished his mission through his death.
Pelias, who is also the MSP promotion and vocation director of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cebu City, said that while Jesus’ mission on Earth is complete, the mission of the faithful to spread His Word remains.
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” were Christ’s final words. In his reflection, Fr. Jason Dy of the Society of Jesus said that like the crucified Messiah, the faithful must be ready to give themselves to God.
Dy, who serves as parochial vicar and administrator of the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on D. Jakosalem St., Cebu City, said his experience in first entering priesthood helped him understand the meaning of Jesus’ final words.
As cruel as Christ’s death may have been, He also showed there was something better that waited beyond it, Fr. Dy said. (Sun.Star Cebu)