Nineteen policemen facing dismissal or suspension atoned for their infractions by flagellating themselves or volunteering to be crucified during yesterday annual reenactment of Jesus Christ's final hours.
Dozens of Filipino devotees mark Good Friday by volunteering to be nailed to wooden crosses in what has become a tourist attraction in Asia's most populous Roman Catholic country.
This year the Central Luzon regional police command, north of Manila, gave officers who have been absent without leave or who have neglected their duty a novel option: Redeem themselves -- and keep their jobs -- by joining the Lenten rites, said regional commander Chief Superintendent Rowland Albano.
Albano said he joined 19 erring officers -- including those who have been absent without leave from 30 days to 18 months, and others who have not showed up for guard duty -- in the rites.
The officers, wearing black shirts, their blue uniform trousers and crowns of ropes and leaves that looked like thorns, took turns carrying a heavy wooden cross in a 3km procession at police headquarters in Pampanga province's San Fernando city, 60km north of Manila.
Four of the men volunteered to whip their backs to show repentance, while one police superintendent asked to be nailed to the cross -- but Albano refused and instead had the man strapped to the cross.
"They were happy to be given a chance to redeem themselves," Albano said, adding that he joined his men to show that "all of us are humans, and we all have shortcomings."
Speaking before a crowd of about 5,000 officers and spectators, Albano said people should not make the same mistake twice. He also urged criminals to repent and mend their ways.
In nearby Bulacan province's Kapitagan village, three people were nailed briefly to the cross to repent for their sins.
Aurelia Suerte Felipe, Buboy Dionisio, and Jonjon Pasio -- assisted by devotees, including several foreigners -- underwent the ceremony on a stage beside a chapel, where some 2,000 devotees and oglers gathered. Vendors selling balloons, food, toys and houseware added to the fiesta atmosphere.
In Pampanga province's Santa Lucia village, five men and a woman, with crowns of vines around their heads, were nailed to the cross on a mound behind a basketball court.
In the farming village of San Pedro Cutud, 2km away, more than 15,000 people, including hundreds of foreign tourists, awaited another bloody crucifixion to be reenactment by at least 11 men, mostly impoverished villagers.
A platform was constructed for the media and another for important guests, as some 500 police, armed with M-16 rifles and metal detectors, provided security.
The Lenten ritual is opposed by religious leaders in the Philippines but has persisted to become one of the country's most-awaited summer attractions.
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