Salya is people power
LAST Feb. 17, 2024, I was invited by the St. John Bosco Parish, which is located in the middle of the urban poor area of Tondo, Manila, to witness a critics’ preview of their nationally famous Senakulo on film, which they have done since 2021. Who would have thought that from the talents of ordinary people emerge an awesome spectacle on the life and passion of Jesus Christ shown online during Holy Week, which they previously did face-to-face for half a century already before the pandemic? Since the story is the same, the films were done with different emphases each year that will keep you wondering, what will they do differently next year?
Well, they titled Senakulo 2024 “Traslacion” and inserted the story of a devotee to the Black Nazarene played by Mary Faith Garrate and her sick child to parallel with the life of Christ. It shows you the reason why many Filipinos appropriated Christianity and made it part of our own culture — we believe that the Lord understands us because he became like us; he became “kapwa.”
But although we see the Nazarene suffering that mirrors our own, we also see him as King — “Hari” — who would overcome death after three days and is a source of hope despite the vicissitudes of our own lives.
In last week’s column, I wrote about how the Traslacion also mirrors the Filipino struggle for freedom. In my very first column in The Manila Times on Jan. 13, 2018, titled “Bayanihan and order in the Black Nazarene procession,” I demonstrated how the procession of the Poong Jesus Nazareno in Quiapo, which may appear chaotic, is actually “bayanihan” in action. And when people at the back of the andas come together to run and slam their bodies to the andas so it can move forward or go in a certain direction, or if another devotee pushes a fellow so he can enter and carry the rope of the andas, the devotees call this “salya.” This is actually the power of the people to move things forward. Therefore, salya is People Power!
In my recently completed PhD dissertation, “Nasaan ang Hari: Etnograpiya ng Pagsalya ng Bayan sa Traslacion ng Poong Hesus Nazareno ng Quiapo,” my reader and panelist Professor Fr. Hermel Pama, OP, PhD informed me that while reading it he actually remembered what anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote in “Religion of Java.” He said that Geertz had written that in Javanese rituals, the class divides are blurred, and the people, who are usually in the margins, become important in actual decision-making.
One key moment in my dissertation where this is demonstrated was during Traslacion 2012 when, because of a confirmed terrorist threat, Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo had asked the Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to consider canceling the Traslacion. When this was relayed by the head lay of the Parish Pastoral Council in charge of the Hijos del Nazareno groups, Brother Nick Salimbagat, at dawn of January 9, the Hijos, made up of ordinary people, objected and said the procession should continue, and they were willing to lay down their life for the Señor. Fearing more trouble, the government and the church authorities allowed the procession to continue. However, as the procession was approaching Roxas Boulevard from Katigbak Drive, the wheels of the andas exploded. And so, the Armed Forces of the Philippines offered a drop side truck where they could put the Black Nazarene. But though Salimbagat and Hijos leaders like Arnel Irasga agreed to use the truck, the devotees felt that they would lose their control in guarding
the Señor from the military. A small whisper from the devotees grew louder as it was repeated, “Walang bababa!” (Nobody’s going to go down). So, despite burst tires, the procession continued, and the devotees also refused to proceed immediately to the church and went into the other streets of Quiapo.
That became one of the longest, if not the longest, Traslacion, more than 22 hours.
That is why leaders should always consider the people’s perspective in decision-making. Despite the current rector of the Minor Basilica and National Shrine of Jesus Nazareno Fr. Rufino “Jun” Sescon Jr.’s resolve to reform the Traslacion to lessen the “sampahan” in the procession, he still decided to continue the carrying of the ropes of the mamamasan to preserve the ritual of sacrifice as a show of their love for the Nazareno.
This is reminiscent of People Power in February 1986 that happened 38 years ago, that despite the danger, ordinary people, leaderless, said “Bahala na!” and they not only prayed and brought out their rosaries and images of saints to face the tanks of the Philippine Marines that were ordered to crush the rebels, but they tried to push the tanks away together in a show of bayanihan, and won. That is salya!