Pilgrimage Capital

“IT must be a record crowd.” That was how a fellow Antipoleño described the throngs of people from various places who trekked to Antipolo on foot starting the evening of Holy Thursday last week.

There is a term for this yearly activity: “Alay-lakad.”

Loosely translated, it means, “a walk offering.”

That walk begins at sundown of Holy Thursday and ends at about dawn of Good Friday.

We don’t know exactly how many join this trek. In 2013, one media organization estimated the pilgrim crowd at close to three million. We are not sure how accurate that estimate was. However, when one sees for himself the size of the massive throng making its way up through the Masinagang Tikling routes, it could look like that estimate is not too far from the truth.

Many of the Maundy Thursday pilgrims come from the nearby cities of Pasig, Marikina, and Quezon City. Many more come from farther places such as Cavite and Laguna.

A friend shared with me a post in Facebook. The post was proof that the pilgrim crowd included those who came from outside Metro Manila:

“We saw groups of young people walking over the bridge at the junction of SLEX and EDSA last night. I thought that it was due to lack of buses plying the route. There were more traveling on foot as we sloped down to Ayala… they seemed to be lively and excited. The driver told us that this was part of a yearly pilgrimage to Antipolo on foot. They start close to midnight to arrive before dawn but mainly to avoid the dreadful heat and blazing sunlight... What a refreshing thought that some traditions survive in this chaotic city.”

I do not know when the Holy Thursday Alay-Lakad began. It was already an annual event ever since I can remember.

And from what I know, there are a variety of reasons as to why the pilgrim faithful take the annual trip up to Antipolo.

One is that the walk is actually a common folk’s penitential rite. The view is that many pilgrims join to walk to atone for their sins and to ask for God’s forgiveness.

Others join the walk up to the Antipolo hilltop to commemorate Christ’s own walk up to the top of Golgotha while carrying his cross.

Many make the trek to ask for the blessings of peace and good voyage from the patroness of Antipolo.

Many others join the Alay-lakad simply to be with friends and family in a meaningful Lenten activity.

Regardless of the reason, the fact remains that the pilgrim crowd joining the Alay-lakad grows each year.

The Holy Thursday ritual also affirms the role of Antipolo City with its historic Cathedral as the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines.

It is interesting that the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines is also a City on a Pilgrimage.

Part of its journey was the milestone which Antipolo marked last Black Saturday, the 4th of April. That day was the 17th anniversary of Antipolo’s designation as a component city of the province of which it is proud to be a part.

We recall what we said last year in this column about that pilgrimage of our beloved city:

“We look back to this important chapter in Antipolo’s rich history with much gratitude to six Rizaleño leaders who paved the way towards the component cityhood of the Pilgrimage Capital of the Philippines.

“They are former Rizal province congressmen Gilberto Duavit and Emigdio Tanjuatco, Jr., former Rizal Governor Ito Ynares, former Local Government Undersecretary Victor Sumulong who once served as mayor of Antipolo, and Ka Daniel Garcia who was the mayor of the town of Antipolo at that time.

“These five Rizaleño leaders were the “midwives” who nurtured the conception of the idea of Antipolo as a component city of Rizal. The five envisioned Antipolo as a bustling urban city that would serve as magnet for social and economic opportunities that would benefit the entire province.

“The five saw the important role of Antipolo in the life of the entire province. They thought that, since Antipolo has been an important religious destination for more than a century, it can also serve as a destination for businesses, industries, and establishments that make for a prosperous hub of development for the whole of Rizal.

“The sixth Rizaleño leader is former Mayor Angelito Gatlabayan. He was the first to serve as head of the new Antipolo City, presiding over its transition from a Rizal town to an urban center.

“Cityhood is an important chapter in Antipolo’s own pilgrimage through life.

“That pilgrimage began in the late 1500s when the first settlers from nearby lowlands cleared the hills of Antipolo and called it home.

“The pilgrimage continues. In the current chapter in the city’s history, Antipoleños are working together to help the city catch up with the pace of development of its neighbors in Metro Manila.”

*For feedback, please email it to antipolocitygov@gmail.com or send it to #4 Horse Shoe Drive, Beverly Hills Subdivision, Bgy. Beverly Hills, Antipolo City, Rizal.