Bargayo offers sacrifice for a peaceful election
Gilbert Bargayo had himself crucified for the 22nd time on Good Friday with a pledge to continue doing so until the Holy Spirit tells him to stop.
This year, in Tuburan town, he offered the sacrifice for an honest, orderly and peaceful election. He said he asked that God spare everyone from deaths from electionrelated conflict.
Bargayo said he noted two major differences from his experience this year, both positive and negative - his hands and feet were nailed perfectly to the cross but more blood gushed out of his limbs when the nails were removed.
"Naperfect paglansang karon, pero mas grabi ang dugo karon kompara sa miaging tuig," Bargayo said.
His day started early last Friday with him and his assistants attending the Via Crucis, a Catholic tradition of reflecting the passion of Christ, during which Bargayo carried an eight-foot cross to all 14 stations. Occasionally, his assistants would kick him in the back and lashed him with seven strands of electric wire that tore his white garment off.
The Via Crucis, Bargayo spent the time at a beach resort to prepare for the crucifixion.
By midday, the reflection of the Seven Last Words began with two men playing thieves Demas and Gestas crucified, their heads bowed down at the stage at the town's boulevard. They stayed on the cross for almost three hours and unlike the previous year, the two survived the scorching heat of the sun.
The crowd began to swell when Bargayo arrived at around 2 p.m.
Carrying the cross he carried during the Via Crucis, Bargayo assumed the role of Jesus anew as he walked to the stage, his assistants kicking and lashing him. Before he climbed the cross on stage, he looked at the people in front of him. On the cross, he looked up the heavens, prayed, made the sign of the cross, and was crucified.
Each time his nephew, Renante Cotamora, would hit a nail with a wooden mallet, the crowd could not help but shout. As what is depicted in the story of crucifixion, one of his assistants portraying a soldier cut Bargayo's chest to bleed as his cross was upright.
Bargayo stayed on the cross for approximately 10 minutes.
In an earlier interview, Bargayo said he prepares in both mind and body 40 days straight days before the crucifixion. He said his diet consist mainly of fruits and calamansi juice to burn fat so that his body mass would be enough for the nails to fasten both hands and feet. —