28 years of thanksgiving and penance

Hermogenes Calaguas, known to friends as Monching, is a Magapapaku Keng Krus—a devotee who is nailed to a cross on Good Friday.

On April 3, he will gain be doing what he has been doing for the last 27 years: he will don a red robe, cover his face, hoist a cross on his back, and walk to a vacant lot near San Guillermo in Bacolor, Pampanga, where he will be nailed to the cross as a way of doing penance and giving thanks to God.

Calaguas, 45, is a pipeline worker for NAWASA in Bacolor. He began doing the ritual in the late '80s. There were dozens of them at the time, and they used to be nailed up in Cabalantian, another barangay in Bacolor. But after the place was buried by lahar when Mt. Pinatubo erupted in 1991, the other Magpapaku Keng Krus dispersed to other parts of the region. Today, Monching is the only remaining "Christ" in the area.

"I started doing this when I was young and always sick," he said in Kapampangan.

"I prayed to God to take away my sickness since we didn't have the medicine to cure my illness because we were so poor. But one night, I saw the Nazareno descending from a ray of light coming from the outside while I was lying and resting. He told me to devote myself by nailing myself to the cross every Good Friday. Since then, it has been an annual ritual."

Monching says that the local government does not give any support to his yearly act of devotion, but they allow him to proceed with the ritual freely on a private lot near the San Guillermo Church.

Even though he has been doing this for nearly 30 years, not a lot of people know about his act.

He paid for the cross and the vestments, and pays for every replacement when the old ones become too worn. This is as it should be, he says. "I usually save money for the wooden cross every time it gets unusable. It costs me around P2,000. Why would I let people give me the money for it when this is my own devotion, not theirs?"

The process of crucifixion starts on Thursday, with Monching walking Pampanga's main roads, passing by major churches, where he prays for his family and for his health. Last year, his devotion was dedicated to his daughter, who has a heart disease. He claims that she was healed by the grace of God. "You only have to live by faith and believe in it, " Monching said.

On Friday, his camino starts in Betis alongside other flagellants towards the San Guillermo. He is nailed to the cross when the sun is at its peak.

One person—Calaguas' good friend, who is familiar with the scars on his palms where the nail should pierce through—nails him to the cross. "The first time I did this, for almost an hour I only saw black and I collapsed. But I learned how to cope with it, " said Monching.

This Friday, Calaguas will be nailed to the cross for the 28th time.

"Some people mock me because of what I do. But we cannot control their minds. This is my way of salvation because this is what I believe in. In fact, I cannot save the whole world. No one does, right? I can only save myself, " he said. — BM, GMA News