100-kilo cross carried anew as floggings back in balik-panata in Mandaluyong

Penitents in Mandaluyong City have returned to flogging themselves and wounding their backs for the first Holy Week under the most relaxed COVID-19 alert level thus far.

For Loel Nasario, it was again time to take up a cross, weighing a hundred kilos, to honor a panata or loosely a promise he made when his father fell seriously ill years back.

"Halos naiyak 'yung tatay ko nu'ng makita niya akong pumapasan ng krus... D'un palang nila nalaman na ako'y namamanata," Nasario said of the time he carried a cross in 2019.

"Marami nang milagro na nangyari sa buhay ko," he added.

Health authorities in the city are making sure all are safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic even as some residents have returned to their panata.

"Unang-una, dapat sila ay baksinado (bakunado)," Barangay Libis chairman Danilo Torres said.

Participants are required to observe the minimum health protocols and children aren't allowed when the flagellants make their way into the gym. —NB, GMA News