MANILA: Hundreds of thousands of Catholic pilgrims swarmed the streets of Manila in search of a miracle Thursday, straining to reach a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ in an annual display of religious fervor.
The procession to the Philippine capital’s Quiapo Church, which started before dawn after an open-air mass, was expected to swell to more than two million participants from across the heavily Catholic country, church officials said.
Barefoot men and women in maroon shirts – the color of the robe that covers the black, wooden Jesus the Nazarene statue – scrambled to grab the rope used to draw the life-sized religious icon, believing it would bring good health.
“I prayed that my mother be healed from her heart attack,” Dong Lapira, 54, said of a previous procession where he had been bruised and jostled in his attempt to join those pulling the rope.
But he vowed to try again Thursday – this time to see his wife healed of gallstones.
“The Nazarene is very sacred. It has granted many prayers,” he added.
Some faithful frantically threw white towels to worshippers tasked with guarding the float, hoping God’s blessings might rub off on the cloth as they’re used to clean the statue’s glass case.
One of the volunteer guards, Alvin Olicia, 38, said he was unaffected by the “extreme heat or rain” he has confronted at past processions.
“I don’t feel it at all. I like my task, because through catching other’s handkerchiefs, I feel like I am connecting them to their faith and to the Nazarene.”
While authorities have banned devotees from climbing on the carriage, some still clambered over other attendees, risking life and limb to be near the religious icon.
Ester Espiritu, 76, who traveled 35 kilometers from her home in Cavite province, said just catching a glimpse of the statue would be enough.
“Even If I’m struggling to come here because of my age... I feel happy and well whenever I see the Nazarene,” said Espiritu, who added she was praying for a lingering shoulder injury.
The giant religious parade commemorates the arrival of the wooden statue of the genuflecting Jesus the Nazarene from Acapulco, Mexico in the early 1600s, shortly after the start of the Spanish colonial conquest.
Its color – which has led it to be popularly known as the Black Nazarene – was believed to have been caused by a fire aboard the Spanish galleon that was transporting it.
President Ferdinand Marcos said the annual celebration of the icon was a “testament to our people’s solidarity and camaraderie.”
“It also speaks of the immense power and compassion of God who walks with us and hears our prayers, especially in our time of need,” Marcos said in a statement.
Police said about 14,500 security personnel had been deployed along the procession’s six-kilometer route as a precaution.
Mobile phone signals were also blocked to prevent the remote detonation of explosive devices during the parade which is expected to last up to 18 hours, police said.
Emergency response teams were stationed along the route.
The Red Cross said it provided first aid treatment to more than 100 participants in the first few hours of the procession, mainly for cuts, dizziness, nausea and body weakness.

SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court that is trying parliament’s impeachment case against him, even if it decides to remove the suspended leader from office, his lawyer said on Thursday.
“So if the decision is ‘removal’, it cannot but be accepted,” Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer for Yoon, told a news conference, when asked if Yoon would accept whatever the outcome of trial was
Yoon has earlier defied the court’s requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on Dec. 27, but his lawyers have said he was willing to appear in person to argue his case.
The suspended president has defied repeated summons in a separate criminal investigation into allegations he masterminded insurrection with his Dec. 3 martial law bid.
Yoon, the lawyer, said the president is currently at his official residence and appeared healthy, amid speculation over the suspended leader’s whereabouts.
Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.
Seok Dong-hyeon, another lawyer advising Yoon, said Yoon viewed the attempts to arrest him as politically motivated and aimed at humiliating him by bringing him out in public wearing handcuffs.