MANILA – For the 33rd time, the country’s “crucifixion superstar” is set to be nailed to a wooden cross during the “Maleldo 2019: Way of the Cross” on Good Friday in Barangay San Pedro Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga.
The 58-year-old Ruben Enaje said he will continue with his penitence this year to thank Jesus Christ for saving him from a near-fatal fall from a three-story building in 1985.
“I slipped from the bamboo I was standing and while I was falling I uttered the words ‘Dios ko!’, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, but fully conscious,” Enaje said in an online interview.
He added: “It was a miracle I survived the fall without a bone broken. In fact, when I was on the ground, I did not stand up immediately thinking I broke my legs and body, but after a few moments I found out I was okay.”
Enaje originally pledged to perform the ritual for nine years starting 1985 as thanksgiving after surviving a fall from the third floor of a building in Tarlac City where he was painting a billboard.
He extended the tradition for nine more years in 1993 for the cure of his daughter, Ejay, then suffering from asthma. The third nine-year vow was for the healing of his wife, Juanita, who grew a lump in her jaw.
“I owe my life to Jesus that’s why every Good Friday I have to undergo the crucifixion ritual,” Enaje said. “The wooden cross I will carry measures 16 feet long and weighs 37 kilos, and I will walk 1.7 kilometers up to Burol.”
Aside from Enaje, at least 10 more penitents, including a woman, could be nailed to the cross in a makeshift Calvary at Barangay San Pedro Cutud, in the villages of San Juan, Sta. Lucia, and San Nicolas, said tourism officer Ching Pangilinan.
The reenactment of Christ’s crucifixion, which started in 1955, is now on its 61st year and has been traditionally held in Angeles City and Santo Tomas in Pampanga, and in Bulacan.
“Maleldo is a tradition for Catholics, but we must also understand that there are other people who have other religious beliefs and we are asking everybody to respect that just as much as they respect our observation of this tradition,” Pangilinan said./PN
