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Thursday, March 29, 2018

Holy Week - Stations of the Cross in Malasag (Panaad 2018)

Holy Week in Christianity is the week just before Easter. It is the last week of Lent, and includes Palm Sunday, Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy or Black Saturday.  It is a time to commemorate, reflect upon, and reenact, specifically, the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

Stations of the Cross in Malasag - Panaad 2018
That is why most Roman Catholics tried to commemorate and reenact the suffering of Jesus Christ by walking kilometers of distance through Stations of the Cross and pray as their penitence. But as the years go by, specially here in Cagayan de Oro, that practice has been celebrated annually, BUT! Yes, a big BUT because most people who went to Malasag area for the supposedly PANAAD, or the action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentance is gone! If you went to Malasag area Thursday Night til Friday Morning of Holy Week, you'll be surprised to see and hear youngsters shouting, cursing and lewd behaviors while hiking along the stations of the cross. Mostly are not even stopping by at every station to even just say a prayer or two.




Crowded Everywhere
When we reached the last station of the cross, the place was so crowded that you might think there's a Woodstock Festival happening. We reached the Chapel at the last station but it was too crowded to get inside so we decided to stay outside and light our last candle at the cross outside and prayed.

It was around 11:00PM and we decided to put up a camp somewhere, so we can just sleep until morning but there are just too many people around the area. Some were just laying down a piece of carton where they can use as their bed, we went further to find a good place for camping but we had no choice but to camp where most people are camping for the night.

Worst Night in Malasag
When we finished setting up our tent, we thought we could get a good night sleep until morning, but we were so disappointed because groups of hyperbeast started shouting at each other. Some are shouting just to get some attention (papansin). It is like a competition of who can shout a baddest phrase or lewd and disrespectful phrase that they can think of. Every time one can shout something that some fellow hyperbeast thought as a good one, they started cheering in chorus as a recognition. We ended up having a headache in the morning for not having good sleep all through the night.

Garbage Here, Garbage There, Garbage Everywhere


Plastic Bottles, Food Packs and other kinds of Garbage left behind by some "Pilgrims" for the Panaad 2018 in Malasag, Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City
It was already around 6 in the morning and we started fixing our tent to get ready hiking back to the main highway and go home, but when I went outside our tent WOW! what a surprise! The surrounding area was so bad! Full of plastic bottles, foil packs from some foods and a lot of cartons being left behind by the people who made it as their bed from last night. They just left their garbage where they setup their camp. The scene was so bad, that is why I took some pictures of it. Actually the picture we posted, wasn't the worst. There are even worst on the other area but we were not able to take a photo because we were too irritable for having a lack of good sleep.

More garbage being left behind by people in Malasag area.

Garbage in Malasag after Panaad 2018
We hope that by next year, the Local Government of Malasag area could do something about this garbage problem during an occasion like this. We know they can just clean it up afterwards but can they do something next time? Like to discipline the people from behaving badly while in the area and to let the people dispose their garbage properly. How about putting an environmental fee for everyone who comes inside Malasag area during Holy Week and to continually reminding people to dispose garbage properly, or put up a penalty to everyone caught littering inside the Malasag area. It is just a matter of self discipline, but most youngsters now doesn't have it.



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