LUCENA CITY–Call it a miracle.
Despite the multitude of devotees that have flocked to the five-hectare religious site “Kamay ni Hesus” (Hand of Jesus) shrine in Lucban, Quezon during the past Holy Week, only one incidence of a pickpocket was reported in the vast complex, police said Monday.
Senior Inspector Hilario Cantoria, Lucban police chief, described the situation at the shrine during the past week as “generally peaceful” and said he himself was surprised no other untoward incidents were reported to the police except for the lone pickpocket incident.
He said last Tuesday, a female balikbayan was victimized by a woman pickpocket but one of the closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) placed in strategic spots in the complex was able to get footage of the incident.
Cantoria said only cash was taken by the unidentified thief while the personal identification cards and other documents of the victim were left behind in one of the shrine comfort rooms.
Fr. Joey Faller, renowned healer and founder of the shrine, described the absence of criminal activities at the shrine as a “miracle.”
“It seems that even the criminals have observed Holy Week and respect the sacredness of the shrine complex,” he said.
Last year the police journal reported a couple of pickpocket incidents inside and outside the shrine complex during the Holy Week.
The Shrine located in the village of Tinamnam, some two kilometers away from the town proper, is one of the popular Lenten destinations in the country.
An unofficial count by the police and shrine officials said the number of visitors in the past week had reached more than one million.
Faller said that with the multitudes of visitors, the police, Army, volunteers and the shrine’s own security guards had thought that criminal elements would swarm the shrine during the whole week.
“That’s the reason why we put up CCTVs around the complex. Thank God that only one unfortunate incident happened,” the priest said over the phone on Monday.
Faller believed the pickpocket was not really a thief but was forced to commit the crime due to other reasons. “Maybe she was just in dire need of the money,” he said.
Cantoria shared Faller’s view.
“If she’s really a hard-nosed pickpocket, she will not take time and effort to leave the victim’s personal cards and documents in the comfort room for others to see. She should have immediately left the place but she did not,” he said.
Cantoria said more than 50 policemen and Army soldiers had been assigned at the shrine to protect its visitors.
The police official said the only problem they faced during the past week was the heavy volume of vehicles – passenger jeeps, buses and private vehicles – that arrived in Lucban loaded with passengers/visitors to the shrine.
He said the proposed by-passed road, that would enable the motorists to skip the town proper and go directly to the shrine, would have to be completed this year to avoid a similar situation next Holy Week.