PH national hero Jose Rizal revered in a version of traditional ‘pasyon’

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna—Eriberto Saños, 49, has his hands full whenever December 30 approaches. He prepares food and his home for some 20 guests arriving for the day—the death anniversary of national hero Jose Rizal.

One of his special visitors is Baeng, a woman now in her 80s. Baeng or Remigia Lagmay-Hibe is the wife of Regalado Hibe or Apo Nonong, the late leader and founder of the Universal Rizalist Brotherhood Association Inc. (Urbai).

Urbai, registered in 1982 and currently with about 1,000 followers, is a Rizalist group.

“Rizalista is a collective term,” Saños said, that refers to people with deep spiritual devotion to Rizal. “But like any other religion, there are many types or sects (of Rizalistas). Perhaps about 200 in the Philippines.”

In Calamba City alone, the birthplace of Rizal, there are about five different factions, the most heard of are the Iglesia Watawat ng Lahi or the Iglesia ng Lipi ni Gat Dr. Rizal.

The Saños residence is one of the many Rizalist temples or houses of prayers. It seems like any other average-income household in the lakeshore village of Sucol here—tiled floor, neatly arranged furniture and pet dogs—except for a small room on the third floor.

The room has an altar of Rizal’s portraits among the statuettes of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ and its walls are adorned with framed Rizal photos and unusual symbols, letters and figures. On the roof deck is a Rizal bust facing the majestic Mt. Makiling.

“Makiling is an encantada,” Saños said. “She, along with Arayat and Inang Sinukuan were the ones who handed the infant Rizal (to his parents).”

It is in this room where Saños regularly lights a candle and says his prayers. But December 30 and June 19, Rizal’s birth anniversary, are special occasions as Urbai members join the family in reciting the “Pasyong Rizal” for several hours toward the eve of the anniversaries.

The Pasyong Rizal is a 230-page book that Saños, who was born to a Catholic family, wrote and published in December 2011. It is similar to the traditional Catholic pasyon, a narration of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection that elders read or chant during Lent.

Saños grew up listening to elders chanting the pasyon in his community. “Pasyon is a metrical romance so it should not be simply read aloud but has to be done with some art,” he said.

When he was in high school, he joined hikes to Mt. Banahaw in Quezon where his early exposure to different Rizalist groups started.

“I liked how they prayed so solemnly,” he said. “I thought, if we have the pasyon for Christ, why not for Dr. Rizal, who is the Bathalang Ama (God the Father),” he said.

Pasyong Rizal is divided into two main parts. “The first is about Rizal’s life and works and the history of the Philippines and the second is the mysterious part,” Saños said.

Urbai basically believes in Rizal as God the Father; Mother Mary, whom they call Bathalumang Inang Virgo Eva Celis Maria Purisima; Christ as the Holy Son; the Espiritu Santong Wagas and the Bathalang Omnipontente ang Kalangkap sa Dilim at Buong Liwanag.

One of their basic prayers, recited every 8 p.m. for 49 straight days for male Urbai members and 48 days for female members, is called the “pagli-lima”.

“If you pray to just one or two of them, the power is weaker. You have to call on the five,” Saños said.

Their prayers are also recited, both written in numbers and in the alphabet, with the left hand placed on the chest and the right hand raised.

Pasyong Rizal talks about Dr. Rizal’s professions. “He is an anthropologist, botanist, cartographer and so on, completing (the alphabet) from A to Z,” Saños said.

It also talks about Rizal as a prophet, a healer, a linguist who spoke six dialects and 22 languages and mentioned several accounts of Rizal’s contemporaries who referred to him by titles as a Christ.

As a true God, “Rizal did not die when he was shot at the Bagumbayan,” Saños said.

In the Pasyong Rizal, Saños quoted a March 29, 1987 news report, which historian Ambeth Ocampo also found in the National Archives. The document contained a report from an agent of the Spanish governor-general that said a rose-colored cloud enveloped the carriage supposedly containing Rizal’s body. Upon checking, the soldiers did not find Rizal’s body inside but instead a beautiful white cock.

Saños, a father of three, is a licensed forester and currently works as the chief environment officer in Coron, Palawan. He is also a proud believer of the Rizalist ideas.

“Why will I be (ashamed)? A person can worship dirt and no one will stop him,” he said.

He said Rizalist beliefs are founded on history, Catholicism, environment and nationalist ideas.

Saños wrote the Pasyong Rizal in hopes of uniting together all Rizalist groups into one faith. Since 2011, he has been distributing copies of the book to other Rizalist factions.

“Even if I have to do it alone, I will. Ama (the Father) said it so,” he said.

He also refuses to call his group a cult but rather a “brotherhood.”

“It’s based on faith and nothing more. What will you gain from the members—they are the old, the poor and the uneducated. There is neither money nor fame, just faith,” he said.