Manaoag church faces traffic woes

DEVOTEES going to the Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag at night have increased after the church was declared a minor basilica in February this year. WILLIE LOMIBAO / Inquirer Northern Luzon

MANAOAG, Pangasinan—Every day has been a Sunday in this pilgrimage town on the days leading to Holy Week, according to the town’s police chief.

A big number of people stream here daily to pray at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag, which houses Apo Baket, an image of the Virgin Mary that is said to be miraculous.

“From the time the church became a minor basilica, the number of people arriving in our town had almost doubled, even on weekdays,” said Chief Insp. Edison Revita, police chief.

Earned papal seal

The church was formally proclaimed a minor basilica on Feb. 17. As such, the church has earned a papal seal, according to Fr. Roland Mactal, the church’s chaplain and liturgist.

As a papal church, it now has the privilege of granting plenary indulgence, which is basically the condonation of sins. This used to be given only by the Vatican, the seat of the Catholic Church.

“Last year, based on the survey we conducted, at least 7,000 people visited the church on weekdays and about 25,000 came during weekends,” he said.

According to the church’s website (www.manaoagshrine.org), Masses are held from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 5 a.m. to noon on weekend.

An afternoon Mass is held at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Shorter travel time

Revita said the influx of churchgoers here may also be attributed to the opening of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) exit in Urdaneta City, which has shortened travel time from Metro Manila.

Travel time from the North Luzon Expressway starting from Balintawak in Caloocan City to the end of TPLEx in Urdaneta City now takes two hours. From TPLEx, it will only be a 30-minute drive to Manaoag.

“The big challenge for us until now is traffic management,” Revita said. With the big volume of vehicles arriving in this town daily, he said parking space had been a concern.

He said free parking space at the back of the church could accommodate only a few vehicles that even the streets around the church are clogged with buses, vans and cars.

Revita said Mayor Kim Amador had talked with the commanding officer of Camp Lt. Tito Abat, an Army camp here, for the use of its grounds for parking. Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon