300-year-old Sto. Niño image missing after Pandacan fire

MANILA, Philippines — The 300-year-old image of the Sto Niño remains missing after a fire that gutted the Sto. Niño de Pandacan Parish church on Friday.

The church’s historical artifact expert Robert Fabro Tomas lamented the loss of the image, dating it back to 1712 when the parish was first established during Spanish colonial rule.

According to folklore, the mahogany image was discovered by a group of children among pandan reeds near a carabao wallow. Its wood is similar to that of the Black Nazarene image.

The Sto. Niño image, venerated every January with a street dance feast called the “Buling-Buling Festival,” was missing after a fire of still unknown origin razed through the church’s main altar and the convent where the centuries-old image was kept.

Folk knowledge

Tomas said the Sto. Niño image was enshrined in folk knowledge through the Tagalog folk song “Sitsiritsit, alibangbang,” which sang of a puto seco store near the Pandacan church.

“The history of the Sto. Niño image has a simplified version in the Tagalog folk song,” Tomas said of the song, which goes: “Santo Niño sa Pandakan/ Puto seko sa tindahan/ Kung ayaw mong magpautang/ Uubusin ka ng langgam.”

Miracles

According to church documents, miracles were attributed to the image, Tomas said. In 1911, during a fire that razed Pandacan district, the priest faced the image toward the direction of the fire, and the wind suddenly changed the course of the blaze, sparing the church.

“The Sto. Niño of Pandacan has a particular devotion about fires. Traditionally, we have a procession against fires after Easter Sunday,” Tomas said.

Tomas said the church management is making an inventory of the historic artifacts lost to the fire, including valuable wooden furniture or “muebles,” the original part of the stone church when it was first built in 1732, and memorabilia during the commemoration of the parish church’s 300 year anniversary in 2012.

The parish priest will make an announcement about the missing image during today’s 9 a.m. mass at the courtyard, Tomas said.

“This is the heart of Pandacan. And being Pandaceños, Jesus Christ is within our hearts. So from ashes, we will rebuild the church,” Tomas said.