Visitors flock Manaoag, Bulacan pilgrimage sites

By Liezle Basa Iñigo and Freddie Velez

MANAOAG, Pangasinan -- Around two million devotees to the Blessed Virgin Mary flocked to the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag here this Holy Week while in Bulacan security was tight at its three pilgrimage sites for hundreds of thousands of the faithful.

The local government and police in Manaoag town said they activated “Oplan Semana Santa,” with barangay tanods and augmentation forces from the Pangasinan Police Provincial Office helping secure the pilgrimage town.

Visitors increased after the shrine was declared a minor basilica and in view of the Lady’s feast day on May 3.

Meanwhile in Bulacan, Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado instructed the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office headed by Liz Mungcal to be on 24/7 alert in due to influx of people this Holy Week.

Senior Supt. Romeo M. Caramat Jr., acting Bulacan police director, said security teams of the Provincial Public Safety Company were deployed in the provinces’ three big pilgrimage sites – the Grotto Shrine in San Jose del Monte City; Divine Mercy Shrine  in Marilao; and the Monte Cristo or (Bato sa Bitibit) in Norzagaray town.

Thousands of foreign and domestic tourists also flocked to the man-made Golgotha beside a chapel in the farming village of Kapitangan in Paombong town when it turned into a crucifixion site on Good Friday.