Flooding
and the Sto. Niño de Tondo
by Ambeth Ocampo
by Ambeth Ocampo
Many people tried to recall
the worst typhoon in living memory and the name “Yoling” always crops up. I
remember Yoling packed more wind than
rain. Unlike Ondoy which caused
floodwaters to make cars float like toys, Yoling
huffed and puffed, and blew flimsy houses down. Windows were broken, galvanized
iron sheets and other objects were flying about in Yoling’s fury. Memory, however, creates its own fictions likewise
blown away by a primary source.
Elvie Irremedio of the
Lopez Museum was amazed when I turned up in the library one time to request
newspaper clippings on Yoling. Under the
museum are shelves upon shelves of Manila envelopes stuffed with clippings from
the pre-martial law newspapers: Manila Times, Taliba, Daily Mirror. Since Elvie
is old enough to be my grandmother, I asked what year Yoling passed through the Philippines and her eyes brightened as
she declared, 1968!
We searched under Typhoons
1968. Yoling was not to be found
there. I asked for Typhoons 1972 to verify a persistent urban legend regarding
rains that lasted a biblical 40 days and 40 nights. This great flood
reminiscent of Noah’s was attributed to the theft of the image of the Santo
Niño de Tondo in 1972. If we are to believe legend, the persistent rain ceased
when the Santo Niño was returned to Tondo in procession led by former first
lady Imelda Marcos.
Inside a slim envelope
labeled ‘Tondo - Crime’ were detailed reports on mayhem, and murder. No theft
of Sto. Niño de Tondo. These clippings in Filipino read just like current
tabloid, radio, or 6 o’clock TV news.
Finally, I found the story,
only to be disappointed because the image was stolen from Tondo church on July
14, 1972, and dismembered parts were recovered three days later on July 17.
After the arrest of suspects, the image was put together and returned to Tondo
from Malacañang on August 2, 1972.
Contrary to popular belief,
it didn’t rain 40 days and 40 nights though the first typhoon to hit the
Philippines after the theft was a strong one named Gloring. Not content with the havoc it produced, it left the
Philippine area of responsibility on July 15, 1972 but decided to return on
July 20 bringing some friends on her tail! The names of the other 1972
typhoons: Lusing, Maring, Osang, Paring
and Reming made me wonder whether we
should maintain the practice of renaming typhoons when they enter the
Philippines or just keep the international name to avoid confusion.
The Sto. Niño image was
reported missing on the morning of July 14, 1972, by the assistant parish
priest, Fr. Lorenzo Egos, who suggested that the thieves hid in the church when
the doors were bolted at 8 p.m. the night before. He suspected someone who had
been attending Mass days before and described this character to the police.
The image was described as
being: two feet tall, a wooden body with ivory parts, adorned with accessories
of gold and silver. To the faithful, the image was priceless, but for police
purposes a P500,000 price tag was provided. (Not all news was bad news because
on the day the Sto. Niño de Tondo was stolen, a silver incense burner stolen in
Carcar, Cebu, was recovered and returned.)
Manila’s Finest engaged their informants and three days later a suspect was
arrested. Reynio Rivera, 24 years old and jobless, named three companions in
the theft. Parts of the image were recovered in separate houses on Balagtas
Street, Tondo: the wooden body dumped in a canal near Rivera’s house, the left
arm, a silver scepter, a golden cross, and a bronze crown.
On August 2, 1972, the
weather improved, the floods subsided and the Sto. Niño de Tondo (or most of
its parts) was recovered, presented to President and Mrs. Marcos in Malacañang
and brought in procession back to Tondo church.
Postscript to the story is
that the thieves were Kapampangan who specialized in looting churches of their
precious antiques. Before striking in Tondo, the thieves had taken another
image from a church in Tuguegarao, Cagayan. The gold cross of the image was
bought by Eugenio Milan of Bulacan for the magnificent sum of P43! Milan
charged as an accessory to the crime.
Where the other stolen
parts were recovered from is not clear. Police were not allowed to enter an art
gallery on Vito Cruz where the thieves offered the more valuable parts,
including the ivory head, for sale. These parts were presented to Mrs. Marcos
in Malacañang by Dr. Eleuterio Pascual, the art gallery owner, then the famous santo sculptor of Malate, Maximo
Vicente, was called in to put everything together. A thanksgiving Mass was held
in Malacañang, with President Marcos reading the Epistle in English and
Tagalog, while 2,000 impatient devotees waited outside to escort their patron
back to Tondo church. It was described as an emotional moment. Many were moved
to tears even as they were distracted by the beauty of Mrs. Marcos, who was
described as a Norma Blancaflor look-a-like.
Then as now, churches are
looted of their treasures. Some artifacts are returned, but many remain at
large, leaving the faithful waiting in vain.
