Fr. Medida: Focus not only on Sugat entertainment but also on its essence

Archangel Gabriel (right) fights with a fallen angel during Sunday’s Sugat sa Kabanhawan sa Minglanilla.
CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO

130th Sugat sa Minglanilla draws 25,000 people to watch the town’s P4.8M resurrection play

AS THE 600 performers put on a P4.8 million show retelling the story of the Jesus Christ’s resurrection during the 130th Sugat sa Kabanhawan sa Minglanilla on Sunday dawn, Fr. Antonio Medida of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish reminded the estimated thousands of people to not only focus on the entertainment brought by the Sugat, but to internalize its essence.

“Naa gyod ni epekto unta sa atong kinabuhi – kausaban alang sa kaayohan. Sa pagsulod sa bag-ong tuig (catholic calendar), karon mao gyod ang saktong panahon sa pag-bag-o ug pag-usab sa atong kinabuhi,” Medida said in his homily during the Easter Mass.
(I hope this would bring change to us for the better. As we enter into a new year of faith, this is the right time to start our lives anew.)

The 130th Sugat sa Kabanhawan started at Sunday dawn when the skies were still covered by darkness, and yet the skies cleared when the angels soared above the open field of the Minglanilla Sports Complex for the annual play of reliving the story of Christ’s resurrection.

Dancers who blew fire which lit up the grounds and air acrobats who clung to a single hoop as they glided gracefully in the thin air wowed the throng of about 25,000 people, who witnessed the performance.

Kean Vasquez, 18, who has played the role of Archangel Gabriel for two consecutive years, said that his participation in the Sugat performance is his way of manifesting his faith in the risen Christ.

“My faith is limitless. Katong time nga hapit na ko di ka continue sa akong studies tungod sa financial [problem]. Nagsige lang gyod kog ampo. Suddenly, naay ni-volunteer nga maoy mo-shoulder sa akong studies,” said Vasquez who is in his third year as a Civil Engineering student.
(I almost stopped studying due to financial problems. I really prayed so hard and suddenly, somebody volunteered to shoulder the expenses of my education.)

Sugat Kabanhawan or simply, Sugat, is an annual play in Minglanilla, a town 13 kilometers south of Cebu, depicting the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the victory of good over evil and death. This year marks the 130th Sugat since it was started in the town in 1889.

At the play, the angels from heaven came down to fight the eagles, which represents humankind that has been captured by evil thoughts and deeds.

The angels and the birds were levered to the air through their harnesses while poy dancers heated up the battlefield with the fire that they blew out of their mouths.

The presentation ended with the renewal of the eagles, the presentation of the seven archangels namely, Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Selaphiel, Jegudiel, Barachiel, and Ezekiel and the procession of 12 carros.

The production was made up of at least 600 individuals, 300 of them played the role of the angels and dancers.

Marvey Caño, the overall artistic director of the presentation, said that they really prayed hard that it would not rain during the Sugat.

“There could have been nothing that we could (have done) if it rained. We are just very thankful that it didn’t, perhaps because of the solemnity of the Mass celebrated before we started with the Sugat,” Caño told Cebu Daily News in Cebuano.

Last year, a glitch happened when the heavy downpour of rain toppled down what was supposedly the stage in the Sugat and soaked all the dancers.

According to Caño, it took them over two months to prepare for the performance which entailed a cost of around P4.8 million, which is a bigger budget than last year’s P3.5 million.

“What was better this year is that everything is very well coordinated this time. The LGU and the priests have also been very supportive especially in agreeing to celebrate the Mass here at the oval,” Caño added.

Chief Insp. Verniño Noserale, Minglanilla Police Station chief, said the crowd was estimated at 25,000 and there were no untoward incidents during the observance of this year’s Sugat.

Noserale said that their station deployed 175 policemen and about 300 force multipliers since Saturday night as the crowd started to arrive in town to celebrate and witness the Sugat at around 8 p.m.