People crowd around a makeshift altar put up to house an image of the Sto. Niño which reportedly spoke to three children in Sitio Seabreeze in barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City. (CDN PHOTO/ NORMAN V. MENDOZA)
Scores of people have been lining up at a home in sitio Sea Breeze, barangay Mactan in Lapu-Lapu City to venerate and pray before an icon of the Sto. Niño after accounts spread that the wooden image spoke to three children.
The icon, dressed in white pants and a loose shirt with a hat on its head, was discovered by 3-year-old Neñil Ballermo while he played on the seashore last Friday.
Friday was the day of the “Hubo”, the yearly ritual undressing of the Sto. Niño at the Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño which culminates the week-long celebratino of the religious Fiesta Señor.
The boy said he thought he found a “Barbie doll” but that when he picked it up, it spoke to him in a high-pitched voice.
The icon now placed on a makeshift altar by his parents, has caused a sensation in the neighborhood where people have been lining up to touch the icon and the 3-year-old boy.
Neñil has been unable to rest or sleep from all the attention because visitors want to touch and kiss him. Some bring him food. Others leave flower offerings at the altar.
Devotion to the Holy Child Jesus, venerated as the Sto. Niño is common in Cebu, a deeply Catholic community where it is regarded as the patron of the faithful.
Accounts of “talking” icons and “wandering” Sto. Niño images are part of the folklore which church authorities caution should not distract members into falling into superstition since these bizarre incidents are difficult, if not impossible, to prove.
Fr. Benjamin Balsamo, parish priest of the Sto. Niño parish in Mactan, said he still has to verify the matter.
“We still have to observe whether there are changes and its effect on the faith of the people,” said Fr. Balsamo in a TV news interview.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza cautioned the public to let church authorities clarify the matter. “Someone may be out to make money out of this,” she said. She sent barangay tanods and police to regulate the traffic of curiosity-seekers in the area
Neñil, who said he found the statue by the shore, said he got spooked and dropped it before running to tell his friend, Charmel Arellano and her 4-year-old sibling KJ Ace Arellano.
The three children returned to where he dropped the “doll.” Charmel said she was about to throw it away when she heard the “doll” tell her “ayaw ko ninyo ilabay kay buotan ko (Don’t throw me away because I’m good).”
“(Ang tingog) morag iring (It sounded like a cat),” K.J. Ace told Cebu Daily News. When the children showed the image to their parents and told them what happened, they were met with disbelief. They later made a small altar for the Sto. Niño icon.
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