By MINKA TIANGCO
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The revered 400-year-old image of the Child Jesus was not saved from fire that gutted the Santo Niño de Pandacan Parish in Manila Friday.
Fr. Sanny de Claro, parish priest, made the announcement after celebrating Mass at a tent outside the church Sunday morning.
De Claro said the fire, which reached third alarm at 1:19 p.m. Friday, damaged the church, including the pews and replicas of saints inside it and the entire convent, where the Santo Niño de Pandacan statue was being kept.
“Nang maganap ang sunog, ang imahen ng Mahal na Poong Santo Niño ay nasa chapel sa kumbento. Napakabilis ng pagkalat ng apoy na kahit ang mga naiwan dito sa ating parokya ay walang nailigtas maliban sa kanilang suot na damit,” he said.
At around 10 a.m. Saturday, authorities found one of the image’s three Tres Potencias buried under deep ash with half of it already melted, the parish priest said.
Later, they also found the globe and cross that the Santo Niño were holding, its andador, and its burnt clothes.
The wooden statue, dating back to the 17th century, was reportedly found by a group of children playing at the site where the church was eventually built.
Residents of Pandacan, Manila honor the Santo Niño image during the annual Buling-Buling dance festival held every third Saturday of January.
The Santo Niño de Pandacan was said to be a miraculous image.
During a fire that razed Pandacan in 1911, a priest placed the statue at the window and faced it toward the blaze. Then, the wind reportedly changed course, preventing the fire from reaching the church.
