New blood in Leyte’s passion play

PAMALANDONG’ Bryan Pacheco, playing the role of Jesus, carries a cross through the streets of Palo,
Leyte province, during the “Pamalandong” passion play on Good Friday. JERICHO VELASCO/CONTRIBUTOR

PALO, Leyte—Rebirth—not death—was foremost on the mind of actor Bryan Pacheco as he prepared to reenact a scene for a seventh time playing Jesus Christ on Good Friday.

Stroking a requisite bushy beard he grew for four months, the 42-year-old former altar boy, now father of three boys, contemplated the future for the cast of “Pamalandong,” one of the oldest and most vibrant passion plays in the country.

“Our players and actors are dying. But new blood is always coming in, so our rich tradition in this town of telling the greatest story ever told lives on,” Pacheco said, as he put on a lily-white robe and crimson cloak to play Christ.

Pacheco was referring to the deaths this week of Manuel C. Margallo Sr. and Rogelio C. Cayaco Sr., two veteran actors of “Pamalandong” (a Waray term meaning meditation), signaling a generational shift in the most widely attended Lenten street theater in Eastern Visayas, depicting the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

But despite the two thespians’ deaths, this town—still basking in the afterglow of the historic visit of Pope Francis on Jan. 17 —held for the 41st year the

Article source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/683545/new-blood-in-leytes-passion-play