Thousands of people climbed to a Philippine hilltop today where three members of a Christian cult were nailed to crosses in a Good Friday rite of sacrifice for peace in the country's war-torn south.
"We are setting an example for sinful people to change so there can be peace," said Mr Jose Felipe, a 24-year-old carpenter and member of the Kristo Rey cult.
"In war, the civilians are always at the losing end," he said before 4-inch (10-centimetre) nails were driven through his palms as several women chanted prayers in Latin and Chavacano, the local dialect.
The 200-metre Mount Pulongbato overlooks Zamboanga, a predominantly Roman Catholic city of 600,000 people, and the narrow strait that separates it from the forest-clad island province of Basilan.
Muslims separatists have been fighting for years for an Islamic homeland in the southern part of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines.
A US-backed military operation is under way on Basilan against the Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf group, which has been holding an American couple and a Filipino nurse for 10 months. They are the last of dozens of hostages snatched last year. Others were freed, while some were beheaded.
A number of people undergo voluntary crucifixion each year in the Philippines on the Good Friday holiday, when Christians worldwide mark Christ's suffering and death on the cross.
Today the three men grimaced in pain as they were nailed down, with a piece of wood on each cross serving as a footrest. Other cult members raised the crosses using nylon ropes that kept them upright for an hour under a scorching sun.
AP