Figure of Lucifer standing over Archangel Michael
Continues to evoke incredible stories
Inquirer
First Posted 04:32am (Mla time) 11/01/2006
Published on Page A15 of the November 1, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE SPEAR is gone now, but the figure of Lucifer poised to impale a fallen Archangel Michael continues not only to draw curious crowds but to evoke incredible stories.
The stone tableau sits atop the tombs of Paciencia Flores Anzures (Sept. 6, 1918-May 15 2001), Eugenio S. Anzures (Sept. 6, 1918-May 30 1967) and Anita Flores (May 20, 1930-Jan. 25, 1983) in a public cemetery in Tugatog, Malabon City.
“I remember that the first time I saw it when I was seven, the Archangel and Lucifer were both standing and facing each other,” said Alice Adriano, whose mother and grandmother’s tombs are located only two meters away.
Adriano and her siblings were at the cemetery again yesterday on their yearly visit.
“We never fail to visit the graveyard, and each time the position of the Archangel changes,” Adriano said, adding that with every visit, the figure seemed to be falling down.
“Now Lucifer is already standing over the Archangel with his foot on the latter’s back,” she said.
Iron enclosure
Adriano said she did not know how the positions of the stone figures changed through the years.
She claimed that some people had tried to destroy the tableau, “so the owners built a stronger enclosure to protect it from ruin.”
An iron enclosure estimated to be at least three meters long by two meters wide now surrounds the statues.
Written on the left side of the enclosure is a supposed exchange between Lucifer and the Archangel; on the other side, naked images of a man and a woman face each other.
Time and the elements have done their worst on the supposed conversation.
The words in Filipino can no longer be deciphered except for the last line, supposedly uttered by the Archangel to humankind: “Tao, tulungan ninyo ako na labanan ang kasamaan at iwasan ang kasakiman sa salapi at kapangyarihan na pinagmulan ng ligalig (People help me battle evil and shun greed for money and power, the root of all trouble).”
According to Alex Quintos, administration officer of the cemetery, no untoward incident has taken place involving the tableau since he got the job more than a year ago.
“We just know it’s owned by the Bernardo family and has not been visited since the time I was assigned here,” he said. Nancy C. Carvajal
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