The Black Nazarene, Quiapo, and the Weak Philippine State

• Main Author: Calano, Mark Joseph
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: devotion; informal spaces; materiality; popular religiosity; urban places
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss25/11; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1649/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n25_2015_5D_203.6_ForumKritika_Calano.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The dialectical relationship between the religious performances to the Black Nazarene and the informality of space in Quiapo has an implication in the “construction” of space and the formation of a weak Philippine state. The dynamics between poón, panata, and pananampalataya (elements in the discussion of the devotion to the Black Nazarene) and the barongbarong, looban, at hanapbuhay (elements in the discussion of the informality of Quiapo) helps in the construction of the spatiality of Quiapo. Quiapo is constructed as the place of the play between pananampalataya and hanapbuhay; the implication of this mutual dependency to the state is a familial logic. The change of identity to kapatid, regardless of social class, religion or status, among the mamamasan and devotees of the Black Nazarene and the identification of familiarity and proximity as kapitbahay among informal settlers creates, supports, and institutionalizes a ‘seeming’ absence of governance that makes possible a weak Philippine State.