Hundreds of others have whipped themselves bloody with bamboo sticks. The violent display is an annual tradition in order to reenact Christ’s death on Good Friday. A volunteer was nailed to the cross as up to 10 more were set to follow across four villages.
The Catholic Church has publicly admonished the actions, stating that Holy Week is “not the time” for pain.
Wilfredo Salvador raised his wiry head to the sky and appeared to mumble a prayer after the slight 62-year-old became the first local zealot this year to hang from a wooden cross.
Mr Salvador has volunteered every year for 14 years for the gruesome local tradition.
He said: “I will not stop this for as long as I am alive, because this is what gives me life.”
He was surrounded by people dressed as Roman centurions as three-inch nails were driven through his hands and feet.
Nine other men and a woman were set to be nailed to wooden crosses in three other villages in the region within the day, the local tourism office told reporters.
Many in the crowds had driven for hours to witness the crucifixions – the frenzied climax of the day’s gory spectacle that Catholics say is a re-enactment the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
German tourist Annika Ehlers, 24, was among them.
She admitted: “I’m a little bit overwhelmed. It’s very intense, I haven’t expected something like this.”
The bloody spectacle has played out every year in villages around the city of San Fernando, about 40 miles north of Manila, despite Church entreaties to spend Lent in quiet prayer and reflection.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines official Father Jerome Secillano said: “The crucifixion and death of Jesus are more than enough to redeem humanity from the effects of sins.
“They are once in a lifetime events that need not be repeated.
“Holy Week is not the time to showcase man’s propensity for entertainment and Pharisaical tendencies.
Nearly 80 percent of people in the Philippines are Catholic, a legacy of the nation’s 300 years of Spanish colonial rule that ended at the turn of the 20th century.