ALAY KI INA: Where a bridge of sorrow becomes a pathway of grace

By Aimee Lazaro

NAGA CITY, Philippines – At midnight, the streets of Naga City are dim and quiet. But in the early hours of September 5, a procession moves through the sleeping city. The sacred images of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, our Ina, and the Divino Rostro are carried from the Minor Basilica through the streets toward Peñafrancia Avenue and back.

Then, at Colgante Bridge, the procession stops.

A few devotees gather near the sacred images, while others remain along both edges of the bridge, whispering their prayers and leaving lighted candles on the sturdy railings. Below them, the Naga River flows quietly—the same waters that once claimed the last breaths of devotees, now touched by holy water and blessed once more in prayer.

For the faithful, this is more than a stop along the procession. It is a remembrance. It is a return. It is an Alay ki Inâ.

Four bridges along the Naga River stand witness to the joyful voyage of the sacred images of Ina and the Divino Rostro during the annual Fluvial Procession. Yet one carries a history unlike the rest.

Colgante Bridge witnessed two tragic collapses: thirty souls were lost in 1948, and another 138 in 1972.

For the Bicol Catholic Charismatic Renewal Service (BiCCRS), returning to the bridge each year is not simply to remember what was lost, but to carry faith on foot.

Now part of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal International Service (CHARIS) Philippines, these communities have, for 27 years, gathered at the home of Inâ in the Pilgrim City of Naga to offer hopeful prayers through a vigil. The devotion takes place from Friday night until dawn on Saturday, a week before the Traslacion Procession.

But their prayers do not remain within the walls of the church. They travel toward Colgante Bridge.

This year, Reverend Fr. John Dexter P. Peñaflor, Secretary to the Archbishop, officiated the Paraliturgy. With the sacred images standing in the middle of the bridge, they became a beacon of light for the souls who were lost beneath it.

For the faithful, Ina does not forget. She gives grace to the forgotten through the people who continue to remember. The bridge that fell became a pathway of grace and a memorial of their faith.

But this tradition did not begin at Colgante Bridge. Its roots reach back to 1997, when the icon of Ina fell into the river during the Fluvial Procession. The incident inspired the Caceres Renewal Communities to begin a vigil and procession around the Archbishop’s Residence in Naga City, invoking the intercession of Inâ for a safe and meaningful celebration and for devotees coming from across the world.

What began as a small gathering did not remain small. As attendance grew by the hundreds, then Archbishop of Caceres, Most Rev. Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP, DD, transferred the vigil to the Our Lady of Peñafrancia Minor Basilica. Later, Rev. Fr. Lorenzo Juan B. Jarcia III, then Spiritual Director of the Office of the Religious Movements (OREMOS) of the Archdiocese of Cáceres, included the solemn prayer at Colgante Bridge during the dawn procession.

Since then, the bridge has become more than just a part of the procession route. It has become a place where the stories of the past connect to the faith of the present.

In his homily during the Eucharistic Celebration that opened the 27th Alay ki Ina on September 4, 2026, Most Rev. Rex Andrew C. Alarcon, DD, reflected on what brings devotees together amid the busyness and worries of everyday life. He observes how people still drop everything and go the extra mile just to be with Ina and express their love for her.

This year, 560 members BiCCRS—from the Archdiocese of Cáceres and the Dioceses of Daet, Legazpi, and Sorsogon—came to participate.

Perhaps that is how a bridge is rebuilt. Not only with concrete and steel, but with people who refuse to forget. Not only by restoring what has collapsed, but by transforming a place of sorrow into a place of grace.

A place where they went to with hopes and memories. A place where they come to Ina with one prayer at a time, one act of love at a time, and one “Alay ki Ina” at a time.

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