A struggle for the soul of the Philippines

Holy week: Schoolchildren dressed as angels dance in a religious procession in Manila in the run up to Holy Week, an important event in the religious calendar in Catholic-majority Philippines.

THERE’S a brief snap – the sound of a hammer hitting a nail: metallic but light.

A man – his limbs are bound to a life-sized cross – winces as the metal pierces the palm of his hands. There is no blood. Another man, dressed as a Roman soldier, holds the hammer.