Jesus of Nazareth a big hit in Quiapo district

Vendors of pirated discs in Manila have started selling DVD movies on the life of Jesus Christ, as Filipino Catholics started their observance of the Holy Week on Sunday. In Manila’s downtown Sta. Cruz and Quiapo districts, DVDs of the classic Jesus of Nazareth were being sold for P25 to P50 apiece by mostly Muslim vendors. The pirated movies are DVD copies of the original, while some are Blue-Ray versions ripped and converted into DVDs.

Some of them featured English subtitles, while others contained audio in Filipino. Vendors played the movies at full volume to attract buyers. While some vendors in the downtown area continued to sell "sex scandal" videos, some were capitalizing on the Lenten season by selling movies centered on the life of Jesus Christ. Many vendors sold the Christ-themed movies alongside pirated discs of the March 14 bout of Filipino boxing champ Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey. The Philippines is a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, with about 80 percent of the population professing to be Catholic. — NPA, GMANews.TV