The Miracle of Agoo: Apparition Hill and the dancing sun

Agoo is a town in La Union, about 150 miles north of Manila. In Barangay San Antonio stands a hill with a guava tree at the top. It became known as Apparition Hill.

Judiel Nieva was the seventh of eight children of Pedro and Julia Nieva. Her private visions reportedly began in 1987. On 31 March 1989, she reported the first public apparition: a bright light, then voices and trumpets as angels descended from heaven towards her, singing. She saw the Holy Family on clouds. Saint Joseph held a shepherd's staff, and the Virgin Mary held the child Jesus.

Mary was said to return every first Saturday of the month and on special religious feasts, about 50 times in all. The messages came in English, and Nieva wrote them down. One, dated 11 June 1992, warned: "If the world does not change, I will send the warning. The earth will shake the sun will spin with a big explosion..."

A statue made to match her description shows Mary in a long white tunic, on a cloud above the guava tree, with seven roses and a six-pointed star on the forehead. It reportedly wept tears of blood three times. Believers also spoke of a consecrated Host becoming fresh blood in Nieva's mouth, and an aroma of roses.

Saturday, 6 March 1993. About a million people reportedly came. At around 1:20 p.m., Nieva began writing messages and speaking to an unseen presence. Many in the crowd, including top Philippine government officials, journalists and the local Catholic bishop, attested to seeing a silhouette resembling the Virgin Mary above the guava tree. One account put the silhouette at about five seconds, followed several minutes later by flashes of red, yellow and blue lights moving towards a "dancing sun."

One account describes the sun "rhythmically throbbing up and down as it was spinning, enlarging as it dipped." Only a few people reported actually having seen the divine sign. Still, ABS-CBN's TV Patrol, with Noli de Castro, broadcast the apparitions nationally.

On 18 March 1993, UCA News reported that an anticipated dancing sun phenomenon did not take place. The last apparition was announced for 8 September 1993, the Feast of the Nativity of Mary. One report puts that crowd at about 50,000, and a headline at the time said it failed to draw the expected crowd.

Bishop Salvador Lazo of San Fernando, said to have witnessed the bleeding statue, set up a commission. It judged the visionary, the messages, the statue and the effect on the community. According to UPI, the case failed all four. The verdict came on 5 September 1995. Constat de non supernaturalitate. "The commission hereby reports, His Excellency, that the apparition in Agoo is far from being supernatural."

The messages appeared copied from earlier apparitions. A tube was found inside the statue. Rev. Alfonso Lacsamana said the visionary's lifestyle no longer showed simplicity and humility. The commission put the moving sun down to prolonged staring, and theologian Vitaliano Gorospe spoke of collective hallucination and atmospheric light effects. A second negative opinion followed in October 1996.

Nieva later became known as Angel de la Vega, an actress and businesswoman, debuting in Siklo in 2003. That September, on The Buzz, she declined to say whether the apparitions continued. GMA's Ang Pinaka ranked the case its top urban legend. Deirdre de la Cruz's Mother Figured (2015), on how religion, mass media and lay people shaped Marian devotion, discusses it too.