Ozamiz’s Blessed Virgin of Cotta comes home

After 42 long years, the Blessed Virgin of Cotta was returned to Ozamiz City in Misamis Occidental just last December 8, 2017.

The statue of the Blessed Virgin, believed to be miraculous, went missing in 1975.
 
During the Martial Law years, all statues of saints at the cathedral were transferred for display in Malacanang Palace and officials from Ozamiz City believed that one of the images brought to Manila was the image of the Nuestra Señora dela Immaculada Concepcion y del Triunfo dela Cruz de Migpangi — more popularly known as the Blessed Virgin of Cotta.  Instead, they found out that the statue was missing.

Blessed Virgin of Cotta. Photo by Aileen Rae Perez

Four decades later, a photo of the Blessed Virgin on display at an art and antique exhibit in Makati went viral. It was taken by a tourist who is a friend of an Ozamiz resident. 

Concerned citizens called the parish priest of the cathedral and the former sacristan who used to dress up the Blessed Virgin for consultation and that was when they were convinced that it was the lost image.
 
The miraculous Blessed Virgin of Cotta — also known as the Virgin of the Fort — is a relic from the Spanish era. Ozamiz City residents believe she is about 222 years old.
 
When her photo went viral this year, the statue was owned by JV Esposo, an antique dealer based in Pasig. Esposo said he bought the image at an auction.
 
“At first glance, parang napamahal ako agad. It was really beautiful. It was my first time to see something like this na ang imahe ay parang lumulutang sa langit,” says Esposo.
 
He said he got sick as soon as he received the Blessed Virgin. “Tatlong araw ako nagkasakit, iniisip ko lang ‘yung kanyang image. Siya lang ‘yung nakatatak sa isip ko,” Esposo also believed that he got the feeling she didn’t belong in a house where people simply passed her by: “sabi ko parang itong imaheng ito, dapat nasa isang lugar na pinupuri ng tao.”
 
The Ozamiz resident who saw the photo and the sacristan who used to dress up the image flew to Manila and confirmed it was really the Blessed Virgin of Cotta.
 
Esposo agreed to return the image after restoration. He signed an agreement that the image will remain in the Ozamiz City, while the city adopted him as one of their own.

From the airport, Ozamiz residents first brought the image to the Cotta Shrine and then finally, to the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral, where a mass and procession took place in honor of her homecoming. — LA, GMA News