They wore masks to protect their identities as they prostrated and self-flagellated with 25 small bamboo sticks until their backs were bloody.

In San Pedro, 80 kilometres north of Manila, the barangay (town) captain warned the users and pushers that if they did their penitence over Easter but then returned to their old ways they would face execution under the crackdown that has left about 8000 people dead since last July, some of them children.

Reubin Enaje, who has allowed himself to the nailed to a cross 31 consecutive times in gory Good Friday re-enactments, told reporters his motivation this year was to pray for the criminals and drug addicts.

"I am praying for the victims, the victims of drug addicts," he said. "These drug addicts can waste their lives, but we should also pray for them because they've done wrong."

Despite condemnation of the crackdown from the influential Catholic Church, Mr Enaje said he wished good health for the brash Mr Duterte, so he can "do what he thinks needs to be done in the country".

"As long as we trust in the Lord, praying fervently, it's never too late that the Lord won't listen," he said.

Fairfax photographer Kate Geraghty, who witnessed the bare-chested 53-year-old Mr Enaje's crucifixion, said he was the only devotee in San Pedro who had had his hands nailed to the cross.

"Ruben screamed a fair bit. He was up on the cross no more than 10 minutes," she said.

"When he was nailed, the crowd let out a collective groan ??? we would hear the two Mary's wailing throughout the whole thing."

The ritual that has persisted for decades in some Philippine towns is discouraged by the Catholic Church, which considers it to be a fanatical, superstitious expression of folk Catholicism.

The flagellations and crucifixions, which draw huge crowds in the predominantly Catholic Philippines, started 60 years ago as a way for poor people to seek forgiveness, cures for illness and the fulfilment of other wishes.

According to Catholic teachings, Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for the sins of humanity and rose from the dead two days later, on what is now Easter Sunday.

In his Easter message, Manila's Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle urged Filipinos to be proactive in the fight against the spread of what he called a "death culture", referring to Mr Duterte's crackdown, which has been widely criticised outside of the Philippines, including by the US and United Nations, but has been popular in a country where drug use is among the highest in Asia.

"We just can't be spectators, we just can't shake our heads or simply complain; we should act," Archbishop Tagle said.