Philippines Break Guinness World Record for Largest Charity Walk

The Philippines entered the record books anew, this time courtesy of the religious group Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), which now holds the largest attendance of a charity walk. The event “WorldWide Walk” garnered a final count of 175,409 count in a single venue, besting the previous record of 70,000 held by Singapore. The number is expected to rise still, possibly in the millions in multiple sites once the counting ends. Local police estimated the crowds in Manila to actually be near the 1.5 million mark. Glicerio Santos III, member of the board of Felix Y. Manalo Foundation, introduced Kirstie Bennet, representative of the Guinness Book of Records, who made the announcement that the INC indeed now holds the record for the largest number of participants in a charity walk in a single venue, which was held in Roxas Boulevard and began early this morning. The church downplayed the feat, however, calling it just a “bonus”. They said the top priority was to raise funds to help victims of typhoon Yolanda, which ravaged parts of the Visayas region late last year – particularly the province of Tacloban.