This may sound strange to our readers who
have access to first class medical treatment,
like in the United States. But in Siquijor,
quack doctors and medical doctors
complement each others' practices, or so the
quacks and folk healers claim.

"I've been to a doctor," said San Antonio's popular folk medicine
man Juan Ponce. He said there still are some diseases or ailments
which are beyond the reach of his "panambal", like hypertension
and late-stage cancer. I got curious--if he refers to a doctor of
medicine, wouldn't the medical doctor get all the credit? "Oh,
that's not a problem. You see, medical doctors also come to me
for consultation!" Juan said.

Other healers, who also like to be called "quack doctors" agree
that they don't come in the way of the medical practice. "The
difference between us and doctors is that we don't charge," said
Bienvenida Amora, 42, a self-proclaimed quack doctor from
Labason, Zamboanga del Norte. Amora says she has a doctor for
a stepson, who would refer to her some cases which are hard to
cure scientifically. "My stepson tells me, 'what I cannot do, you
can do'".

But their powers have limitations too. "If we feel that the patient is
beyond our ability to cure, we also advise him to see a doctor or a
priest," she said Like "many doctors" of her kind, Amora makes
her yearly pilgrimage to Siquijor during Holy Week to "recharge"
the spirit of the roots by visiting her "master", Felix Andog of San
Juan town, who, she claims, was revealed to her in a dream.

Felix' house, like the house of many other healers in the island,
teems with people each Holy Week. These "disciples" are
medicine men in their respective communities, mostly in
Mindanao, who come to get their freshly-charged medicine.

Felix, a barangay councilor, treats his patients using a
handkerchief and some strings. At first, the patient has to state
what is ailing him or her, like a back pain, perhaps. Then, Felix
ties the strings together on both ends, pairing them off at random.
After the strings are tied, he covers them with his handkerchief
with the face of Jesus and the words "El Shaddai" printed on it
and utters an "oracion". After praying, he uncovers the
handkerchief and looks at the strings. If the strings form a
complete circle, that is a positive answer to his prayer. If a string is
not connected to the others or the circle is not completed, that
means either a "no" or "try again".

One of the medicine men I met in Felix' house was Cenesio
Trumata, who claims that he got his healing power from someone
who was not human but "more than human." In his 15 years of
treating patients, he claims that all had been healed. "I think I treat
the patients but it is God who heals. I cannot do it by myself
alone," he said.

You don't have to believe in the power of these "doctors", but you
definitely cannot doubt the faith placed in them by patients who
have seen the "power" at work in their lives.

"My daughter had scabies for a long time already. I brought her
here only once and she immediately got well!" said a young
mother whom we met at the home of another such healer,
Francisco Alad-ad of barangay Catulayan, San Juan town.

Alad-ad's method, which he calls "X-Ray Subay" is quite amusing.
He starts out with a stick the length of his outstretched hands. An
ordinary-looking stick, in fact, but they say the stick grows,
depending on the answers of the "spirits". His method is very
simple. Once he is told of the problem of a patient, he asks
questions to the spirits and then measures the stick. A longer stick
means the answer is yes and it is a no if it remains of the same
length after the question.

So for that session, he asked the spirits if the ailment of a certain
Cora was caused by bad spirits. Well, the stick didn't grow. But
what I found interesting was that he folded his fingers so it would
appear that the stick was longer than his arms length, indicating a
"yes". There were times after a question that he would stretch his
fingers all the way to the tip of the stick, indicating that the answer
was a "no".

Again, I won't judge this man, because other people say he is
effective, stick or no stick. We're dealing with both form and
substance here. If I flunk him for form, many others will give him
an "A" for substance.

Another healer, this time in the hilly sitio of Dongdong in barangay
Timbaon, San Juan town, proudly shows off his new
state-of-the-art television set worth about P13,000, which was
given by a satisfied client. More than your usual healer and
medicine man, Reinerio "Sergio" Sumiog is a geomancer, and
people seek out his advice for ideal dates to get married, to open
a business, and what-have-you. "This TV set," Sumiog explains,
"came from a businessman who asked for help in his collection
problem. Someone owed him a huge sum of money and had
seemed to forget his obligation to pay."

Sumiog said after he prayed, the businessman got a check for
P1.5 million the following day. He was only too happy to give the
TV set as a gift to Sumiog. At 84, Sumiog still loves to entertain
people with his apocryphal stories of biblical events, which he
claims he learned from a book which he bought in the 1920s.

Like most medicine men of Siquijor, Sumiog also makes love
potions, called "lumay." But he cautions that love potions should
be used only by single men or women who are looking for lifetime
partners. "Once it works, you have to marry the other person."
But the same potion can be used by married persons who want to
increase their profits or do better in their jobs.

I learned a few general things about those healers in my visit to
Siquijor: They all say they don't do black magic. They all make
potions against black magic which they get from roots, herbs and
other mixtures. They are not lacking in believers. And they all go
to a doctor if they have certain health problems.

I don't know if this is still happening, but a doctor told me in the
late 1980s that many people from the rural areas of Siquijor die
after they are brought to the Provincial Hospital there, giving the
hospital a bad name. But the real reason why the patients die is
that they had gone to the "Bisaya" healers or quack doctors first
and sought medical help only when it was too late.

This would really make an interesting topic for a thesis.*