When I was a kid living in a small town in Malabon, I always love to day dream. It’s natural for a kid. I always dream of having powers where I can produce money out of thin air and I have this ability to change...something like Mystic from those X-Men comics that I read.
Well...what can a kid do when facing the harsh realities of life...that’s what I thought?
In most hospitals in Metro Manila, you will notice that patients sometimes form certain small groups. I think they’re “support groups” that cater the needs of people with the same illness. For example, there are cancer patients groups.
A friend of mine was diagnosed of having prostate cancer. He joined one of these cancer support group and told me a hands-on experience inside these groups. He noticed that most of the time, the patients group together and talk about news if there’s a new faith healer in town. That’s the price of desperation.
Filipinos have been relying on faith healing, even with the presence of modern medicine. I thought the reasons were financial issues yet even well-off people come to these quacks to be healed.
Faith healing really is a strange art. For example: Somewhere here in the provinces of Luzon, there was once this preserved dead body that was said to have the power of healing. The remains was said to belong to a certain faith healer. When he died, his adherents preserved his body. Everyday, they place this preserved corpse in a large basin and pour water on its decaying flesh. They claim that when a person drinks the water from the basin, he will be healed of his ailments. Guess what? Yep his fanatics drink that murky, smelly, dark water from the basin...YUCK! I think the Department of Health ordered the corpse to be buried in a local cemetery, because of health reasons.
Not all faith healing is that extreme. We have this tradition called “pagtatawas” here in the Philippines. The “albularyo” (faith healer) place a small container of water and will begin to rub oil (coconut oil) in the body of the patients. Then he/she will light a candle and let the wax drop on the water in the container. He/she will then claim that the wax that formed in the water is what the evil spirit that causes the ailment looks like. It really doesn’t cure anything yet sadly; many believe this, so a lot of people still seek the advice of the albulario.
But pag-tatawas is just small time compare to psychic healing and psychic surgery. Psychic "surgery" is a type of non-surgery performed by so-called psychic healers. Psychic researchers like Jaime Licauco promote these psychics – people like Flor Cometa, Alex Orbito and Tony Agpaoa . For believers, these psychic healers have powers that science can’t explain, or does it?
The procedure is quite simple. The healer fakes an incision by running a finger along the patient's body, apparently going through the skin without using any surgical instruments. The healer acts as if he digs his hands into the patient's innards and pretends to pull out 'tumors'. Using deception, the healer squirts animal blood from a hand held balloon while discarding items such as chicken livers and hearts. The patient then goes home to die, if he or she was really dying, or to live if there was nothing seriously wrong in the first place.
The hoax has already been televised and I’m sure the public are not ignorant on the issue, yet I wonder why “psychic surgery” still thrives?
Lately there is a flood of news about a certain Catholic priest named Fr, Fernando Suarez who is said to have the ability to cure illness. I’m just wondering? If this priest can cure different diseases then why not drag him to the Philippine General Hospital? A lot of poor people flock PGH for free consultation. GOSH! You can see the very long line of people waiting to enter the hospital by 3AM...3AM??? My gulay! If Fr. Suarez really has such powers, I think it will be more useful in PGH compare to healing masses that were held in churches.
Not only in superstitious-religious sense do Filipinos get rip-off when it come to “fast cures”. A lot of people have spent money on bogus fancy “medicines”, phony therapeutic claims to find the ultimate cure.
Filipino will keep on believing miracles, pseudo-medicinal claims and faith healing unless proper education and cheaper medical service will be available to everyone. Yet even if these are to become available, people will still feel the pressure of hopelessness and the irrationality from the trepidation of death, and the best escape our mind can proffer is faith.
That’s why faith healing scams and hoaxes still make money.
Until next time,
John the Atheist
When he died, his adherents preserved his body. Everyday, they place this preserved corpse in a large basin and pour water on its decaying flesh. They claim that when a person drinks the water from the basin, he will be healed of his ailments. 
