Blog post 7: Philippine Witchcraft and Sorceries (2)

Have you ever experience being stung by needles? Or perhaps having an illness without an explanation? These things might be the work of a Witch. People in the Philippines also believes in the existence of these kinds of people. Even up to know there are still rumors roaming around the country of the Philippines. What are the things that these witches are capable of? Why are they doing these kind of things? Who could these people be? There are a lot of questions that I wanted to ask but some of them were never answered up to now. This time, I want to talk about the other kind of Witchcraft users which are called the "mangkukulam".



As I was browsing for an article about mangkukulams, I came a cross the article named "Encounter with a Mangkukulam" by Jesselynn Dela Cruz on the site called lifestyle.inquirer.net. The article talked about how people suffer from the hex and curses of the mangkukulam but luckily there are people who can counter and cure the hex and curses from the victims. I would like to talk about the people who can counter the power of mangkukulams and other mythical creatures next time. Going back to the article, it also talked about how someone met the mangkukulam face-to-face. I couldn't stop my self from feeling scared while reading the article because it's like the living proof of the existence of the mangkukulams. On the other hand, there are people who can counter them so we should not panic that much. I also noticed that the article talked about the term called "bati". It's like an unintentional hex that can cause someone to feel somehow bad or a little sick. My family believes in the "bati", but I don't think that this is some kind of black magic since anyone can do this without them knowing it. The cure to this hex is very simple. You just need to rub the abdomen of the one who feels that they are under the "bati" spell.

Mangkukulams also use dolls to put a curse on their victims same as the Mambabarang. Usually they use pins on the the doll and that explains the question earlier. Anyway, I was shocked after reading the news article entitled "SOCO: Mangkukulam" by Koryn Iledan on the site www.abs-cbnnews.com stated something about a feud between two families. It was a tragic story since two elder people got shot by someone. The victims were a couple. The original motif of the criminal was to kill only the old woman but he killed the husband in the process. The reason behind his crime was somehow irrelevant. He said that he only did that because he thought the old woman was a witch, there fore the old woman was practicing witchcraft. It's good to know that they found the Justice they seek because the criminals got what they served.


As for my conclusion, I believe that there are really mangkukulams out there who perform witch crafts and dark magics but there are still people who fight against them. Aside from that, we should not commit crime by the reason that you "think" a person is practicing witch craft. Do not jump to conclusion at the very instant you think of something, first you must gather information and proof about your hypothesis or ideas.

Blog post 6: Philippine Witchcraft and Sorceries (1)

How could you possibly remove the fear of the people about witchcraft and sorceries? In the Philippines, we believe of the existence of the people who are capable of using black magic. It truly is scary knowing that there are people who uses these power to make other people suffer. The thing is, there are types of witches and sorcerer in the Philippines in which they are known for their abilities. The first thing that I want to talk about is the type of sorcerer who uses insects. The one who can control and command the insects to attack its victim. They are known as the Mambabarangs.

The only thing I know about them is that they can use insects to infest their victim's body. So I searched for articles about them and I stumbled across an article entitled "More Encounters with the Unknown" by Jaime Licauco on the site called www.mysiquijor.com. I've read that people actually ask help from the mambarangs. Since people fear them, they wouldn't want to offend other people living in their neighborhood because if they offend someone, the person who they offend might ask the mambabarang to put a curse on them. So it's like the mambabarangs are like paid assassins but they use magic and sorceries to do their job. For some people they would only ask the mambabarang to put a non-lethal curse to their enemies because they only want their enemies to suffer. I know they are cruel but that's how things are.

I wasn't quite satisfied from the article above so I searched for more articles and I happened to find the article that I was looking for. The I article I saw was entitled "Mambabarang" written by Desconocido at the site called xaeron.net, and in this article I found some information about the mambabarang. The mambabarang has a container which contain a spirit of a spider, a centipede, and roach. These spirits are malevolent spirits that are caught by the mambabarang. I also found out that there is this method which mambabarangs use wherein they would only need one personal belongings of his victims. The mambabarang will then perform chants to the item then he will attach the item to a doll. He will feed the doll to his insects which also affects the body of the victim. Usually the victim will develop big boils on his body that will release thousands of insects if not treated immediately. Apparently, there are mambabarangs who uses their magic abilities for good by countering the spells and curses of other mambabarangs. 

My conclusion about these kind of people is that they are really scary and terrifying since my I can't stop shaking knowing that they use such gruesome methods. It really is a relief knowing that there are also mambabarangs who uses their powers for good. Be sure not to offend anyone because you'll never know when these people ask the aid of the mambabarangs.

Blog post 5: Balete Drive

Ever since the '50s there had been a lot of stories about a haunted street at Quezon City. Even up to now, people still fear travelling through that street, especially during the night because that is when a lot of mysteries happen. When someone mention that street, you couldn't help but shudder in fear. The name of that street is none other than the famous "Balete Drive". A few years back that street had a lot of balete trees growing beside it and because of that people believed that there are a lot of spirits living within that street.


There were stories about the sightings of a "white lady" ( a female ghost or an apparition) claimed by a lot of people. Most of the people who claimed they were haunted by the white ladies were taxi cab drivers. An article entitled "The Story Behind the White Lady in Balete Drive" by Shaina Sanchez at the site called magandafilipino.com stated that people in 1950's tried to avoid that street because of the white lady. After reading this article I recalled that there were stories about that street. During the night, whenever a cab pass by the balete drive, the white lady will enter the cab and sit at the back seat. When the driver look at his rear view mirror, he would see a white woman staring at him with a lot of anger in her eyes. Of course the driver would panic that will cause him to crash. People believed that the white lady is seeking revenge because she was raped by a cab driver and that is why her victims are mostly cab drivers.

I was surprised after reading the article above because there was another version of the story about the white lady where in it was living in a mansion located in the Balete drive. The story was about a white lady seeking for help from cab drivers who happens to pass by in that street. It's weird that the white lady also posses the same power of the tikbalang where in the driver would pass the same street for hours and the only way to get out was to pray and wear their shirt inside and out. That is why they would blow their horns and say "Pasintabi po, makikiraan lang po" translated in english "Excuse me, I am just passing by".

I found another article about the Balete drive. The title of that article is "Have you met the ghost of Balete Drive" by Butch Francisco on a site called www.philstar.com. The article talked about a movie about the Balete Drive and about his own experience. The thing that caught my attention was about his experience. He walked on the street alone around 1 am but he didn't encounter the white lady who is said to be haunting that street. Maybe it's because he is not a cab driver? Anyway he passed that street several times and still didn't saw the white lady. He asked some people who are experts about the supernatural and he was told that there are a lot of spirits roaming not only at the Balete Drive but also to the other streets near it. I added a picture from google for you guys to see what the Balete Drive looks like at night. For me it sure looks like an ordinary street.

As for my conclusion, I think that the white lady of the Balete Drive really exist because there are a lot of people, specifically the people who are experts about the supernatural, says that spirits really do exist. We might not see them but I know we can feel them. I for one believe that ghosts, not only in the Philippines, are real because I had an experience when I was child wherein I saw the same ghost twice for two consecutive days.

BLOG POST 4: Forest spirits

Have you ever heard of some stories about creatures that lives within the forest? These creatures that, for some reason, likes to interact with humans for a certain reason. The question is, what is it that they want? Why are they keep on crossing from their world just to go to ours? There may be a thousands of reasons but we all know that we are not the only living beings in this world.

Ever since I was a kid, my parents, aunts, uncles, and my cousins would always remind me to not point my finger on any tree. At first they did not explain this because all they said was "It's bad to point that's all" but I was not satisfied from their answers so I kept on asking them the same question until one of my aunt told me the reason. The reason behind it was quite common, because after all pointing is rude right? That concept also applies to the other living beings in this world such as the Engkantos. You wouldn't want to offend someone especially the engkantos. I've read an article entitled "Encountering the Engkanto" by Radel Paredes on a site called newsinfo.inquirer.net. It stated the description of an engkanto as a tall, golden haired, white skinned creature that is usually dressed in expensive clothing. According to this article, engkantos are capable of manipulating human dreams by enchantments. engkantos live in a parallel ghost city where in it is located within the cities of the humans as well. The author gave a very short story about a man named Joshua Cabrera who experienced the enchantments of the engkantos. He said that he dreamed that he was standing in the middle of a highway before a black limousine. A woman with golden hair and skin as bright as the moon came out of the car. The woman invited her inside of the car and when he came inside the car he saw food on a small table. When he got a bite from the food he felt that the taste was a bit bland so he asked for salt. The woman screamed after hearing the word "salt". The scream was so loud that it woke him up. So apparently, aside from the aswangs and the manananggals, engkantos are also weak against salt.

Engkantos' cities are believed to be located in the banyan tree. The banyan tree (also known as the Balete tree) is often associated with supernatural beings after all. An article entitled "Centuries-old balete tree attracts tourist in Aurora town" by Marjorie Gorospe on ph.news.yahoo.com stated that there was a time that a family wanted to cut down a balete tree but the person that is assigned to use to do the job got ill so they thought the tree was inhabited by engkantos. The family decided to let the tree grow. The tree is now a tourist attraction and is called the Millennium Tree. It is located at Maria Aurora, Philippines.



As a conclusion for this blog post, even the supernatural beings want to protect the environment so why would we, the humans, destroy something that we really need. This might also prove that there are really creatures that lives among us because of the articles that I've read and shared. Even back then, there are a lot of people who claims to see or encountered engkantos. Do not forget about pointing your finger to the trees of the forest is rude because you'll never know when you are offending an engkanto until they make you suffer for what you did.