The following extract from a narrative report of the senior constabulary inspector of the island of Leyte, dated April 3, 1913, is not without interest. It deals with a murder which it describes as follows:—
“Basilio Tarli had given the bolo thrust that killed the deceased, with a small fighting bolo belonging to Pastor Lumantal, who had given Basilio the bolo for this purpose. The deceased had the reputation of being a sort of witch doctor, and Pastor thought that his wife, Maria Subior, who was pregnant, had a dog or other animal in her womb instead of a child, placed there by the deceased. For this reason Pastor arranged with Basilio Tarli and Cecilio Cuenzona to kill the deceased.”
Lieutenant George R. F. Cornish, P. C, stationed at Catubig in Samar, reported on “Pagloon” as follows during August, 1913:—
“Pagloon, a method of overcoming certain weak traits in children, is practiced by most of the inhabitants of Samar. If, for example, a father who is not in the military service, shoots a man, superstition has it that his child will shortly become sick. The father, to prevent this, uses a method known as ‘pagloon,’ which, being interpreted, means ‘to vaporize,’ ‘to make clean.’ He places the stock of the gun that did the shooting, along with a branch of a cocoanut tree that has been sanctified in incense by the padre of the Catholic church in a fire. The padre furnishes these incense leaves only once a year. The hands are dipped in water and then placed in the smoke. The vaporous healing incense that collects on the hands, from placing them in the fire, is rubbed on the child from head to foot. This operation is repeated three nights in succession and then the child ought to be free from any danger.”
Serious trouble was made for men investigating the mineral resources of the island of Cebú by the circulation of a tale to the effect that they needed the blood of children to pour into cracks in the ground.
The following is an extract from a narrative report of the senior constabulary inspector of Pampanga for April, 1913:—
“April 9.—Between 2 and 3 P.M. in the barrio of San Pedro, Manilan, the two sisters (old women) Maria and Matea Manalili were cut up with a bolo by Hermogenes Castro of the barrio of Santa Catalina of the same town, resulting in the instant death of Matea. Maria, whose right hand was cut off, died on the 21st instant. Castro gave up and on the 10th instant was remanded to the Court of First Instance charged with murder. The two sisters were known in the locality as ‘mangcuculan,’ or witches, and were charged by Castro with having cast a spell on him, causing a stiff neck, which spell the sisters refused to remove.”
A number of comparatively reputable Filipino physicians, in the city of Manila itself, have confessed that they have to pretend to depend, to some extent, on charms and exorcisms, in order to get and keep practice.
In this connection I quote the following decision of the Philippine Supreme Court in the case of the United States vs. Mariano Boston, rendered November 23, 1908 (10 Philippine Reports, p. 134).
“The accused in this case was convicted in the Court of First Instance of the Province of Pangasinán of the crime of abortion as defined and penalized in paragraph 3 of article 410 of the Penal Code.