Divine Word College of Legazpi

School of Business, Management and Accountancy

Legazpi City, Albay

The Truth Behind Faith

Healing

John Bert C. Cancino

BSBA-FM2
Renz Charles M. Palmones
BSBA-FM1

Ms. Aileen Luzon

Instructor
Introduction
In the hierarchy of Philippine alternative healers, faith healers belong to a separate category
of 'specialization.' Their numbers are uncertain. A spiritist group in the Philippines - the Union
Espiritista Christiana de Filipinas - has an estimated 10,000 members trained in mediumistic-
healing scattered throughout the Philippines.
However, the rural landscape is replete with stories of simple folk saved from illness or
death becoming healers, practicing in relative anonymity or hesitant burgeoning fame, their
renown spreading through the grapevine of the rural faithful.
On one end of the spectrum of faith healers, there are those like the albularyos,
manghihilots and other healers, their healing rituals replete with ingredients of religiosity, icons,
prayers and invocations, using the same divining ways of tawas and luop, diagnosing black elves,
evil spirits, possessions and sorcery as causes of maladies, dispensing their fringe concoctions of
treatments.
On the other end are the faith healers practicing on the fringe: the psychic healers, healing
at the distance; the healers whispering and blowing prayers to the diseased areas; healers anointing
the bodies with flowers dipped in coconut oil infused with prayers; healers anointing the diseased
areas with their own saliva; healers passing icons or crucifixes over the body.

Scientific Evidence
One way of faith healers to heal or cure a sickness or illness is by massaging their patient.
Massage therapy is used to help manage a health condition or enhance wellness. It involves
manipulating the soft tissues of the body. Massage has been practiced in most cultures, both
Eastern and Western, throughout human history, and was one of the earliest tools that people used
to try to relieve pain. Massage therapy has been studied for several types of pain, including low-
back pain, neck and shoulder pain, pain from osteoarthritis of the knee, and headaches.
Other medium that the faith healers used is the herbal medicine. Herbal medicine also
known as botanical medicine, phytotherapy or phytomedicine involves using a plant or part of a
plant for healing purposes. The herbal part of a remedy may come from the leaf, flower, stem,
seed, root, fruit or bark of the plant and it may be used to treat wounds and a range of other
conditions. Herbal medicine is considered to be the most ancient form of healing. Herbs have been
used in most traditional cultures and have had a major influence on many systems of medicine,
including traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine, Native American and
Indigenous Australian medicine and conventional medicine.
Two persons who have availed the services of a faith healer either for their own selves or
for their loved ones were asked through pagtatanong-tanong.
When asked why they still resort to faith healers despite the presence of medical doctors,
they reasoned out that the traditional healers are within closer proximity and that their healing
capability is proven effective based on several accounts. They customarily seek a faith healer for
common sicknesses, such as cough, fever and body pain. For both respondents, this tradition of
consulting faith healers was passed unto them by their parents.
They stressed that the inexpensiveness of availing a faith healer’s services is not the
primary reason why they sought one but rather it is the effectiveness of their healing capabilities
to cure sicknesses.
Stand
Mind is the motherboard of human's body. It absorbs only those knowledge people believe
that it is true, proven and already experienced. Believing to the power of faith healing is a choice,
it is the belief of the researchers that faith healing can really be an alternative medication. From
the herbs being used, where modern medicines developed from. Faith healers usually used herbs
those who have components which can heal specific illnesses. From the components of the oil used
in massaging where our body will feel relaxed could also be a big factor for its fastest recovery.
Faith that connects the priest-doctors from Holy Spirit passed through the patients. Faith healing
is more on attaining emotional and psychological stability that plays a vital role of the healing
process of a person. It influences the mind of the person to worry less and make minds stable about
what is being suffered because with a mix of faith in healing there could be a chance to avoid
overthinking. Overthinking leads to depression, and depression leads to serious illnesses which is
not in the extent of faith healer's power.
Faith healing is more likely to how medical treatment heals, but it operates in a not so much
medical way but in a most traditional way. It doesn't need any medications, yet it can heal. It
doesn't require any professional doctors, only the experts one, still, it can heal. Yes, it can't cure
cancers, AIDS/HIV, or any non-curable disease but only those that covers up the extent of faith
healer's power. Faith healing could be an alternative medication of those who cannot afford
hospital bills and has on and off illnesses. It is their last resort to easily get rid of illnesses and want
fast recovery. There's nothing wrong in choosing faith healing over medical treatment, because
both can heal, but the big question is, what to choose between the two.
Being practical is a Filipino nature to which made them choose cheap medication. The
best remedy most other thinks are faith healing. This may not be medically proven, but
scientifically explainable which will make you believe that it cannot heal but actually it can really
heal.

Conclusion
In a country with its cultures awash with religiosity - patron saints, Sto. Niños, Marian
devotion, sightings, intercessions and miracles - and a fascination and disposition for the
supernatural and mystical, it is not surprising to see the influences of religion and indigenous and
tribal spiritualities in its healing modalities. And in faith healing, these are most obvious. Faith
healing is a form of medical activity that attempts to cure a wide range of ailments primarily
through personal prayer and intercessory prayer, sometimes augmented by faith-based rituals.
The idea of faith healers in the Philippines is widely known because of some of the patient’s
testimonies that they are really healed despite of their ailments. But do not just depend on faith
healing since it does not cure all ailments, cough, fever, and pilay are only example of ailment that
can cure through faith healing.
As a Filipino that has experienced this kind of medication, the researchers can say that it
can cure sickness since faith healers uses herbal medicine, massaging their patient and with the
help of God that are always protecting and guiding us.
 References:
Cortés Godoy V, Gallego Izquierdo T, Lázaro Navas I, et al. Effectiveness of massage therapy as
co-adjuvant treatment to exercise in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized controlled
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https://nccih.nih.gov/health/massage/massageintroduction.htm
Chopra AS. Ayurveda. In: Selin H, Shapiro H, Editors. Medicine across cultures: history and
practice of medicine in non-Western cultures. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic
Publishers; 2003: 75-83. Retrieved from https://www.mydr.com.au/complementary-
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Bennett C, Underdown A, Barlow J. Massage for promoting mental and physical health in
typically developing infants under the age of six months. Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews. 2013;(4):CD005038. Retrieved from http://www.cochranelibrary.com
Furlan AD, Giraldo M, Baskwill A, et al. Massage for low-back pain. Cochrane Database of
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Dr. Godofredo U. Stuart Jr. (2003). The Healers. Retrieved from
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