H I L O T

      

HILOT

Tuesday’s cool, morning dew shows that the group needs to seize and make the most out of it. Next stop is at Zone-1 Bulan, Sorsogon. A barangay having the least number of residents. After exploring and discovering the mysteries of “kulam” and “sin-o”, the group consulted Mr. Felipe “Eping” Estopa.

Mr. Felipe "Eping" Estopa (Manghihilot)

A 54-year old citizen whose expertise is on the field of “PANGHIHILOT”.

HILOT (/hee-lot/) is an ancient Filipino art of healing, commonly used today to relax stressed muscles. Manghihilots (Hilot practitioners) as well as arbularyos are usually cheaper alternatives to medical doctors in the Philippines, especially in very deep rural areas. Hilot employ chiropractic manipulation and massage for the diagnosis and treatment of musculoligamentous and musculoskeletal ailments. 

They also have been known to reset dislocated and sprained joints such as the knee, ankle, fingers and metacarpal bones. Hilot tend to be chiropractors while arbularyos tend to be herbalists. Midwives are also called hilots.

He’s spending almost 36 years of practicing this kind of activity and he’s widely known on their barangay. While waiting for some patients, we further interviewed Tatay Eping.

His family are really practitioners of this act and the time in which his grandmother passed its abilities made him believe it. He already started at the age of 18.

What makes him different from the other manghihilot is the way he do the act by means of using a strip of banana leaf with an oil on it.

Another paraphernalia that he’s using is a small bottle with a wooden cross, oil and barks of trees inside. He’s the one who made it. And what really boggled our mind is the question, “How did he put the wooden cross in the bottle?”. That question is indeed worth asking for.

It is not just an ordinary oil for it undergo on a process called “orasyon”. 

  During the process, the leaf is being “glued” automatically on a body part signifying the location of the pilay. After identifying the body parts, it’s time for him to cure the patient.

  After two hours of conversation, Barangay San Vicente was the team’s next destination.

Brgy. San Vicente Bulan, Sorsogon where the house of another faith healer is found.

Where another manghihilot known by many as “Mean” resides. She’s a successor of her mother who’s also a popular faith healer in our town. According to her, she already tried practicing faith healing at a very young age of 9-years old and at present, she’s a mother of two pretty girls. 

two lovely daughters of Ate Mean

Heart-shaped birthmark found at the back of Ate Mean.

  She practices another way of “panghihilot” by means of using a piece of paper with an oil and “orasyon” written on it.

At first, she finds the body parts which has “pilay” and after that, she then puts the piece of paper in it believing that it will cure the patient. Simple as that.

Assessing all the faith healers that we interviewed and visited, all of them don’t give a certain price on the healing that they offer and give. Patients have the freedom  to voluntarily give money according to what their heart desires.