QUIAPO
By Alessandro Queri

Talking to God one-on-one | Medal or amulet? | Sweet irony | Not worth dying for text and photos

It is a cold morning at six in the morning. Quiapo, this ancient behemoth lay in utter disorder after its fiesta, its struggle to sanctify a hopeless nation. And still it remains hopeless. Amidst the silence and the peace, I am still disturbed in the scenery. A lady rests her head on the gates of the church. A man told me that she was there the whole night praying. Indeed, it is to be pitied because if you think about it, what in the world could you pray for overnight? I mean, can’t it wait until tomorrow? Can’t it wait until the church opens? Can’t she pray for it in front of her altar at home? The man who is with me told me that there is tomorrow for pobres like them. I said to him: “Apparently for that woman, there is none.” Quiapo is proof that the Filipino is running out of hope. Every fiesta seems to tell the story to every generation. A lot of people step at each other, attacking in hordes, willing to kill each other for one touch of the Black Nazarene. They believe that it can heal, it can make them wealthy, that it could give their family the comfort they deserve. Would it make any difference?

Talking to God one-on-one Later, the religious and the other people who feed religiosity into them flock to the plaza. There came the different necromancers, seers, and witches. Armed with their candles and sweet tongues, they begin to seduce bystanders into buying their commodities of joy and knowledge of the transcendent. If one is really lucky, he can even talk to god one on one. A philosophy teacher in De La Salle University commented on this unique phenomenon. Dr. Timbreza is always amazed by the fact that the Filipinos always mixed their pagan beliefs with their Catholic upbringing. “The Spaniards tried to eliminate the pagan culture inherent in our old society. They forced their beliefs on us by giving concessions to the natives but some people can’t just accept that.” Teodoro Agoncillo, a popular scholar of history points the same thing. It is part of us, this pagan and this Catholic yin and yang. “Therefore, the pagan beliefs forced its way underground and still affected our ancestors. The beliefs were passed on and mixed with Catholic magic. Today, it still affects us,” Dr. Timbreza continues. Certainly, this mixture of bipolar beliefs angered conservative members of the laity. Some tried fighting these beliefs. Even today, they try to annihilate the sayings and the myths of our people without respecting culture and diversity. “Some can really get self-righteous. They will push you into believing their doctrines. Dogmatics will always try and convert you in the purest form of their religion.” My agnostic friend almost always had a fascination with the magic of Quiapo but he tells me that sometimes, the Filipino looks stupid while he indulges in their occult. Sometimes they will tend to look lazy because it will look like they do not work and they just wait for pie in the sky. It brings out the worst in us. Probably a lot of people will notice the busy thoroughfares of Quiapo. There exists many tiangges or flee-markets. They sell clothes and personal effects. But if you look closely, religious relics, statues and enchanted pendants decorate every corner of the small, rocky road. There is a goat’s skull that is used to drive away tikbalangs (mythical creatures) that try to deflower a human virgin. Another one is an enchanted horse penis that is used to stimulate male sexual virility. The owner of the store told me that if I should buy that particular piece, I should place it in my wife’s underwear drawer. It sounded hilarious! But I told him that I do not need that anyway. I am young and impossible.

Medal or amulet? On the far left side of the stall, I noticed a very familiar piece of jewelry. It is a pendant. But with the vendors, they treat it as an amulet. The piece was the holy medal of Saint Benedict, the founder of the Benedictine monks in Subiaco, Italy. Catholic doctrines tell us tales of the medal being able to defeat the strongest of demons and free the person possessed by it. But the Catholic Church doesn’t seem to treat it as an amulet, at least not in their own terms. But still, it is something very holy to Christians. I am familiar of that medal because I came from a Benedictine school and I know the medal and what it means. Fr. Anthony, chaplain of San Beda College High School told me that they were trying to pull away the availability of the medal. The monks feel that it is sacrilege. It is not for the mere use of driving away engkantos, it deserves a higher treatment. The medal is very respected because it is a prime fixture in exorcism. It has to be treated. I asked the old lady who sold the pendant and she said that there is a specific prayer for the medal. I asked her to speak the words. She suddenly let out a cry of gibberish incantations, a mix of Latin, Spanish and Ilocano---yes, Ilocano. I dismissed the whole thing as a hoax with no remorse. I know the prayer myself, every phrase in Latin. Vade Retro Satana!

I looked in front of the church and I knew that the Filipino is unarmed and can’t fight. They put their bad wishes on candles that seem to act as an instrument of revenge for such people. Some cry in front of the seers and force them to tell the truth about their husbands whom they suspect to be having an affair with someone. Well, these necromancers sounded real and they can really deceive people if they do not really know the trick of these tongued magicians. Sweet irony I wanted to try one of them. I chose the one who could talk to Jesus Christ. Oh, tell a Satanist to talk to Jesus. It is sweet irony. I sat in front of him as he told me to ask him the questions I wanted to ask Jesus. I told him the questions. What will happen to me in the future? When will I be married? When will I be wealthy? All those questions common people would ask. But hey, I was itching to ask where Marx is. He signaled me to be silent...and then he pointed out the answers to me. He told me that I would marry in three years. He told me that my wife would betray me because of our businesses. Whatever. And he confided that I would die in five years and my close friend will kill me if I do not make the right choices. I paid him his due. A hundred pesos to be exact. And then I hurriedly left the plaza with the piece of paper with the answers in it. As I was out of sight from the Jesus freak, I crumpled the paper and kicked it out of my sight. I am in control of my life, nobody tells me what I will become. Not worth dying for A burst of menacing laughter left me. It was fun anyway. But I thought that if Filipinos would still be like this, trusting themselves with the heavens and never setting out to make a difference, I can say that in ten years the Filipino will not be worth dying for. Oh yes, I got that ten year prophecy from Jesus. Seriously.