Voodoo in the Philippines: The island of Siquijor

It is amazing to note that Siquijor, one of the most beautiful islands of the Philippines, is not the place to go. Some foreigners do, mainly because of the superb diving spots (it has one of the best coral gardens I have seen in the Philippines and I am diving a lot!). However, problematic to some Philippino travelers is the abundance of witchcraft on the island.

To me it is always interesting to find places where the catholic church is not the main healer of the country.

On Siquijor you will find arbularios and on the extreme, the mangkukulam, practitioners of the black art. The arbularios are herbal doctors who keep the knowledge of herbal treatment from one generation to the other. The other, the mankukulam are black witches which might recite a spell and pierces the part of a doll (which might be you) where he or she wants it to suffer.

If you experience some pain then remember that this is the work of a mankukulam. All you have to do is to travel to Siquijor (north of Mindanao), find the mankukulam, give him or her some money and he or she will put the needle out of the doll.

If you don’t care about all this please travel to the Island of Siquijor anyway. Reserve at least a full day for the Cambugahay Falls (see picture above from June 2006) and relax.