BOY FAJARDO: THE ENGINEER AS HEALER

He refers to himself as an arbularyo, but Boy Fajardo does not fit the stereotyped image of one.  He studied in an exclusive school and went on to U.P. Diliman.  “I majored in BSBB,” he says, but quickly follows it with “major in billiards and bowling” and a guffaw.  Those were the days when there was still a bowling alley and billiard hall in the campus.  He then transferred to another school to take chemical  engineering.  That’s where he met his wife who was also a student.  She comes from a prominent family in Lian, Batangas.  They live in a well-appointed two-storey house near the boundary of Cainta and Pasig.  The house in Mt. Banahaw which Boy designed and supervised in its construction stage provides the family spiritual and physical retreat.

            Boy was born in Pura, Tarlac, on December 2, 1944, the youngest of four siblings.  His maternal grandfather was pure Chinese, a psychic and a kung fu expert, from whom he must have inherited his interest.  Unfortunately, his grandfather had already passed away by the time Boy was born.

            Boy had Catholic education at Holy Ghost and Don Bosco, in Tarlac, Tarlac.  For high school, he studied at San Beda College in Manila.

            In the 1960s, Boy was already deep into the study of religions, philosophy and the occult.  In 1972, he ahd what the doctors diagnosed as muscular dystrophy.  It’s like a short-circuit, he says.  He was studying several things at the same time – the occult, healing, astral travel, oracion, among others.  It is inevitable not to encounter witches (mangkukulam) in the process.  Likewise, there were so many oracion that when one uses them, some may not be complementary.  “So what happens is that there is short-circuiting in the neurological system.”

            For one whole year, Boy was confined to his room, unable to walk.  An arbularyo friend treated him through message (hilot) and herbs.  That was the time when he went intensely into healing.  He cannot remember how many healers he went to in order to learn different techniques.  “Pag may nabalitaan akong magaling, pipupuntahan ko,” he says, adding that he has spent and is still spending time and money in his desire to learn more.

            Boy prides himself as being eclectic.  His background in science and his readings and observations enable him to analyze and explain the phenomenon of healing.  He emphasizes that healing is only a by-product of spirituality.

            “If you’re a healer, you should be able to align the mind, body and emotions.”  He explains further: if only the physical is healed, but the emotions are not, the ailment will keep on recurring.  Diseases are but manifestations that the three (body, mind and emotions) are not in harmony.  “kaya nga tinawag na dis-ease.  Kasi hindi ka at ease.”  For example, he elaborates, when there is a problem with a relationship and emotions are suppressed, negative feelings are nourished, and the inner conflicts result into a biological disorder.  He emphasizes the wholistic approach to healing.  “Kaya kami, manggagamot ng tao, hindi ng sakit lang.  This is where philosophy and spiritual techniques come in.” Thus Boy believes that healing should be approached “three dimensionally”.  Healing should also be philosophically grounded and should abide with the universal law of nature.

            This is one of the reasons why Boy, aside from practicing his profession as engineer, building, landscape and interior contractor, is active in giving seminars on values transformation or kabuoan.  He is a fellow of the Philippine Institute of Alternative Futures which organize cooperatives based on the modules of kabuoan.  He guides people to realize and identify essential values tht would help them transform into better individuals and ultimately, better citizens.  First, he says, the person has to know and admit his limitations.  “I guide them in processing.  Only then can there be a transformation.  You cannot build on something shaky”, he explains.  “Kaya kabuoan.  Each person should be a whole person.  If he is sick, he is not whole.  If there are emotional or psychological blockages, he is not whole.  This is healing in its wholistic sense.”

            Physical healing may be classified into biological, electrical and electromagnetical.  Conventional medicine and herbs are biological or chemical forms of healing.  But, he clarifies, many of western medicines are “confrontational”.  He cites Pasteur’s germ theory and the use of antibiotics.  Herbs are indirect.  “Basically,” he says, “these are diuretics that clean the system to increase your resistance.”

            Boy claims that by tradition or practice, the arbularyo is (1) chiropractor, (2) reflexologist, (30 ocupressurist, (4) exorcist, (5) counselor, (6) birth assistant, (7) herbalist and (8) oracion user.  The first three, he classifies under electrical healing; exorcism and use of oracion he classifies as electromagnetic or metaphysical healing; assisting in birth, as physical; counseling, as social/psychological and emotional; and herbal medicine as biochemical.

            Hilot, acumassage, acupressure and acupuncture are examples of the electrical type of healing.  Pranic healing on the other hand is an example of electromagnetic healing.  To him, the term pranic healing is misleading because “ it is not the prana that is being manipulated, it’s the electromagnetic energy.”  Prana means universal energy, life force, and it cannot be manipulated, but electromagnetic energy can be realigned.  When this energy is altered, automatically the electric energy is altered.

            Boy draws a parallelism between pranic healing and the use of oracion.  The reciting of oracion affects the electromagnetic energy in the same way as in pranic healing.  These are but two different ways of changing or altering that type of energy.  The oracion, however, is double-bloded.  “Puede mong ipanggamot, puedeng ipangkulam.”

            Boys uses combinations of techniques in his diagnosis.  The patient need not tell him anything.  He reads pulses by placing the pointer, middle finger and ring finger of one hand on the wrist of the person, the same spot where physicians take the pulse.  With his other hand, he places his thumb between the person’s thumb and pointer, and his pointer on the underside.  There are many different kinds of beats, some blunt, some sharp, some weak.  Each type has implications.  He has been studying pulses for more than ten years but he admits tht he still has a lot to learn.

            Another technique boy uses is pressing nerve points, which is based on the principles of reflexology and acupressure.  “When you press specific nerve points connected to a weak or sick organ, there is shooting pain.”

            From observing heat change of the body,  Boy is able to determine the parts which need treatment.  He passes his hand from the head to other parts.  Ideally, the temperature that he feels emanating from the person should be the same.  If a part is hotter (mas mainit), it is indicative that the ailment/disease is active, like infections.  If the part is colder (mas malamig) than other parts, it implies slow metabolism, lack of energy.

            According to boy, his techniques are confirmatory.  First, he uses one technique like pulse beats.  He then confirms his diagnosis with scanning for thermal variations and then pressing nerve points.  “Natural forms of diagnosis are more accurate than machines.  On-coming diseases can be spotted; machines cannot.” Thus, a person can take precautionary measures to prevent the disease.

            Generally, Boy resorts to hilot and herbs in treating patients.  Most often, he gives advice on the right foods to take, the right combinations, and traces with the patient the possible roots of such ailments, whether it’s purely physical, or due to emotional or spiritual problems.  He also uses oracion for those who are possessed by spirit/s.  The oracion also enable him to heal even without touching the part of the patient’s body.  He illustrates:  “Suppose you have a sprain, I will recite the oracion, and it will heal.  Or I will write the oracion on the sprained part.  It has the same effect.”

            Does the patient have to have faith in order to be healed?  Boy prefers the word trust.  “This is rhetorics,” he says, “but when you say faith, there is religious overtone.  The moment I say trust, it is simply letting go.  You trust the whole.”  To him, trust has a deeper meaning. He bewails the fact that healers are lumped together as faith healers.  “Basta hindi nag-aral sa eskuwela, faith healer ang tawag.”  The perception is that you have to believe first, to have faith.

            Then too, there are persons who give healers a bad name.  “Natuto lang ng ilang oracion, they claim to be healers.”  Knowing oracion and being able to heal can be an ego trip.  That is why preparation, spiritual preparation is important.  Oracion and its uses are not given unless the teacher-healer thinks that the student is prepared; the folly of the student becomes the responsibility of the teacher.

            Boy emphasizes that once you use the oracion, you are in debt to the spirit/entity you called upon.  The spirit/s have to be “fed” with daily prayers.  “Dapat busugin sa dasal, babatiin.”  If not?  Then there are repercussions.  The oracion that is directed to the spirit may not work anymore, or the supplicant might get sick.  “so,” Boy explains, “with the oracion you have power, but in a way, the spirit have power over you.  You have utang-na-loob.” Boy says he is selective in using oracion because there are time when the patient has to go through the process of natural healing for his/her own spiritual good.

           

            Boy is president of the Association of Health Aid Givers (ATHAG).