The Witch Cauldron
(A Story from Dumangas, Iloilo) A few years back, there was this alleged sighting of a mananagal in Metro Manila. This piece of scary news was played up by a number of newspapers , and was in fact, the banner story in some tabloids. This caused quite a stir in many households with pregnant women and infants. According to Maximo D. Ramos in his extensive research of Philippine folk beliefs, one of the most dreaded character in Philippine folklore is the aswang (witch)who can self-segment. The Tagalogs have a name for this preternatural creature who cuts its lower torso at will and returns to its severed part usually before sunrise after feeding on human entrails. It is called ang manananggal, the self-segmenter. And because of its need to suck out a victim’s internal organs, the self-segmenter is also referred to as a viscera sucker . Dr. Moises Ponteras (Ph.d in Philippine Studies, U.P.) also mentioned the belief in the powers of the aswang by the country side folks in his dissertation Folk Healing In Iloilo. According to him the fear of aswang and other preternatural beings spring from the ancient animistic religion of pre-colonial beliefs in spirits of dead ancestor. Four hundred years of Western acculturation and Christianity have not entirely displaced our indigenous culture specially since most of our beliefs find support in Christian practices. He said the belief in the spirit world is stronger in the rural areas where even educated and wealthy Filipinos turn to old-age beliefs in the face of phenomena they cannot understand. This explains the widespread interest in aswang stories even among sophisticated city folks. It was not surprising then, when Goring Bartolome, a lady doctor from 51
