Quiapo Medical Center

Schedule a trip to what Dr. Michael Lim Tan calls the “Quiapo Medical Center” and the other big medical / private hospitals in Metro Manila any day prior to August 25, 2015 discussions. [Tuesday, August 25 at 1-3 pm on SDH: Culture and Illness]. Dress simply; try to blend in with the other consumers and/or church goers. Explore as many facets of the medical centers' - “wings”: emergency room, OPD, lobby, admitting section, pharmacy, wards [if any], cafeteria, other areas. As expected of a health professional, be respectful and observant. Keep your eyes open, listen to the sounds, smell your surroundings. Keep safe, be alert. Be aware of wonder.

A question of authenticity 

The first thing that concerned me about the whole Quiapo Medical Center concept was whether the 'personnel' really believed what they were offering. It's one thing to sell these things as part of a cultural system one really believes; to sell these things without believing in them is another and that just seems wrong. It's the difference between a quack doctor and a faith healer. Coming from a family of doctors in Quezon City, I have no prior experience with these things. It's a completely different world from the one I know. And so, authenticity was one of the issues I hoped to investigate.

The lola manning the charms stand was selling a lot of curious looking things: horseshoes, small gold trinkets, shiny colorful round stones, things in small vials and a lot more intriguing items I didn't have the chance to ask about. Though, I was able to ask about the small gold trinkets with a head of a horse. She told me it was for luck in business. I could wear it as a pendant or as jewelry or simply put it in my wallet and it was sure to bring me more customers. Did she really believe that?

I didn't want to buy that so I turned to another item, the small triangles. She told me the same thing, that it was for luck, but that it worked not only for business. It was a (child's) palm-sized triangle thing designed with brown ovals (that looked like the cross section of an orange) outlined in a perforated white background. It's a pampaswerte whose name has bato in it, but I forget. She sold it for the same price, 60php, so I tried to ask for something cheaper. She agreed to lower the price, though it really wasn't what I meant. But she was a bit deaf, and I have difficulty talking aloud, so I gave in and named a price just to get it over with. I got it for 40php, all the while wondering about the patong. Did this imply something about authenticity? It was the first time I ever haggled for anything. The topless man by the adjacent stall was fixing his merchandise with a weird smirk on his face all throughout the transaction. What was he smirking about? Did it have something to do with authenticity?

In the end, I never gathered enough proof. But before the lola gave me the triangle, she said, o-orasyonan ko pa para mas mabisa. And then for a few seconds, she whispered an unintelligible chant to the triangle. It was reminiscent of childhood, when my classmates and I used to put our hands over someone and concentrate on that person to either give them something we called “power” or take it away from them. I can't tell you what that meant, but I really believed it back then.

Dominant vs. Majority

The second thing that bothered me was the rampant offer of abortifacients, not because it is illegal, but because the vendors assume that everyone is pregnant. Is that just a strategy to make money or are pregnant women seeking abortifacients just the norm in Quiapo?

All the while I was walking through the church grounds, I heard hushed voiced calling pssst, ate, miss, but it was the old woman by a herbal stand that I approached, as she was waving at me to come closer.

 Ilang buwan na ba yan? she asked softly.

I was so taken aback, I didn't answer at first. She asked a few more times before I decided to say three months. And then she made me sit on the chair by her stand to talk about the price and the corresponding "help" that my money could afford. But throughout the discussion, she kept asking me if I was sent by the police. Luckily, the stand beside hers was manned by another old woman who was smoking. I hated her for doing so, and I expressed my distaste for the smoke (the first time I made someone stop smoking around me) that they took it to be a confirmation that I was indeed pregnant. Naglilihi. 

I attempted to find out whether the old woman believed that abortion was right and whether she thought that she was doing the right thing by selling me abortifacients but she gave me a relativistic response. Ikaw, pwede mo namang alagaan na lang yan. Nasa sa'yo naman iyon. It seemed like she didn't think much about her selling the stuff, and held that the responsibility for the deed was really mine.

In the end, the 500php I had was not enough to cover the expenses since three months of pregnancy was already a bit late and would need a bigger dose. She told me how to use the meds, but did not sell me anything. Before I left, she said she pitied me because I was so thin and did not have enough money. She encouraged me to return when I finally have the right amount. I walked away wondering how many women have successfully bought the drug, and how many women were "in my situation."

If you ask the Church, they'd claim that abortion and sexual promiscuity is indeed the norm. If you ask the secular public, they'd claim that these are not acceptable practices in society. So which is which?

Perhaps the scientific way of really answering this question is providing statistics which indicate the prevalence of these practices. But as accurate data collection does not seem currently possible, we must content ourselves with speculation based on conceptual analysis.

To borrow from my Philippine studies instructor, there is a difference between the dominant and the majority. Majority requires number, dominance does not. A single person can be dominant, a dictator for instance, and this does not require that the majority espoused what the dictator stood for. A position of power is sufficient to make an idea dominant, as in the case of the Church. To apply to the case, I believe the idea that abortion and sexual promiscuity is unacceptable is the dominant belief, but a lot of people, maybe even the majority, still practice them.

Community Medicine

My intent after graduation is to serve in far-flung provincial communities without doctors. But this activity on cultural sensitivity was somewhat a little discouraging, as it is making me realize the cultural barriers that would make community interaction very difficult. I am not familiar with so many cultural beliefs and practices in the provinces, and I don't think my training in PGH would help me with this. For better health outcomes, we are told to work together with the albularios and folk medicine, instead of antagonizing such practices, but it is easier said than done. What if some of their practices are against my personal and religious beliefs, how am I to go around that? And how do I balance my Christian duty to advance the gospel and my professional duty to respect my patients' beliefs?

I headed for school, wondering whether the cultural claims I picked up can be possibly true. What if they were? Wouldn't it be such a comfort to be able to make someone who had wronged you feel guilty through candles? Wouldn't it be great if a small token could indeed turn a tragedy to your favor? What if there really is such as thing as kulam which you can inflict against your enemies and avoid through a simple pangontra? What if you can really know your future through the fortune teller's hula? Wouldn't life be so much better if you can just go somewhere and get something to solve any of your problems instantly? Quiapo offers so much hope to the broken.

I am a bible-believing Christian, and don't really believe these things. But somehow, for the next few days, the triangle I bought would find its way into my pocket, the old woman's words still echoing in my head. Pampaswerte sa kaibigan. . .