Speech at a Breakfast Club

I think you will all agree with me that both the climatic condition and the political situation are already very hot and I am quite hesitant to talk to you this morning about, of all things, fire! When a friend invited me to share with you some of my experiences in fire-walking and with the fire-walkers, I was about to say no but on second thought I told myself that perhaps this is the most appropriate time when everybody is quite accustomed to the global warming or the El Nino phenomenon. Who knows, learning how to walk on fire may yet be our protective coat against the burning effect of global warming.

To begin with, I want you to know that I am not a fire-walker. In fact, if there is anything I fear most, it is fire. My mother used to tell me when I was a little boy, never to play with fire, because it is always associated with something bad and dangerous, with evil, and yes, with hell and the devil. But I was born and grew up in a place where fire-walking is as common as the common colds.

Alfonso, the town were I came from is not very remote. It is only a stone's throw from Manila, for it is only next to Tagaytay City. Most of you have been to that place where the once popular Rodea Farm Estate is located. Now, in that town, there is a Barrio called Marahan and in that Barrio there is a street named Pier or harbor. It is called Pier because it is the place where most 'Barcos' live. 'Barcos' here do not mean the ships or ocean liners. They refer to the Fire-walkers who call themselves 'Barcos' to signify boat as an offshoot of Noah's Ark. Among themselves they have organized an exclusive 'cultic' group called 'Magsasanghiyang' who claimed to be the direct descendants of Noah's family who survived the Universal Deluge. How they reached Barrio Marahan of Alfonso, Cavite, God only knows.

'Sanghiyang' is a thanksgiving ritual for ancestral offering first done by Noah's family after the flood. If you remember, after the deluge Noah built an altar for the Lord then he took all cattle and fowls that were clean, and offered holocaust upon the Altar. (Gen. VII:20). While the offering was burning the family rejoiced around the fire. This time their descendants, the Barcos of Alfonso do not only dance around the fire but actually walk and dance on it..

My first encounter with the group was way back in 1952 when I was assigned as one of the PMT cadets to guard the glowing charcoal in preparation for fire-dancing. I was so amazed by what I saw then that the experience never left my mind until I became a full pledge Medical Practitioner and even until I learned to practice Hypnotherapy.

I was thinking that maybe these fire-walkers are under hypnosis while doing the ritual. To find out, I tried it myself after asking the leader's permission to allow me to walk over those glowing charcoals. Of course, I didn't hypnotize myself, yet I wasn't burn nor harmed at all. So, I got more interested and that interest led me to do a research on fire-walking. Being a medical practitioner, I consider myself a scientist but I limited myself, and my research to our local fire-walkers by joining them as often as possible and by encouraging others to try it themselves.

How one becomes a 'Barco' is an interesting process that takes years of trial and spiritual exercises. The latter consist of several stages.

At this point I am afraid I have heated you enough and before I bake you further I am inviting you to ask a few questions, although the best way to satisfy your own curiosity is to personally see it, feel it while doing it yourself.