The water is said to have eased back pain, cured arthritis, and returned swollen human heads and 'balls' to normal.
Monday, April 04, 2005
'Miraculous' fountain draws sick crowd
By Bong S. Sarmiento
BARANGAY New Pangasinan, Koronadal City -- An eased back pain. A cured arthritis. A swollen human head and balls (eggs) returning to normal.
These were just some of the "unusual stories" narrated by people in this outskirt village, where an alleged miraculous fountain came out of a parch land by the roadside.
An estimated 5,000 people from as far as neighboring areas of Tulunan and Matalam in North Cotabato, Banga, Santo Niño and other parts of South Cotabato, and General Santos City have flocked since Thursday by truckloads at the sleepy village with hopes of getting cured by the fountain, according to several residents.
Lauro Daguro discovered the "healing fountain" last Maundy Thursday. He was walking with a help of a stick to buy some stuff at a nearby sari-sari store when he saw water sprouting from the arid ground.
Daguro, a faith healer, said he was suffering from arthritis. He is also a manghihilot, someone who tries to ease others' body pains by massaging the affected human part.
"I became curious and drunk from it. I also put on some water on my aching elbow and knee. Some moments later, I feel the pain gone," the 67 year-old Catholic said Sunday in an interview at his residence, which is about 20 meters from "miraculous mountain."
"It's really a miracle," he added. Daguro said he couldn't comprehend the existence of the "miraculous fountain," stressing that ground water in the vicinity could only be extracted after drilling in between 10 to 11 iron tubes. An iron tube normally measures 10 feet.
The "miraculous fountain" churns in water less than a foot from the surface, Daguro said.
The apparent "miracle" he experienced afterwards spread like wildfire in this part of the country, where many people, out of poverty, takes on alternative healing methods outside the sphere of the medical world to be cured of their illnesses.
In her 70s, Antonina Agustin traveled all the way from the adjacent Banga town, along with her neighbors and family members, with a throbbing back pain down where hundreds of people have already been lining up before their arrival.
She demonstrated how hard it was for her to walk before she got the chance to be rubbed with the "miraculous water." She stands up and curled her posture like letter "C."
"But after I was wiped with the water from the fountain, I can stand and walk straight. The pain has subsided," she said as she takes on a few steps before a crowd.
Among the crowd was Alex Tamayo, a long-time resident of the village, who described the "healing" of Agustin as "divine."
"I think what's happening to them is a miracle," the 47-year old militia reservist said.
Not only ordinary people has been drawn by the apparent miraculous fountain, even local government officials in this city, residents said, have flocked to the site teeming with people from all walks of life day and night since last Thursday.
Along the road leading to the fountain were rows of private sedans, pick-up truck, tricycles, motorcycles, jeepneys, bicycles and cargo trucks.
However, the "extraordinary fountain," where water flows like a force of a faucet, has not been consistently churning out liquid, explaining why the queue of people is stretching.
For instance last Saturday, water flowed abundantly from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., said the "manghihilot" Daguro and several other women manning the fountain, which has since been enclosed by a makeshift bamboo fence to prevent unruly crowd.
For water to flow again, the herd would recite the rosary and light candles at the site where a frame of the Virgin Mary was installed.
In the absence of the water from the fountain, some people asked for wet soils that they rub to their affected body parts.
A woman handing out wet soil who did not give her name said that it has also "cured" a five-year old child whose head was swollen and another patient whose eggs were unusually bigger.
"They were miraculously healed by it," she said.
Daguro said they do not collect money from those who seek healing from the fountain as the "powers" of the water might vanish.
Sought to comment on the phenomenon, Catholic leaders appeared not overwhelmed. Fr. Romeo Catedral, Social Action Center director of the Diocese of Marbel, said the Catholic Church does not make immediate stand on occurrence like that.
He said there's a need to investigate and verify the claims of those cured by the "miraculous fountain."
"It's a long process," the priest noted. But even without official declaration from the local Catholic Church, village officials have plans to make the site a "holy place" owing to the "miracles" the fountain brought to the sick.
Roberto Sunga, chief of Barangay New Pangasinan, said they want to erect a grotto of possibly the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ there.
"There were already donors who pledge to finance the construction of a grotto. However, we [village officials] will further discuss it," he said.
Sunga said they welcome investigations by the Catholic Church, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the local water system provider to verify the "extraordinary occurrence."
But whatever would be the result, people who claimed to have been cured by the fountain chorused that a "miracle' had hit them.
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