The Following Article was published in Manila, Philippines on July 18, 1999 in the 'Inner Awareness' section of 'The Philippine Daily Enquirer.'

The writer, Jaime Licauco has published 10 books on the subjects of paranormal healing and spiritual development and is a leading authority on these matters in the Philippines and throughout the world.

SPIRITISM has been practiced by Filipinos since the Spanish period and probably even before that. Practically all of our spiritual healers and psychic surgeons are products of spiritist sects.

Yet very little is known about this group. Their practice is given very little attention by mainstream media unless something wrong or sensational happens. Even our academic schools have paid very little attention to them, which is unfortunate because their influence over the psyche of the Filipinos is really quite deep and far reaching.

Almost everybody in the Philippines, regardless of religion, educational attainment, social status and professional background, believe in some invisible force or spirit that can affect or intervene in his life. I find this true even among so-called skeptics and staid academicians. Several years ago, I had a chance to talk to a Catholic monk in the South who sees and talks to elves and nature spirits. He does not find it incompatible with his religion.

Spiritist Groups

The separate spiritist groups in the Philippines formed themselves into an association called ''Union Espiritista Christiana de Filipinas'' or the Union of Christian Spiritists of the Philippines. This is the biggest aggrupation of spiritualists in the country. And as I mentioned above, most of our faith healers come from their ranks.

Some of the more well-known Filipinos who have at one time or another become president of the union are National Artist Guillermo Tolentino, judge and later justice Onofre Villaluz Jr. and the late businessman/accountant Joaquin Cunanan. If I'm not mistaken, even businessman J. Antonio ''Tonypet'' Araneta, ex-husband of Tourism Secretary Gemma Cruz-Araneta, was at one time a director or officer of the Union Espiritista.

We Filipinos seldom appreciate what is truly our own. It often takes foreigners to appreciate what is good or interesting in our culture.

Spiritism is no exception. An American, Harvey Martin, has recently published in the US a book titled ''The Secret Teachings of the Espiritistas--A Hidden History of Spiritual Healing.'' It is about Philippine spiritism and Filipino faith healers and yet the book is not even available in this country.

I met Harvey Martin many years ago in the Philippines. He was intensely interested in the esoteric practices in this country, especially those of our psychic surgeons. He wrote a book on the Healing Ministry of Jesus Christ which was influenced by Harvey's association with the Filipino healers. I wrote the introduction to that book. Then I lost track of him.

Were it not for my Australian friend, Donald McDowall, a chiropractor and psychic researcher, I would never have been able to contact Harvey again.

Best Researched Study

According to Donald, Harvey's book on the Philippine Spiritist Movement is the ''best researched study of the Union Espiritista that I have come across. He even translated the minutes of the meetings from 1909 to 1933. Incredible! The contents are almost identical to the instructions that Annie (his Filipino wife) and I received. The book covers his time in the Philippines between 1983 and 1989.''

I immediately contacted Harvey Martin at his e-mail address: enigma@sysconn.com and received immediate reply. He said he had been trying to contact me, too. ''I even asked Dr. James J. Hurtak (president of the Academy for Future Science), for your address,'' said Harvey, ''but he was leaving for the US and forgot to send it to me.''

Harvey said he has been marketing the book through the Internet among the Filipino community in the US with great success. He sells the book for US $24.95 plus $3.95 mailing cost. Harvey's website is http://www.metamind.net and shows you how to order the book.

''As you know,'' relates Harvey, ''I devoted a great deal of time and effort to researching the origins and history of psychic surgery with Rev. Benjamin Pajarillo while I was in the Philippines. Rev. Pajarillo procured copies of the Doctrina Espiritista (the first textbook of the Union Espiritista circa 1909) and the Amended Constitution of the Union (circa 1950) which I translated (with great difficulty) while in the Philippines.

I then managed to procure the only existing copy of the Corporate Minutes of the Union Espiritista between 1919 to 1933 (from the Archivist of the Union who now lives here in the US) and had that translated as well.

''Rev. Pajarillo, who was the head of Eleuterio Terte's Church, The Christian Spiritists of the Philippines, trained me in the traditional mediumship training offered by the union in the early days of spiritism and, in doing so, explained all the subtle nuances of the terms in the Doctrina and the Minutes.

''With all this information, I was able to reconstruct the complete history of Christian Spiritism in the Philippines and since psychic surgery was an outgrowth of Christian Spiritism, I was able to reconstruct it as well.''

This is something we should be thankful to Harvey Martin for. No contemporary Philippine historian would have bothered to write about this subject at all. Spiritism is an integral part of the Filipino psyche, whether we believe it or not.

''As I slowly reconstructed the history of Filipino Spiritism'' continued Harvey in his letter to me, ''I was amazed and deeply moved at the awesome contribution that you and your countrymen have made to the understanding of true spirituality. An amazing wealth of spiritual knowledge lies beneath the surface of the average Filipino, waiting to be awakened. If my book has the same impact in the Philippines that it is having here, I truly believe it will lead to even greater spiritual manifestations than have already occurred.''

For those who are interested in knowing more about the hidden history of Philippine spiritism and the origins of psychic surgery, this book is a must read.

Contact Harvey in his website or e-mail address and you can mention you read about him in my column. Let us become more aware of our deep spiritual heritage that goes much further back than the Christian era.