MANILA, Philippines -- Aswang saved a town from the Huks.
Thus, a narrative in the history book reveals. While this account doesn't exactly prove the existence of the aswang, it somehow indicates part of Filipino psyche that believes in mythological creatures such as this.
In the book ''In the Midst of Wars: An American's Mission to Southeast Asia,'' Edward Geary Lansdale who served the US military in various roles from 1943 to 1968, talked about how the military played on this psyche to defeat the Hukbalahap insurgents and orchestrate free elections to bring Ramon Magsaysay to Malacañang.
During that time, Lansdale wrote, the local politicians opposed Magsaysay's plan to move more troops out of the defensive garrisons and form more aggressive battalion combat teams. They pointed out that the Huks were based on a hill, a few kilometers away from the town, and if the military troops were pulled out of the area, the insurgents would swoop down and the whole town would fall victims. And that was a scenario that they didn't want to happen.
The solution would be to chase off the Huks out of the town, but the military had not been successful in that matter. The military, with the help of Lansdale, thought of engaging in a psywar operation: to use the Filipino superstitions and beliefs to solve a difficult problem.
Lansdale wrote: ''To the superstitious, the Huk battleground was a haunted place filled with ghosts and eerie creatures... Even [Ramon] Magsaysay believed in the apparition called a kapre, a huge black man said to walk through tall grass at dusk to make it stir, or sit in a tree or astride a roof smoking a large cigar.''
A combat psywar squad was established. They planted stories among the townfolk about an aswang living on the hill where the Huks were based. After the stories had circulated and reached the Huk symphatizers, the squad fabricated a scenario: ''When the Huk patrol came along the trail, [they] silently snatched the last man... They punctured his neck with two holes, vampire-fashion, held the body up by the heels, drained it of blood and put the corpse back on the trail.''
When the Huks came looking for their comrade and found the bloodless body, they all believed that the aswang really did it. Thinking that they would be the next victim, the Huks moved out of the hill the following day.
So, why did that work? It could be because the ideas of creatures from the netherworld have been deeply ingrained in our psyche. It has been a part of the Filipino ethos to inject aswang or any other terrifying creatures in their child-raising practices. It serves as a form of social control. Parents and grandparents use them to scare children from committing mischief and keep them home at night.
''Naaalala ko dati, sasabihin sa akin na wag akong lalabas kasi kukunin 'yung dugo ko, ihahalo sa semento at ilagagay sa tulay na ginagawa. It is our way to control the children. We never outgrow that,'' says TV/film director Uro dela Cruz who directed GMA 7's ''Spooky Night Presents: Siyam.''
He adds: ''Most things that scare us were brought by the colonizers. Early historians who came with the colonizers went to barrios and rural areas and asked the people about their way of life, their culture, traditions and beliefs. And to put down the supposedly pagan society, they made use of these beliefs for their own advantage.''
The Spanish missionaries found out that the aswang and other lower mythological creatures are an integral part of our rich ancient religious beliefs, and they used it to make the Filipinos submit to them. Before modern medicine and science were introduced, aswangs and other creatures were used to explain miscarriages and other maladies as well as the inexplicable things that were happening around them.
Through the years, people have been puzzled with this phenomenon. Are they really real? Or perhaps they are just some figment of the imagination and are no more than Hollywood fantasy?
University of Central Florida physics professors Costas Efthimiou and Sohang Gandhi, a UCF graduate now studying at Cornell University, used the laws of physics and math to debunk popular myths about ghosts and vampires.
Their paper, entitled ''Cinema Fiction vs Physics Reality: Ghosts, Vampires and Zombies,'' published in 2006, examined certain features of popular myths regarding ghosts, vampires and zombies as they appear in film and folklore and illuminate inconsistencies associated with these myths to give practical explanation to certain aspects.
Using Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion, Efthimiou and Gandhi demonstrated that ghosts would not be able to walk and pass through walls; and through geometric progression, they disproved the existence of vampires.
''Popular myth holds that ghosts are material-less. Ghosts are held to be able to walk about as they please, but they pass through walls and any attempt to pick up an object or affect their environment in any other way leads to material-less inefficacy,'' said Efthimiou who cited the movie Ghost which starred Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore where the main character tried desperately to save his former lover from a violent intruder, but his attempts were futile because with every lunge he made, he just passed through his perpetrator.
However, the authors noted an interesting fact: the ghost (Swayze) was able to walk up the stairs just prior to that scene. How could that be? For the ghosts to have the ability to walk like humans, they would need to put a force upon the floor, which would exert an equal and opposite force in return, concluded the physicists.
As for the vampires, the physicists used the presuppositions found in vampire movies where the vampires feed on human blood, and once the human has been bitten, he would turn into a vampire and start feeding on other humans.
In Efthimiou's premise: the first vampire arrived in January 1, 1600, and the population then was 536, 870, 911. Assuming that the vampire eats once a month, and the victim turned into a vampire, he assumed that there would be two vampires and one less human on February 1. On March 1, there would be four, and on April, there would be eight. Through the geometric progression, and the trend continued, the human population would turn into vampires within two and a half years.
''We conclude that vampires cannot exist, since their existence contradicts the existence of human beings,'' said Efthimiou, who also demystified zombies in the study.
This is just one of the many studies disproving the existence of creatures that Halloween is built on. But with the introduction of modern medicine and science in the time of technology, why are horror films still a hit? Every year, there's a horror film in the film festival, and they are gross earners: maybe, not ranked number one, but they are earners.
''We love to be scared. Doing horror movies is like opening a new horror ride in the park. Imagine, people paying money just to be scared. Parang may psychological need for this exercise. Naiintindihan ko yung mga nagliligawan, para may reason sila to get close. Pero 'pag matanda ka na, and you want to scare yourself, then there's something there,'' shares Direk Uro.
Direk Uro believes that since Filipinos are not into psychiatrists or psychologists, they resort to horror films to flex their emotions.
''What really works for Filipinos are ghosts because they symbolize the unresolved issues between two persons where one of them has died and the other has survived. It personifies guilt. The one who survives feels guilt dahil nabuhay siya at namatay 'yung kapatid, asawa, or kaibigan niya; and the other person feels certain guilt because he left someone behind. When we think of horror, we see guilt. And we play with this emotion: You never said I love you to your brother or mother who died. Did you bring her to her favorite place before she passed away, or remember that she likes something and bring it to her? You didn't save me when I was drowning. And so on.''
He continues: ''Ipasok mo pa diyan 'yung religious beliefs. The church would save you from everything, multo and evil spirits. Religion is the answer, but some films test the idea. Like Exorcist, where the priest died, the spirits killed him. Controversial 'yun. Mahirap pasukin 'yung religion kasi confused ang Pinoy sa religious belief nila.''
Filipinos have certain ideas as to what horror creatures look like, which are rooted in our culture. The characteristics of the creatures from the netherworld are culture bound: the aswang transforms into cat, bird or dog and feeds on unborn fetuses. The manananggal takes the form of a beautiful woman, and on full moon, she would go to a secluded area to split herself into half and hunt for her victims. Multo is usually an ethereal-like creature.
But Direk Uro explains that there are certain elements they have to put into consideration when doing horror films. Economics plays an important role and determines what creatures work for what setting.
''Manananggal works in rural setting. Kailangan mo ng mga puno, effective 'yung puno ng saging. Double purpose 'yun. First, may bunga o puso ng saging, so hihintayin mong tumulo 'yung something para makakuha ng agimat. Second, you need it to support the lower half body ng manananggal. 'Yung upper half, lilipad, pupunta sa may kubo, bubuksan 'yung bubong, lalabas 'yung dila, at kakainin 'yung biktima niya. Di mo pwedeng gawin 'yung scene na 'yun sa mansion kasi tiles ang bubong and how could the manananggal do that?'' shares Direk Uro who also directs ''Bubble Gang'', the longest-running comedy show in the Philippines.
He explains further: ''Ang multo usually sa bahay na bato. Ang mga manifestation ng terror sa multo: kinakaladkad na kadena, lumalangitngit na malalaking pinto. And you can't do that with bahay kubo. Vampires and zombies are foreign influences. Wala naman talaga tayong mga ganun.''
Direk Uro also shares why certain creatures have to wear certain clothes: ''Ang manananggal laging naka-blouse and skirt 'yan. Hindi pwedeng dress or bestida. Imagine, kapag nakabestida siya, nahati 'yung katawan niya, at lumipad yung upper body. Madadala niya yung bestida at maiiwan 'yun lower half with nothing, but the underwear. 'Yung multo naman, they should be dressed kung ano'ng nakasuot sa kanila during their wake. Or kung hindi nalibing ng maayos yung body, kung ano'ng suot nila when they died.''
But in the long and short of it, the question remains: How can we protect ourselves from all these creatures, imagined or otherwise? Some people reach for a crucifix, a rosary, a prayer book, a bottle of holy water, a supposedly sanctified article of clothing, an amulet, a silver bullet, even a garland of garlic. Then, there are those who reach within their spirits, knowing full well that with Jesus in their hearts, they will not suffer the terror by night (Psalm 91:5). Because, as the Bible encourages those who love God, ''You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.'
