#OnThisDay May 27, 1906,
the United States colonial government established a Culion Leper Colony in Culion Island in Palawan.
This, in order to rid leprosy from the Philippine Islands through the only method known at the time: isolating all existing cases and gradually phasing out the disease from the population. In addition to segregating the disease from the rest of the population, the island was later established in order to offer a better opportunity for people afflicted with leprosy to receive adequate care and treatments.
The first known origin of leprosy in the Philippines dates back to the time of the first Spanish Exploration of the Philippines. In the sixteenth century, Franciscan Friars established a shelter for the care of those afflicted with leprosy close to their monastery in Manila. The Hospital of San Lazaro in Manila (opened in c. 1577) was run by Franciscan Friars, became a hospital that catered from patients afflicted with leprosy (Saint Lazarus the Leper is the patron saint of the lepers) and other diseases. San Juan de Dios Hospital (established c. 1578), pioneered by the Franciscans also helped.
During the American colonization of the Philippines, the Manila Board of Health required the isolation of cases of leprosy from the rest of the public. After an investigation of a number of sites, the island of Culion was selected as a segregation colony in 1901. On October 27, 1902, the Second Philippine Commission appropriated an initial amount of $50,000 for the establishment of Culion under the Secretary of Interior Dean C. Worcester and Director of Health Victor G. Heiser.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, surveys estimated that approximately 3,500 to 4,000 people with leprosy, and new cases were developing each year. On May 27, 1906, the first contingent of 370 patients from Cebu was brought to Culion by two Coast Guard cutters, the Polilio and the Mindanao.
On September 12, 1907, under Governor General James Francis Smith, Act 1711 of the Philippine Commission was passed that gave full responsibility to the Director of Health, Victor G. Heiser, for the compulsory segregation of the lepers, and confinement and treatment in Culion. The segregation system initially received resistance from Filipinos afflicted with leprosy. In an attempt to popularize the island so that patients went to Culion willingly, Heiser sent agents to Filipino towns to disseminate information about Culion’s housing, the type of food the residents would eat, and the medical facilities available. Nevertheless, many of the islands’ inhabitants made great effort to evade Heiser’s segregation program.
The island was initially staffed by one physician, Dr. Charles F. de Mey, five French sisters of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres (SPC), a Jesuit priest and several other employees. The staff eventually grew to include a Chief Physician, twelve clinical physicians, one dental surgeon, one pharmacist, twenty-one graduate nurses, thirteen sisters of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres and 150 nursing aids.
As more resources became available, the colony began to put effort into expanding construction and building its own community. Since leprosy confined only patients in its most severe form to bed, patients were allowed to organize their own municipal government with its police force, civic courts and currency system, isolated from the rest of the Philippine islands. Under the direction of Heiser, the colony's municipal government was made up of a Chief Physician and representatives from each tribal group living on the island, composing of the Visayan, Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicolano, Ilongo, Moro, English and Americans. Each representative, by popular vote, was elected every two years by a person of both sexes and of age between 18 and 60 years old. This system was established in 1908, making it the first instance of women’s suffrage in the Philippines.
Culion’s decline began with staff layoffs during the financial crisis of 1933. After 1935, only leprosy patients who preferred life at Culion as opposed to life at a leprosarium closer to their region were shipped to Culion. Due to advanced treatment methods and the influence of regional clinics, Culion lost its eminence as a model leprosarium and had its population reduced to 739 in 1978.
On June 22, 1988, Congress passed R.A. No. 6659 that authorized qualified residents of Culion Leper Colony to vote for the elective provincial officials of the Province of Palawan. In 1991, Speaker Ramon Mitra and House Representative David Ponce De Leon introduced a house bill for the creation of the Municipality of Culion. On February 12, 1992, President Corazon C. Aquino signed Republic Act 7193 creating the Municipality of Culion in the Province of Palawan.
On October 29, 1998, through Department of Health Administrative Order No. 20-A Series of 1998, administrative control and authority over the Municipality of Culion was officially transferred from the Department of Health to the Municipality ending nearly one century of administrative control by the health department over Culion Island. On March 12, 2001, Republic Act 9032 signed by President Gloria Macapacal Arroyo expanded the area of jurisdiction of the Municipality of Culion, Province of Palawan, amending for the purpose Republic Act 7193.
In May 2017, the Philippine National Commission for UNESCO began its initiative to prepare the records of Culion’s leprosy documentary heritage, which will be nominated in the future in the Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific. In May 2018, the Culion Museum and Archives was officially nominated by the Philippines in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register – Asia and the Pacific.
Sources and References:
1. “Culion Leprosy Archives (2018) – Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific”; Annual report of the Philippine Commission, 1907
2. Dr. Heiser, V., An American Doctor’s Odyssey. W. W. Norton & Company, 1936
3. Burkholder, S., & Hart, I. (2008, November 21). History of the San Lazaro Hospital
4. Wheeler, M. M. (1913). “The Culion leper colony.” The American Journal of Nursing. 13(9), 633–669
5. Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines
6. Wikimedia Commons
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