Jaime C. Bulatao
Jaime C. Bulatao (September 22, 1922 – February 10, 2015), called "Father Bu" by his students and coworkers, was a Filipino Jesuit priest and psychologist. He is one of the co-founders of the Ateneo de Manila University's Department of Psychology and the Psychological Association of the Philippines. Biography. Early life. Jaime “Jimmy” Carlos Bulatao was born in Paco, Manila on September 22, 1922. His father, Emilio Bulatao, headed the Physiology Department of the University of the Philippines College of Medicine. When the family escaped from their Paco residence during the Second World War's end-game  carpet bombing, Butatao's father brought with him nothing but his research papers. His mother, Encarnacion Ungson, was a public school teacher before she married. Bulatao has three older siblings: Josefine “Jo” Ungson Jayme, Rodolfo “Dodoy” Bulatao, and Elisa “Ely” Ungson Quizon. They grew up in Lingayen in the province of Pangasinan where he was first taught by Belgian nuns and was at the top of his class. Education. Bulatao attended St. Theresa's College in Manila for kindergarten. His parents wanted him to go to La Salle for grade school; however, he insisted on going to Ateneo Grade School  against his parent's wishes. After taking a look at the school and meeting Fr. John Hurley, his parents allowed him to attend Ateneo. He graduated high school in 1939 and as the valedictorian. Hurley inspired him to become a Jesuit. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Novaliches at the age of 16, leaving behind his childhood sweetheart, Faley Honzales. He was ordained in 1952. Bulatao attended Woodstock College in New York and obtained a theology degree. For his post graduate studies, he went to Fordham College in New York and completed an MA in experimental psychology, then a PhD  in clinical psychology with a focus on Comparative Physiological Psychology. Languages. Bulatao taught himself the basics of several languages, including French, Japanese, and conversational Chinese. During 1980s, when the Philippines was under martial law, Bulatao helped save Psychology Department secretary Susan Cellano from Marcosian intelligence agents. The Marcosian intelligence agents were to pick up Cellano from Bellarmine Hall, and another secretary Nits del Rosario called Bulatao and asked him to help. She spoke in French so that the arresting agents did not understand their conversation. Bulatao went to the Psychology department and was able to protect Cellano from the agents . Teaching. Bulatao began teaching in 1946 at Ateneo before leaving to pursue his postgraduate studies at Fordham. Bulatao returned to the Philippines in 1960 and helped establish the Ateneo de Manila's Department of Psychology where he taught there for more than four decades. The department tried to advise him to retire, but he refused. He held seminars in hypnosis, along with informal class sessions referred to as “Conversations with Father Bulatao.” He also helped found the Psychological Association of the Philippines. In 1964, he co-founded the Philippine Guidance and Personnel Association with colleagues from various local universities. He  was known for his hypnosis classes where would tell his students to “fly” through astral travel. Ateneo School of Government dean Antonio La Viña, who drove Bulatao to wakes and parties, recalled: “Following that hypnotic voice, I once traveled to a friend's balcony and asked for forgiveness from that friend for having hurt her. And sure enough, a week or two later, a letter from that friend came, telling me I was forgiven.” A student of his named Mira Ofreneo, who is the current dean of the Psychology Department, wrote a poem for him on 22 Sept. 2013 with  a title “GURU”. The Psychological Association of the Philippines named a teaching award in his honor. Research and interest in the supernatural. Bulatao introduced group dynamics in the Philippines and wrote "The Technique of Group Discussion" in 1965. He advocated the importance of understanding the Filipino psyche. He undertook studies on the psychology of Filipino culture and the phenomena of spirituality and consciousness. As a clinical psychologist, Bulatao aimed to find the kind of therapy that worked best in the cultural context of the Philippines, experimenting with different alternatives that combined both his knowledge of Western methods and his understanding  of the local culture. Despite being a Catholic priest, Bulatao was known for his fascination with the mystical and supernatural. He was most interested in mediumship, hypnosis, and extra-sensory perception (ESP). His interest began when he visited Thailand during the early 70's where he was introduced to Buddhist monks and their meditation techniques. He began to search for a clinical explanation and to research the effects of this method on one's psyche with a focus on the Philippines. He was in contact with "spiritistas" (exorcists), faith-healers, and youths who were thought to be possessed. His focus  on studying these phenomena was not readily accepted, but his work paved the way for the "Bulatao Method", which combined the supernatural and theological questions. Bulatao always carried a pair of L-shaped dowsing rods he called the “Rod of Moses” in order to answer questions from students, find concentration energy fields, and locate missing objects. Later life and death. In 2010, it was alleged that then-senator and presidential candidate, Benigno Aquino III, underwent a psychiatric evaluation by Bulatao in 1979 that showed he suffered from depression, which some claimed made him psychologically unfit to seek the presidency. This  so-called "Bulatao Report" was released and spread through chain mail. Bulatao, however, denied that he wrote and signed the report, claiming it to be false. By 2008, Bulatao was already diagnosed with dementia and emphysema. He died at Ateneo's Jesuit Residence on February 10, 2015 at 8:25PM after a four day hospital stay. The University did not detail the cause of death. After a funeral Mass at Ateneo de Manila University's Church of Gesu that began on February 11, he was laid in the Sacred Heart Novitiate cemetery in Novaliches, Quezon City on February 14, 2015. In  a memo after Bulatao's death, the Psychology Department stated that although Bulatao received many awards for his contribution to psychology, he believed his greatest achievement was teaching. Awards and honors. Bulatao received several awards for his work.