Throughout the 25 years that I have been writing this column in the Inquirer and anchoring a radio program on DZMM, I have been asked numerous questions, which I believe I have been able to answer satisfactorily.

Here’s one, however, that I can honestly say I do not know the answer to.

Reader Ruchelle Marianne Dosado asks: “Is it possible for someone to bilocate and carry my baby with her? During the time it happened, my son was asleep.”

I know people bilocate. There is sufficient evidence for this phenomenon. But I have never come across a case where a baby is carried elsewhere by another woman and seen by another person.

Actually, the above is only part of her letter, which I have summarized below before I attempt to comment on her question.

Hi Sir,

“I would like to know if my ability can be inherited by my son. It started when I was 10, and first happened while I was asleep. As I grew older, I could bilocate while awake. People would see me in places I wanted to go, or doing things I wanted to do while in another place. I also observed that incidents of bilocation happened when I was tired or sleepy.

“Two days ago, my cousin informed me she saw my son being carried by an old lady whom she didn’t know. The lady approached her and asked my cousin if she was a relative of mine, and said that the baby she was carrying was my son, whom she correctly identified.

“Shock and panic were my initial reactions. Could my son’s nanny be bringing him far from home? But that’s impossible, because she’s not familiar with Manila and can’t even commute on her own. I showed the picture of my nanny to my cousin and told me that was not the old lady she saw carrying my son.

“That lady is unknown to us. So I would like to know if it’s possible for someone to bilocate and carry my baby with her. At that time, my baby was asleep.”

Documented cases

Dear Ruchelle,

Before I attempt to answer your difficult question, let us first define our terms.

“Bilocation” is the ability or process of being in two different places at the same time. There are documented cases of such phenomenon happening to certain people. Several saints of the Catholic Church have been seen and recorded to bilocate. One who is famous for this ability is Padre Pio, an Italian Capuchin monk who has already been declared a saint.

During World War II, for example, the plane of a British pilot was shot over Italy. As his plane was plummeting down to crash, a monk in a brown robe appeared in front of the plane and guided it safely to the ground, thus saving the pilot’s life.

When he told his fellow pilots what happened to him, he was told there was a nearby Capuchin Monastery where he could inquire from. When the pilot saw Padre Pio walking past him with other monks, he shouted, “That’s the monk who saved my plane!”

Padre Pio had never left the monastery at that time. This incident is recorded in a book on his life.

Not a rare phenomenon

I cannot tell for sure if the ability to bilocate is inherited or not. What I can say is that it is not as rare a phenomenon as commonly believed. There are many people who have been seen in one place when they were somewhere else at that time.

It happened to an ordinary factory worker in a rubber shoe manufacturing firm I used to work in during the early ’80s. She was absent one Saturday because she wasn’t feeling well and had stayed home that day, but six people in the factory, including two supervisors, testified that they saw her there.

Is it possible for a person to bilocate and carry your child? Theoretically, yes, if they were both in the astral plane. I mean the old lady and the baby were both out of their bodies. But why would the old lady carry your son and bring him to your cousin? That I cannot answer.

Perhaps the tendency to have certain psychic abilities can be inherited, but not the ability itself. Environment or culture plays a very important role in the manifestation and development of psychic abilities.

Attend the “How to Heal Yourself Through Visualization” seminar tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m. and the next Basic ESP and Intuition Development Seminar on May 25-26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Rm. 308 Prince Plaza I, Legazpi St., Greenbelt, Makati City. For more details, call tel. nos. 8107245/ 8159890 or 0908-3537885; e-mail [email protected]. Visit www.jimmylicauco.com.