THEY see dead people. Bonded by a common goal of helping the dead and the living understand each other, five Baguio residents of diverse backgrounds -- a college professor, a reporter, an accountant, a nurse and a teacher -- have made it their mission to seek out sad spirits.

?Our goal? is to set spirits free and to give the living a new beginning,? says Ma. Elena Catajan, a member of the Spirit Questors Baguio (SQB). ?We usually communicate with sad spirits and we help them move on and cross over to the light.?

Dion Fernandez, a humanities professor and founding member of the SQB, says such ghosts or spirits are either unaware that they are dead or have unfinished business in the world of the living.

?These spirits are on a different plane. They cannot move on unless they have completed the task they set out to do when they were alive,? he adds.

Fernandez cites his encounter with a spirit named Cynthia, who was not aware that she had died in the July 16, 1990 earthquake in Baguio. The encounter was in 1997, when he joined members of the Spirit Questors based in Metro Manila in a ?quest? at the old Hyatt Terraces Hotel grounds on South Drive in Baguio City.

?I had to tell [Cynthia] that there was an earthquake that [struck Baguio] seven years before. She was waiting for someone, and she asked me, ?What earthquake?? She was looking at her watch, which indicated it was 5 p.m.; the earthquake happened at 4:26 p.m.,? Fernandez says.

It was in that quest that the SQB was formed.

The Spirit Questors was founded in 1995 by Tony Perez, a writer and professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Fernandez recalls that Perez saw the need to expand the group to Northern Luzon, particularly in Baguio, which was devastated by a killer quake in 1990.

?Tony was a frequent visitor here. He saw the need to expand here because the earthquake was still fresh in everyone?s mind back then. There were spirits who had unresolved issues after the quake struck, so maybe they needed the Spirit Questors? help,? he says.

At one time, the SQB had 20 members, most of them professionals working an 8-to-5 routine. But the group is now down to five active members as the others have left the city or have become busy with other concerns.

Aside from being trained in developing their psychic abilities, Fernandez cites books and constant conversation with fellow questors as being instrumental in honing their ability to reach out to spirits.

There are a few caveats in the group, with no questor being allowed to contact the spirits without the other SQB members. ?It has to be a group effort. There has to be [a minimum of] four in a circle because each one has a task. One has to lead the prayer and open the communication with the spirit, another serves as the medium, another is designated as interpreter while another affirms what the interpreter says,? explains Catajan, a reporter for a local daily.

But unlike the ghostbusters in the 1980s movie of the same title, SQB members are not flashy, gadget-toting spirit seekers.

Says Fernandez: ?Most questors encourage prayers. We are not [bound by] rituals. We talk to the spirits and wish them the best. We do not force spirits to cross over just because they are already dead. It is their decision.?

He adds that those who come to them for help are mostly in seach of answers or just want to appease the spirits.

But it?s not always spooky, says Catajan who remembers a session with a nagging mother whose teenaged daughter had committed suicide.

?The mother started nagging and questioning her daughter?s spirit. She would not stop. I looked at the spirit and she was covering her ears!? Catajan recounts.

While having psychic ability is definitely an advantage, anyone can develop skills in reaching out to spirits, Fernandez says.

?The potential questor should [understand the] spirit world and he or she should give good advice,? he continues. ?[He or she should have] a sense of history. We encourage members to learn the history of Baguio and learn why things are the way they are.?

Fernandez says it is not the fog, the pine trees and the old buildings that give Baguio that eerie feel. He says spirits linger in so-called haunted areas of the city because of historical events that are loaded with powerful emotions.

?Events like World War II and the 1990 earthquake were devastating and emotional occurences that attract spirits back from the world of the dead. We are talking about thousands who died during these events,? he says.

He cites other places, ?like the Diplomat Hotel and the cemeteries on Loakan Road [where] people claim they see spirits of nuns, priests, Japanese, American and Filipino soldiers as well as ?White Ladies.? Yes, it is true? they linger and some of them do not know that they are dead.?

But Fernandez says these spirits should not be feared.

?The dead are walking among us. They are not angry; they are just lonely.? ?