Greetings Mga Kalahi and KaHabi!
Happy New Year to all!
Year 2024 has been a Great and Amazing Year for us here at Luntiang Aghama Natural Divine Arts Shrine of Healing Inc. as well as at Hilot Academy of Binabaylan as we have produced 34 new Ordained Hilot Binabaylan that will administer our Indigenous Traditional Medicine in their country of residence. Along side with that we have also administered Hilot all year through to our Neighboring community in Brgy. Francisco Homes Narra that some came from different barangay and cities.
On 2024 we also have help to create a Curriculum Standards for an Organization Filipino Bone Setter that we pray they could be approved either by TESDA or Philippine Institute of Traditional Alternative Health Care.
And as we move along to our Journey in 2024, we have been an official Member of Wellness Tourism Association of the Philippines or WeTap since November 18, 2024 and just today as of writing this, I also send my message for WeTap as I read:
A Happy New Year to everyone.
I am Apu Adman Aghama or Rev. Rolando Gomez Comon, the Chief Binabaylan of Luntiang Aghama Natural Divine Arts Shrine of Healing Inc. located in the City of San Jose Del Monte, Province of Bulacan and serving the community of Brgy. Francisco Homes Narra and neighboring Barangays.
First of all, I am happy that your humble servant has been given the opportunity to be one with the Purpose of the Wellness Tourism Association of the Philippines Inc. for which I am also very grateful to Ms. Cathy Turvil, Sir Atho Dela Cruz and Sir Ryan Kenneth Escubido.
To be honest, when I was invited to the WeTap Viber group, I was shy and embarrassed because the people in the group were big names in the Wellness Tourism Industry. I thought that I was not suitable to be part of this organization. So I examined myself to see if I was worthy of being part of WeTap. I studied whether the Purpose of WeTap is suitable for my Goals to introduce Hilot to the whole World.
So now, I remain in the Association and want to share with you my deep gratitude for the year 2024 and my visions that I should walk with you for the year 2025.
My work in Filipino Traditional Medicine began at the beginning of the New Century and this was in the year 2000. I had formal studies at St. Francis Divine College and had a Diploma on Alternative Medicine. And in 2008 I became an Accredited Trainer and Assessor of Hilot Wellness and Massage Therapy NC2. During those same times, we established the Philippine Certified Wellness Therapist Association with Ms. Grace Sanico, my former boss, in 2009. Meanwhile, from 2010 to 2012, I was a member of the Philippine Wellness and Spa Association where I first met Ms. Cathy Turvil. I was also the Training Director of the Philippine Japan Hilot Association from 2011 to 2013 until 2016 when I founded the Hilot Academy of Binabaylan as the Educational Ministry of Luntiang Aghama Natural Divine Arts Shrine of Healing Inc.
The Hilot Academy of Binabaylan is a small school without a roof. The students in our school are our compatriots who were born abroad who want to know and learn again the indigenous healing methods of our Ancestors. From 2016 to 2024 we have 81 graduates of training and are serving as Hilot Binabaylan in their respective Countries of Residence and these are the following Countries: United States of America, Canada, Chile, London, Italy, France, Austria, Spain, Japan and Australia.
When we started the Hilot Academy, it seemed that our school served as a bridge and a window of history that our school became a living Museum that they not only saw and knew but also experienced through the implementation of the wisdom of our Ancestors in medicine.
It is true that the Purpose of every treatment we perform is to have Wellness. And this comfort is for everyone, not only for the wealthy but also for the Hikahos and the Poor. This is also the work of Luntiang Aghama, we extend health care to those who cannot afford to receive treatment through modern methods and also serve as a bridge to introduce modern medicine to people who are too poor to go to our Barangay Health Centers.
In the year 2024, in the month of February, I met with Nawa Wellness of Calatagan, Batanggas to consult with your servant on how to align their Wellness Services with Indigenous methods. At first, I rejected his approach and insisted that my services were only for the poor. But after praying about the situation, I realized that comfort is for everyone. This means that it is not only for the poor but it can also be experienced by the rich. Thus, the relationship between Hilot Academy and Nawa Wellness was formed. Although Nawa Wellness has its own method of restoring Ginhawa, we still share the method of Pasubay or Diagnostic methods where they can better identify the needs of their guests who will stay at their resting place.
I also see the efforts of our friend Sir Atho Dela Cruz who has set out to develop Hilot knowledge by creating modern methods of treatment based on the indigenous practices of our ancestors, so I greatly admire him in these matters.
And in response, we will try to build a bridge from indigenous methods to modern treatment through integration. In the year 2025, I will strive as a Hilot educator to create a Curriculum that will integrate Hilot into the National Health Care Delivery System where our manghihilot will be considered Professional and not just as a Blue Collar Job. I envision that our Manghihilot can have a Doctor Title like Acupuncturists, Chiropractors, Homeopaths, and Naturopaths. This will only happen if we level it according to the standards of the Philippine Qualification F ramework of TESDA, DepEd, CHED, PRC and DOLE which is the National Coordinating Council which is according to the Law implementing Rules and Regulation of Republic Act 8423 or Philippine Traditional Alternative Medicine Act of 1997 which states that:
The Institute in close coordination with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and others shall formulate guidelines, rules and regulations for the development of learning/training materials for short courses as well as for graduate and post-graduate courses. It shall develop Human Resource Development (HRD) Programs for medical and nonmedical professionals with appropriate public and private institutions particularly, Academic Centers of Excellence.
Currently, only short courses are given National Certification by TESDA and PITAHC and there is no Graduate and Post Graduate Course yet in the study and practice of Hilot. Although, your servant helped to have a Diploma Course of Filipino Indigenous Medicine or Hilot Therapy in London through ThinkTreeHub; it is still better that the study of Hilot originates in our Country. This is also the thinking of my former students why they traveled from the west back here to our beloved motherland. As is our Prayer to our Ancestors, that they call upon each one they have chosen to promote and continue the wisdom and introduce indigenous Filipino medicine to the country and town where they are and bring honor to our beloved country of the Philippines.- End of my Message for WeTap
And as part of our continues effort in promoting Filipino Indigenous Traditional Medicine which is Hilot, I have dismissed our 2025 Hilot Binabaylan Curriculum that will last for 16 days for non-medical/healthcare practitioners and 9 days for Health Care Professionals. And we have resolved that the Administration of Hilot Academy of Binabaylan will now be under Bahay SiAdTala Binabaylan Inc. which serves our Training Venue Host since 2023.All Changes and updates regarding policy of Hilot Binabaylan Training are now subject to the Administration of Bahay SiAdTala Binabaylan Inc. that includes the Certification of Students. Though in terms of Ordination, instead of Luntiang Aghama Natural Divine Arts Shrine of Healing Inc. it will now go to the Templong Anituhan Inc. which is an upgrade of Luntiang Aghama in the fulfillment of our promise to the Ancestors in Reviving the Philippine Indigenous Spiritual beliefs and practices that includes Hilot Binabaylan.
Regarding our Training Program in Hilot Binabaylan, we are still on process of making a proposal to maintain the 9 days training but will add days for internship which will enable our students to apply in real situation what they have learned during the 9 days. At the same time, this will also provide them experience and compliance to PITAHC Policy, which they will still be supervised by Certified Hilot Binabaylan Mentor or Tanglaw.
Our vision to our Hilot Binabaylan is that their knowledge, skills, abilities and attitude may be integrated into the National Health Care Delivery System that will not only end up working at Spa Centers but also may have an employment opportunities at Government Health Units such as in Barangay Health Centers, Municipal/City Health Units, Provincial and Regional Health Units, Government Hospitals and even Private Hospitals and Clinics.
We are looking forward that we could create a means that our practitioners may claim Liability insurances from any Health Insurance company and that our Manghihilot may also have the benefits that other workers obtain from the Government such as Social Security and personal Health Insurance. Having these benefits that our Manghihilot will receive, our Children and grand children will have a desire to become a Manghihilot in the Future. For this to happen, we need to rise now the Standards in the Practice of Hilot through Training. This is why we are considering including the study of Human Anatomy and Patho- Physiology, Fundamentals of Health Care, Developmental Psychology, Phyto Pharmacology and other related subjects in the study and training of Hilot.
We also envision to widen the Job opportunities of our Hilot Binabaylan graduates that will not only limit them to work in a Spa Industry and by establishing their own Hilot Treatment/ Healing Centers but also to be employed in Government Health Care Facilities.
Our Hilot Binabaylan can also be employed as a Researcher that can be part of Barangay Health Center in knowing the health status of the constituents of the specific barangay. Aside from knowing the Health Care Needs of specific families in the Barangay, our Manghihilot can also make documentation of every plant, herbs and trees that grows endemically in the specific barangay they are serving. Upon documentation, they will coordinate to PITAHC and submit what they have documented so that they could conduct intensive study in determining the medicinal properties of the plant/herbs/trees.
When the medicinal properties are properly determined, the Manghihilot now can cultivate the plants and may manufacture it as tea, oil, ointment and other herbal products which then can be given freely to their constituents or sell it in a lower cost which is affordable and cost effective.
We also envision that our Manghihilot should be the expert in terms of Herbal Medicine and other herb related food supplements.
These visions that we have on the practice of Manghihilot has been declared and keep it our Altar that through the Grace of the Divine and the Ancestors it may manifest in time.
Hilot Academy of Binabaylan 