New Online Training Program to offer soon!

As part of our Distance Learning and Continuing Education Program at Hilot Academy of Binabaylan. I am excited to announce the creation of Hilot Manggagamot Training to be offered soon.

Cover page of our new training program featuring Apu Adman’s Hilot Wellness Class in Brgy. Pasong Putik, Quezon City on 2009.

If you have taken our Non Contact Hilot: Mind and Spirit work and been certified as Magaanito/Magtatawas; this new training program will complement your previous certification and will gain the Hilot Manggagamot Certification.

Our Hilot Manggagamot Training program aims to enable our students to be competent in the following:

Determine client/patient’s nature of illness by conducting Hilot Profiling.
Initiate Therapeutic Communication in gathering client/patient information in determining the nature of illness.
Perform Hilot Physical Assessment to examine clients/patient body part that are affected by an illness.
Plan the method of Hilot treatment
Apply Hilot method technique.
Provide post/ after hilot treatment advice and home care supplementation as needed.

As you can see that there is also a physical method of tawas or determining the cause of illness; and this is what everyone should learn which is the Hilot Physical Assessment so as the Hilot Treatment Methodology which is not only limited in giving Hagod, Pindot as a form of massage.

We will run a test training if our program is feasible for online training and if not, we can arrange a face-to-face training soon hopefully by 2023.

Let me know if you are interested by making comment on this post.

Thank You!

Misusing Title as Hilot or Babaylan

Now-a-days, people who can afford to access the internet empowers to access information on which they will not exert more effort unlike before. As a student of the 90’s, if we need to learn some information, we used to go to the library and look for books that can provide the information we need to know. Or if there are no books about the subject, we conduct our own research by conducting interview or apply for apprenticeship. These is how i learn Hilot. At that time there is no book written about Hilot nor a school that teach Traditional Hilot as the Law on Philippine Traditional and Alternative Health Care was only enacted on 1997. Only at that time that Alternative Health Care was given attention and not Hilot. And on 2002, i formally receive my diploma in Alternative Medicine but not on Hilot.

I worked obtaining this diploma for only a Year, but mastering what I am right now takes a life time of research and practice. The diploma that i have lead me to focus on Philippine Traditional Medicine that makes me conduct research and clinical training by accepting clients that undergone certain condition which can be treated by Hilot. As i practice, I revolve around the principles of natural healing that says that:

Every Individual has the ability to heal them selves and as a healer, we are only an assistant in order for them to achieve their own healing.

It is the same claim that i always hear from traditional healers that the true healer is God our Creator and as Healer we are just an instrument of God like a bridge where God can channel the Blessings to the people.

Here by constantly dealing with people by hearing out their concerns in life either they have physical complaint about their health or just hearing out their emotions, there is a part within me that moved that tells me to take action and that action is called Hilot. The action that a Manghihilot do may vary depend on the situation presented, but the common action a manghihilot does whether it be on physical pain or emotional complaint is that a manghihilot will get his bottle of healing oil and apply it to the suffering person to provide relief.

Now at present time, relief from emotional trauma can be covered up by accessing social media. People can solicit sympathy and compassion by making statements or posting pictures of their situation. Even is they want to know something, people will just get their mobile phone connect it to the internet and type their questions to google and they will have the answers to what they are looking for.

And there are some people uses what they know out of Google and call them selves with Titles. Such as the title of being a Manghihilot or Babaylan. Since there is no definite law that forbids anyone to call them as such, so people could easily claim them as such unlike the Title of being a Doctor, if you are a Massage Therapist in the Philippines there is a specific law that forbids you to do as such unless you are a real doctor being conferred by the Professional Regulatory Commission.

As of this date, there is no Philippine regulatory body that regulates the practice of Hilot except for the Philippine Institute of Traditional Alternative Health Care but there is no clear policy yet on penalizing anyone who will misuse the Title of Manghihilot or of the Babaylan.

In Hilot Academy we are working hard for 7 straight years now in bringing awareness to the Public about Hilot, but still many people, either Filipino or foreigners are still unaware of what Hilot is all about. Many people still think that Hilot is Filipino Massage because many website tell it so. But real information about Hilot is rare to find. Even Spa Businesses in the Philippines would think that Hilot is about massage where it is not.

I really pray that a Hilot Commission will be created that will really focus on the Development of Hilot as Philippine Traditional Medicine.

Why do we need to to provide Training of potential Hilot Practitioners?

I am writing this article as a form of visual reminders to me at the same time to invite people to Learn Hilot with us here at Hilot Academy of Binabaylan.

The act of Training is a form of transferring your skills, knowledge and understanding on a certain field of expertise such as on the field of Hilot. It is also a form of cloning yourself to make an individual a manghihilot that they could also provide the same quality of services that you provide in the community. Aside from the service based reason, it is also a form of uplifting the social status of an individual by giving them knowledge, skills and competencies that they may use to earn a living.

But what other factors why do we need to train people in performing Hilot to the community? Training people to learn and practice Hilot is an act of preservation of the Philippine Ancestral Healing Arts and Science.

Before coming of Modern Medicine, Hilot has been used by our Ancestors as the Medicine for the Common People. As during those times there were no modern Hospitals to accommodate sick people except to what Henry William Scott have described as House of Healing called Pamulngagan.

Pamulngagan were what the Spanish Missionaries recognized as the Hospitals by our Ancestors. But do you know, what activities being done in Pamulngagan or Ancient Hospital? Our ancestors do suob there. so according to William Henry Scott in his book Barangay: Sixteenth- Century Philippine Culture and Society page 119, we can say that there 3 types of suob. The first type that been mentioned is called:

ATOLOB: is a from of suob to induce sweating by means of smoke, steam, or rubbing with hot stones or ashes.

TOOB: is a form of suob which fumigate the patient with the smoke of medicinal fuels by covering the patient with mats and blankets.

then lastly is OSLOB which is what we know now as suob which is a steam bath in which the patient lay enclosed on a rack over containers of water into which hot stones were dropped.

Going back to the purpose of training as you can see, it is like telling stories where you can have insight of what is being done in the past. But the exciting part of training is you can experience it on hand as you will re enact what have been told. As trainer, you allow your learner to experience Hilot that they may also share the experience to other by providing it.

In this modern time, where the cost of medicine is very expensive, by offering Hilot to the Community allows them to have a Choice on which health care modality they could have. But in Fact, Hilot is known as a primary health care modality which is used by many people in the Philippines in the absence of Conventional Medicine Professional.

By developing New Hilot Practitioners, we can help to deliver Healthcare to the community focusing on the preventive and promotive healthcare.

When I am in Alternative Medicine School, my professor Dr. Rueben M. Galang Jr have told me that our work as practitioners aside from alleviating the sufferings from illness of our patients, we are also responsible to train them to be responsible in their own health. And as manghihilot, we have this duty too to train which is represented in the last letter of our name as HILOT.

So with this, I am inviting our Readers here to Enroll to our NON CONTACT HILOT: MIND AND SPIRIT WORK that will open its new training on JUNE 26, 2022 and by September this year, we may open our doors for in person and face-to-face training on Basic Hilot Treatment Application Course which is a 5 days training to be held at International School for Sutainable Tourism. I will post details soon so that if you are living abroad, you can plan your travel here in the Philippines and be sure to take the course or just even experience our Hilot that I personally will provide. Yes, we will have our Hilot Healing Center as well at Silang, Cavite. So you dont have to worry about food and accomodation when you decide to study with us because there is a Hotel in ISST that offers discounted price for the students of Hilot Academy.

Wait for my further Announcement only here.

Preserving our Ancestral Healing Tradition

Our participation in creating a Standard Competency Standards for National Certification and Accreditation of Hilot Practitioners, Training Institution and Hilot Healing Center has one of its aim in preservation of the Philippine Ancestral Healing Arts and Science.

Throughout the History, the definition of Hilot have been evolved through Generations.

First during the precolonial times, Hilot has been known to be the only medicine for the common people. During those time, our ancestors have power over caring for their own health by employing thier own knowledge and skills so as their behavior towards our natural resources as a form of medicine.

During the Colonial Period, Hilot has become a liberating modality not only in terms of freeing an individual from physical ailments but also from emotional disturbance and mental disabilities.

Still on the Spanish rule that extends to the American Occupation, Hilot becomes a life changing modality that gives woman the power to exercise their power of choice. Hilot has been used for abortion thats free the woman from the responsibility of taking care a new life within their body. Though later on the act of abortion has been criminalized so as the Practice of Hilot on Pregnancy as well as on Maternal Healthcare.

Later on Hilot has become a modality of luxury, where people can avail its services on a Hotel so as in a High End Spa. Now that we are in the 21st century, we are redefining Hilot as we integrate it into our National Healthcare delivery system. And lastly, Hilot becomes our Windows in the past and we dont just see it like in the museum but we can experience it; thus hilot becomes our ancestral and cultural heritage.

Hilot Development Plan

As the World will open to face-to-face interaction, We are also preparing for new Hilot Program that we will offer to the public through our Training Program we develop for International School of Sustainable Tourism.

The International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) is a private non-stock and non-profit corporation established in 2010 in the Philippines. It is an organization dedicated to education and technical training of manpower to develop, promote and viably operate sustainable tourism in the Philippines and other ASEAN countries. Also, it is dedicated to the upliftment of the lives of the people of communities with ecological resources that need to be preserved and can be sustainably used for tourism.

As of this moment at the time of Pandemic, Hilot Academy offers the non touch aspect of hilot which is the Traditional Diagnostic and Divinatory Course through our Non Contact Hilot: Mind and Spirit Work. Since June of 2020, we have produced graduates coming from different part of the world who completed our training program. Now, even that we are still in the Pandemic Situation, we are already preparing for the possibility of face-to-face learning that we make partnership with ISST through Hilot Philippines Development Center or HPDC.

HPDC is a private organization within ISST that aims to promote and preserve Hilot or Traditional Filipino Medicine that could be incorporated into Eco Tourism and Agri- Tourism. With this goal we have developed a 6 tier Training Program that will create personalities to sustain this Healing aspect of our Culture and Tradition.

With all training program it will start with the Basics which we call Hilot Treatment Application Course. This is a 5 days face-to-face training, that will introduce you to the Healing touch approach of Hilot. When I say Healing Touch, your fingers and hands will really make connection to the body of the person and apply the necessary techniques in order to affect cure. So those who graduated from us the Non- Contact Hilot are advised to take this class as this will complement your skills in conducting diagnostic procedures of Hilot.

We also have designed the Hilot Healing Water Treatment Course which is an advance method of Hilot Healing that employs the Use of Water. We also have a Training Course on Basic Entrpreneurship and Business Management so that our Graduates will have a skills, knowledge and attitude in marketing, selling their acquired skills either through employment or starting to have a Hilot Healing Center in their own.

We also have a Mastery Class that will ground the practitioners to the Fundamental Principles of Hilot Healing and that is through our Remedial Hilot Class and Hilot Diagnostic Method Class.

Of course we do not just envision our graduates to become a practitioner and entrepreneur, but we also see them to become a potential trainer/ teacher of Hilot that will stand side-by-side with us in preserving our Ancestral Healing Tradition through our Trainers Training Class.

As we establish this Training Program, we are also working out to integrate our Manghihilot to the Universal Health Care Delivery System by communicating with Government Agencies such as the Philippine Institute of Traditional Alternative Health Care, Department of Health, Department of Social Works and Development, Department of Science and Technology and other necessary agencies so that our Manghihilot could have local employment.

I believe that our Manghihilot is known as Primary Health Care Provider and they can be seen in our Local Government Unit which can be found in sitio, purok or Barangay; our manghihilot can be employed in Barangay as partners with Barangay Health Care Workers, they can be given task of providing preventive and promotive healthcare.

Our Manghihilot can also become an agent of Pithac within the Barangay by:

Conducting Research on Herbal Plants that Grows within the barangay. This can be done by doing house to house visitation, taking pictures, and asking the residents if they could have a sample of the plants that grows in their home.
Upon documentation, our Manghihilot will send the sample herbs to Pitahc for further conduct or laboratory research.
Our Manghihilot will cultivate the herbs by creating Brgy. Herbal Nursury which can grow different kinds of herbal medicine.
Our Manghihilot can process, the approved herbs into herbal tea, capsule, syrups which later can be distributed either for free or with minimum amount to its constituents.

Establishing our Role in our Society

Hilot has been mentioned in the work of William Henry Scott Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. According to his book at page 118 Hilot is described as a person who apply massage for injured or dislocated muscles, or pressure put on nerve centers. And they were known as Physical experts.

But to the eye of a Catholic Priest as mentioned in the book, Hilot according to Fr. Sanchez as a form of massage in a woman’s abdomen to cause miscarriage or abortion. Though through out time in our History, Hilot evolve so as our definition of Hilot change.

In Hilot Academy, we want to establish the Identity of Hilot as an umbrella term for Philippine Traditional Medicine. As the practitioners throughout the country has their own native practices that is known in their own local dialect. And in promoting it to the world it must have a name which people would know.

In 2012, the Philippine Statistic Authority has conducted survey on different occupational groups of the working population The Philippine Standard Occupation Classification is primarily used as basis for manpower and educational planning, program formulation, policy decision-making and serves as useful guide for statistical operations and activities, such as censuses and surveys.

In this survey we do not find the word Hilot but instead Traditional and Complementary Medicine Associate Professional. They describe this occupational category as follow:

Traditional and complementary medicine associate professionals prevent, care for and treat human physical and mental illnesses, disorders and injuries using herbal and other therapies based on theories, beliefs and experiences originating in specific cultures.
https://psa.gov.ph/classification/psoc/?q=psoc/minor/323

Their tasks include:

a) examining patients and interviewing them and their families to determine their health status and the nature of physical or mental disorders or illnesses or other ailments;
b) recommending and providing care and treatment for illnesses and other ailments using traditional techniques and medicaments, such as physical manipulation and exercises, blood-letting using natural vessels, and preparations using herbs, plants, insects and animal extracts;
c) providing care and treatment for physical injuries such as setting and healing fractured and dislocated bones using traditional methods of physical manipulation and herbal therapies;
d) advising individuals, families and the community on health, nutrition, hygiene, lifestyle and other issues to maintain or improve health and well-being; and
e) referring patients to, and exchanging information with, other health care providers to ensure comprehensive and continuing care.

Examples of occupations classified here:

Drugless treatment healer
Bonesetter
Faith healer
“Healer of indigenous people (e.g. Mansi-bok (Ibaloi); Mansip-ok (Kankana-ey) in Cordilleras)”
Herbalist
Scraping and cupping therapist
Village healer
Witch doctor

Some related occupation classified elsewhere:

Acupressure therapist – 3255
Acupuncturist – 2230
Ayuverdic practitioner – 2230
Chinese herbal medicine practitioner – 2230
Chiropractor – 3259
Homeopath – 2230
Hydrotherapist – 3255
Naturopath – 2230
Osteopath – 3259
Traditional midwife – 32223230

Through this task enumerated by PSOC, we can have a guideline in establishing our roles in our Society.

PITAHC meets ISST and HABI

The Director General Dr. Anabelle Pabiona De Guzman posted on here Facebook Page our meeting with her Together with Former Tourism Secretary Dr. Mina Gabor. On Directors General page she captioned the photo:

A big and promising future for our Hilots as PITAHC sits down with former DOT Secretary, Dr. Mina Gabor, in order to put up a training center for Hilots that will enable them to be enterpreneurs and world class wellness experts. The school will be put up in Silang, Cavite. #hilots #wellnesstourism #wellbeing #wellnessjourney #internationalmodel
Pitahc-Director General’s page Anabelle Pabiona Deguzman

Few more steps and we will be there

My formal journey as Hilot Advocate dates back when I started to become a Hilot Educator and Trainer. I am attributing this personality that I am right now when I become a supporting member of Philippine Wellness and Spa Association that I met Ms. Cathy Turvil of now Nurture Wellness Village in Tagatay. Through my membership to the Association, Ms. Turvil gave recommendations that expose my expertise to the community. And my first public exposure happened on September 27-29, 2011 during the Commission of Filipino’s Overseas Event Titled Diaspora to Development: Global Summit of Filipinos in the Diaspora where I talk about Hilot.

What I did not realize is that my Talk about Hilot is powerful enough to move People that even after 10 years, certain person searched for me in order for that talk will work.

And now that talk that i made 10 years ago is still moving that on 2020 at the start of Pandemic i received a call to create a program on Hilot that will make it known and teach it to the Greater Public. I can’t imagine myself that out of this Love for our Culture and Tradition will make to sit together with Highly respected personality in our country in order to facilitate our vision to work.

Thank you for all the Trust and Soon people in abroad can come and learn with us the Hilot that our Ancestors have taught us.

Meeting with International School of Sutainable Tourism, Hilot Academy of Binabaylan and Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care. Sitted besides me is Dr. Mina Gabor former Department of Tourism Secretary, and in front of us is PITHAC Director General Anabelle Pabiona De GUzman and their officers.

Remedial Hilot Curriculum Development

Working on our Curriculum about Remedial Hilot as i work on it i am reminded to be grounded on the Healing Principles that all individual has the ability to heal our selves so the treatment procedure we provide as manghihilot does not intend to heal but to help the individual to heal themselves.

In order for us to assist them in their healing, we should also better understand the Filipino Concept of Illness which is Pilay.

On April 27 i have to present 10 common filipino illnesses but i have identified 13 and have to divide into four category of filipino illness which is pilay ipit, pilay bali, pilay hangin and pilay lamig.

Successful Webinar on Hilot Orasyon

I am very grateful to all who have attended our Hilot Orasyon Webinar that started on April 13, 2022 by 8:00 PM Philippines Time. I have made 3 batches on this webinar and the first batch were attended by participants coming from South East Asia.

Then our second batch are coming from New York, USA and people living nearby who has the same time zone.

and lastly our participants that is coming from California.

I am very overwhelmed by the number of respondents who fill up our forms.

Thank you everyone for Participating our Webinar. Our next schedule for our Hilot Online Training will be on May 15, 2022.

@apuadman
Thank you for participating to our Webinar #FilipinoMagick #FilipinoPaganPriest #BinabaylangTala #PinoyWitchTalk #orasyon
♬ Thank You – Intermede Music