Pinoy massage: Hilot
February 5, 2006 | 12:00am
What makes countries stand out during this age of globalization are the unique aspects of their individual and diverse cultures. We are not exempt, just lazy in finding out what makes us unique. Or perhaps also, we are too blinded by Western styles/culture to make us celebrate our uniqueness. The government, through the Philippine Medical Tourism program which was started in 2004, is set to market our own brand of massage. This is so long overdue. We enter hip spas today and are asked to choose from styles of massages with obvious cultural patenting and identities: Thai massage, Swedish massage and Japanese siatsu. When will it be fashionable to say Philippine hilot? Health Undersecretary Jade del Mundo said, "It is looking to identifying seven indigenous people’s massage therapies, taking away the supernatural dimension and making them scientific in consonance with international standards." While this direction to join the bandwagon of globalization is right, taking away the "supernatural dimension" will be a sad fate, for this perhaps is what would make such indigenous massages unique. By doing so, we are erasing the stories we can tell about the expressions of our collective soul and our culture.
Many Filipinos are being moved inside them to do what they can for the country. In various fields of endeavors, silent workers are steady with their advocacies to help shape a better Philippines, preserve our unique culture and traditions, and help lives become better.
One such man is a chemical engineer Bibiano Fajardo, called "Boy F" by everyone. Boy is also a hilot and an albularyo. Not so strange a combination for one whose natural talent for healing drove him to study not only the "supernatural" and spiritual side of healing, but the physical technical processes, including traditional herbal remedies. Boy F is one of the quiet but central figures in local traditional healing circles.
Here was a chemical engineer massaging and healing people, and explaining both the scientific and spiritual principles behind what he was doing. To top it all, he would include a historical lecture on the cultural roots of traditional healing during the Spanish times; discuss the favorite haunt of traditional healers being Mount Banahaw (where I first met him) and its ritual relevance to the values formation and spiritual development of the healer; and showed how the healing ways of the albularyo was equivalent to the early shamans or medicine men of ancient culture. Then he would go beyond the biological aspect of the body, and move into tying in electromagnetic, electrical, neurological and biochemical principles associated with the humble hilot. He would often cap his lecture by telling you what traditional herb to make into an infusion for your complain.
It came as no surprise when his talent and work became an advocacy and a life mission. The increasing cost of health care services has left the majority of Filipinos to resort to alternative medicines like acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, chiropathy and hilot. Such traditional modalities and herbal infusions are very popular in the rural areas where most can hardly afford health care services even from the government, much more with private health care sources. When the high cost of health care services went escalating and majority couldn’t afford them, the traditional healing modalities went on the rise again, prompting traditional healing advocates to practice and promote it. In 1985, Boy F teamed up with Aleli Pensacola, a community organizer under the PIAF (Philippine Institute for Alternative Futures) to head the Herbal Group. They started to teach Traditional Healing and Herbal Medicine as an alternative to Western Allopathic Medicine. First in Laguna, then their work brought them to Tarlac, Quezon and Cotabato. Lack of funding, however, ended this program in 1987. But Boy F lobbied for the passing of TAMA Act/R.A. 8423 (Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act in 1997) which put up the Philippine Traditional Alternative Health Care (PITACH) of the Department of Health. Aleli, on the other hand, organized Daila Herbal Community Enterprises, and went on to win International Awards for her products for environment and her work on herbal-related livelihood.
Turn of events show how advocacies can never die, they are only constantly transformed in form. Despite having no funds, the partners finally focused on putting together an association committed to provide training and support to communities for Hilot and herbal medicine in coordination with local government units. Their objectives: to professionalize the practice and strengthen the values formation aspect; to teach the depth of what hilot is all about so that it would be known internationally and patented as the Philippine massage; and finally, to make sure government joins them through LGU-funded initiatives. They call the association ATHAG, acronym for Association of Traditional Health Aid Givers. They have been targeting trainers who are volunteer barangay health workers, albularyos and community leaders. It is clear that through education and skills training, ATHAG is trying to retrieve, preserve, conserve and disseminate the indigenous healing modalities. ATHAG has successfully started its pioneering group in Luzon and is set to move through the country. Such an advocacy, started by simple, hardworking but committed people is the very backbone of our nation’s cultural survival and industry development. ATHAG is not only a vehicle to teach about healing, but for all who join and support it, is the process of healing ourselves as a people as we reconnect deeper to our roots.
Many Filipinos are being moved inside them to do what they can for the country. In various fields of endeavors, silent workers are steady with their advocacies to help shape a better Philippines, preserve our unique culture and traditions, and help lives become better.
One such man is a chemical engineer Bibiano Fajardo, called "Boy F" by everyone. Boy is also a hilot and an albularyo. Not so strange a combination for one whose natural talent for healing drove him to study not only the "supernatural" and spiritual side of healing, but the physical technical processes, including traditional herbal remedies. Boy F is one of the quiet but central figures in local traditional healing circles.
Here was a chemical engineer massaging and healing people, and explaining both the scientific and spiritual principles behind what he was doing. To top it all, he would include a historical lecture on the cultural roots of traditional healing during the Spanish times; discuss the favorite haunt of traditional healers being Mount Banahaw (where I first met him) and its ritual relevance to the values formation and spiritual development of the healer; and showed how the healing ways of the albularyo was equivalent to the early shamans or medicine men of ancient culture. Then he would go beyond the biological aspect of the body, and move into tying in electromagnetic, electrical, neurological and biochemical principles associated with the humble hilot. He would often cap his lecture by telling you what traditional herb to make into an infusion for your complain.
It came as no surprise when his talent and work became an advocacy and a life mission. The increasing cost of health care services has left the majority of Filipinos to resort to alternative medicines like acupuncture, acupressure, aromatherapy, chiropathy and hilot. Such traditional modalities and herbal infusions are very popular in the rural areas where most can hardly afford health care services even from the government, much more with private health care sources. When the high cost of health care services went escalating and majority couldn’t afford them, the traditional healing modalities went on the rise again, prompting traditional healing advocates to practice and promote it. In 1985, Boy F teamed up with Aleli Pensacola, a community organizer under the PIAF (Philippine Institute for Alternative Futures) to head the Herbal Group. They started to teach Traditional Healing and Herbal Medicine as an alternative to Western Allopathic Medicine. First in Laguna, then their work brought them to Tarlac, Quezon and Cotabato. Lack of funding, however, ended this program in 1987. But Boy F lobbied for the passing of TAMA Act/R.A. 8423 (Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act in 1997) which put up the Philippine Traditional Alternative Health Care (PITACH) of the Department of Health. Aleli, on the other hand, organized Daila Herbal Community Enterprises, and went on to win International Awards for her products for environment and her work on herbal-related livelihood.
Turn of events show how advocacies can never die, they are only constantly transformed in form. Despite having no funds, the partners finally focused on putting together an association committed to provide training and support to communities for Hilot and herbal medicine in coordination with local government units. Their objectives: to professionalize the practice and strengthen the values formation aspect; to teach the depth of what hilot is all about so that it would be known internationally and patented as the Philippine massage; and finally, to make sure government joins them through LGU-funded initiatives. They call the association ATHAG, acronym for Association of Traditional Health Aid Givers. They have been targeting trainers who are volunteer barangay health workers, albularyos and community leaders. It is clear that through education and skills training, ATHAG is trying to retrieve, preserve, conserve and disseminate the indigenous healing modalities. ATHAG has successfully started its pioneering group in Luzon and is set to move through the country. Such an advocacy, started by simple, hardworking but committed people is the very backbone of our nation’s cultural survival and industry development. ATHAG is not only a vehicle to teach about healing, but for all who join and support it, is the process of healing ourselves as a people as we reconnect deeper to our roots.
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