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Session 1: Traditional medicine knowledge: protection and knowledge management

Documentation of Philippine Traditional Knowledge and Prac-

tices on Health, Disease and Healing

Isidro Sia*, Sandra Tempongko*, Rafaelita Ong*, Julie Charmain Bonifacio**, Erlinda
Palaganas*, Myfel Joseph Paluga*, Arthur Sebastian***, Buenalyn Ramos*, Maria Teresa
Mendoza**, Emeline Rose Mariano**, Maria Gabriela Aparentado*, Rainier Galang*,
Aubrey Manzo*, Lydia Ysrael*, Ariel Reyes*, Aster Lyn Sur*, Anna Bernardo*, Tito
Mata****

*University of the Philippines, **Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care,
***Mindoro Medical Society, ****Palawan Indigenous Community

Background and rationale: The Philippines is known for its rich cultural diversity in-
cluding those of healing traditions. There are more than one hundred eighty (180) ethnolinguistic
groups (Summer Institute of Linguistics) and one hundred ten (110) indigenous communities
(National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) in the country.
The Philippine Institute of Tradi-tional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC), together
with the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), the University of
the Philippines System and several institutes of higher learning in the Philippines, have
embarked on a systematic undertaking to document this cultural heritage.
Objectives: The general objective of the project is to document with the communities
their traditional knowledge and practices on health, disease and healing.
Methods: The information were gathered through a combination of methods such as
interview, focus group discussion, participant observation, and survey. Free and prior in-
formed consent was obtained before each study was conducted.
Results: We have undertaken the documentation of the traditional knowledge and prac-
tices on health, disease and healing of thirty-one (31) Philippine indigenous groups and cul-
tural communities. In all, we have conducted the documentation involving four hundred sixty-
eight (468) informants, mostly indigenous healers. Each study area reported an average num-
ber of ninety-one (91) plants for an average of thirty-one (31) medical indications. Ethnographic
description was also done for each study area. The sets of information were encoded in a
database and, where consent was given, the data were published in a website (www.tkdlph.com).
Conclusion: The documentation showed that the Philippines has rich cultural traditions
with regard to health, disease and healing.
Key words: Philippines, traditional knowledge, traditional medicine, indigenous medi-
cine