MEDICAL

TRADITIONS
By:
Andrea Giezel Pastrana STE 8A
 Folk Medicine/ Traditional Healers in the
Philippines
These are some categories of non-medical traditional healers or folk doctors in
the Philippines:
• Albularyo
• Cebuano Mananambal
• Manghihilot
• Manghihila
 Albularyo
 knowledgeable in the use of medicinal herbs
 most arbularyos use herbs, alum, coconut oil, and other substances in their healing practices
 the skill of the albularyo is commonly handed down from one generation to another in a family-line, involving
apprenticeship
 abularyos are mostly the elders of the Barangays
 the "herbalist", herbolario in Spanish

Albularyos use for healing:

• Alum - widely used in the treatment of water, in medicine, for cosmetics (in deodorant), in food preparation (in
baking powder and pickling), and to fire-proof paper and cloth.
• Coconut Oil - or copra oil, is an edible oil extracted from the kernel or meat of mature coconuts harvested
from the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). It has various applications
• Medicinal herbs - have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times.
 Cebuano Mananambal
 In Cebu, located in the Visayas region of the Philippines, a traditional albularyo is called a mananambal and their
work of healing is called panambal. Like the general albularyo, mananambals obtain their status through
ancestry, apprenticeship/observational practice, or through an epiphany and are generally performed by the
elders of the community, regardless of gender
 Mananambals treat major and minor ailments. These ailments include but are not limited to: headache, fever,
cold, toothache, dengue fever, wounds, Infection, cancer, intellectual impairment, and other illnesses thought to
be caused by supernatural creatures.

Mananambal’s use for healing:

• The Rubbing of Lana is the use of botanic oil from coconut and rubbing it onto affected areas. Plant materials
consist of leaves, tree bark, and roots. Herbal extracts can either be consumed or applied to affected area(s).
• Plants for herbal medicine are obtained through a panagalap or the search for plants in mountains and forests
which then undergo fumigation or palina. Aside from plants, this yearly concoction search also scavengers for
potions, candles, oil, and amulets
 Manghihilot
("massager", "folk massage therapist", "folk chiropractor") uses massaging techniques
to treat sprains, fractures, and other similar conditions that affect the skeletal system
and the musculatory system, including ligaments
Manghihilots are either chosen by maestros or master albularyos, or through
apprenticeship
Similar to the albularyo practice
a person who specializes in healing muscular aches and pains by using massage or a
midwife with non-formal midwiferry education

Manghihilot use for healing:

• Traditional manghihilots sometimes use a leaf — usually a banana leaf — which they
run through the body after it has been generously covered with oil
 Manghihila

uses the technique known as panghihila (the "pulling")

The type of "pull" felt during the massage therapy becomes the basis of
what causes the ailment (i.e. the "smoothness" of the pull of the
material used or the lingering or hovering or the strength of resistance
of the applied material on a specific spot of the patient's body).

Manghihila use for healing:

• the patient is rubbed with: coconut oil accompanied by the use of a
mirror, strips of cellophane paper that were used as wrappers of
cigarette boxes, strips of banana frond, or wrappings of medicinal leaves
 Early medicinal practices
Cleaning cadavers were done by bathing and then rubbing the corpses with camphor oil. After
cleansing, preservation of dead bodies were done through the introduction of buyo, a type of
beetle and aloes via the mouth. Persons bitten by rabid dogs were treated by curanderos using the
brain of a rabid dog. For 300 years, the efficacy of oil from monungal wood scrapings and pieces
were used to fight cholera.

Early Filipino used hydrotherapy by bathing in natural hot springs or sulphuric body of waters.
Filipinos of Spanish times, particularly those in Los Baños, Laguna, still bathe themselves even if
sick. The placename Los Baños is Spanish for "the places for bathing".

To cure appendicitis, traditional Filipino healers during the Spanish period in the Philippines
prescribed the intake of "water-treated fresh chicken gizzards" that would last for three
consecutive Friday mornings
 Test for your understanding
1. What do albularyos use for healing? a. water-treated fresh chicken gizzards
a. Alum b. Chicken curry
b. Coconut Oil c. Water-treated fresh meat gizzards
c. Medicinal herbs d. None of the above
d. All of the above 4. Kind of Traditional healer that uses banana leaf and
2. Uses the technique known as “panghihila”. oil for healing?
a. Albularyo a. Manghihila
b. Cebuano Mananambal b. Cebuano Mananambal
c. Manghihila c. Albularyo
d. None of the above d. Manghihilot
3. To cure appendicitis, traditional Filipino healers 5. What does Cebuano Mananambals treat?
during the Spanish period in the Philippines prescribed a. Headache
the intake of “_________________" that would last b. Fever
for three consecutive Friday mornings. c. Dengue fever
d. All of the above
6. Persons bitten by rabid dogs were treated by
a. Coconut oil
curanderos using the ___________.
b. Medicinal herbs
a. Brain of a human
c. Alum
b. Brain of a chicken
d. Aluminum foil
c. Brain of a rabid dog
9. In Cebu, located in the Visayas region of the
d. All of the above
Philippines, a traditional albularyo is called a ________
7. What is the meaning of a Spanish word
and their work of healing is called ________.
herbolario?
a. Mananambal, pambalbal
a. Albularyo
b. Mananambal, panambal
b. Herbalist
c. Mambalbal, pambalbal
c. Herbal
d. Mambalbal, panambal
d. Medicine
10. Is the use of botanic oil from coconut and rubbing
8. It is widely used in the treatment of water, in
it onto affected areas.
medicine, for cosmetics (in deodorant), in food
a. Rubbing of oil
preparation (in baking powder and pickling), and to
b. Rubbing of lana
fire-proof paper and cloth.
c. Rubbing of alcohol
d. None of the above
Answers:
1. D
2. C
3. A THANK YOU
4. D
5. D FOR
6. C LISTENING!
7. B
8. C
9. B
10.B