Dibabaon people of Laak, Compostela Valley Province. Ethnomedical documentation of and community health education for selected Philippine ethnolinguistic groups: the Dibabaon people of Laak, Compostela Valley Province, Philippines. University of the Philippines Manila 2000.
Ethnomedical documentation of and community health education for selected Philippine ethnolinguistic groups: the Dibabaon people of Laak, Compostela Valley Province, Philippines
ABSTRACT
The Philippines has many indigenous people belonging to more than 120 distinct ethnolinguistic groups. Each ethnolinguistic group has a rich culture of practices, including those which refer to healing of their sick people. Mostly living in the mountains, they depend on herbal plants and other natural products to treat their sick. There is need to document, and hopefully preserve the beneficial healing traditions of our indigenous peoples. This study documented the ethnomedical knowledge of five Dibabaon communities in the municipality of Laak, Compostela Valley Province. This included the plants and other natural products being used as medicinal agents by the Dibabaon people and their beliefs and practices on health, diseases and healing. We also prepared culturally acceptable health education messages. Social preparation was established by coordinating with the local government unit of Laak and holding consultation meetings with the leaders of the Dibabaons who gave the approval to conduct the study in the communities. The researcher lived and integrated with these communities during the period from July 1999 to May 2000. Conducting informal meetings, pulong-pulongs and community involvement were done to gain trust and closeness with the highlanders. In data gathering, actual interviews among Dibabaons who had knowledge on medicinal plants were conducted. To validate the gathered data the researcher used focus group discussions. Seven major informants were selected and interviewed based on their reputation of active practice of traditional healing in the community. Other informants included mothers and guides who could identify medicinal plants. Participant observation was also done by the researcher in documenting traditional health practice, during rituals, manawagtawag or calling of their abyan (spiritfriend) for the researcher’s blessing and guidance and during child delivery, methods used by the baylan and the managamhunay for easy and safe delivery. Collection of specimen vouchers was done based on the availability of the plants in the area. Guides were selected based on the recommendation of the baylan and his knowledge of identifying the plants. We were able to collect only 23 plant samples as the others were hard to find. The need for a community-based health program should be established in these Dibabaon communities to sustain urgent health services and an educational program to help in the advocacy to preserve their rich tradition not only in health but in all aspects of their culture.
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