Philippine History Of Guidance And Counseling 6tv3x

Pre-Colonial Philippines was much like neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, and counseling still shows vestiges of indigenous help-seeking through (a) superstition; (b) reliance on elders, faith healers, and fortune tellers; and (c) belief in the supernatural (Bulatao, 1 992). In 1 52 1 , the Philippines was rediscovered by Ferdinand Magellan, which began the Spanish colonization, resulting mainly in religious conquest: 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics (CIA, 201 1). The American occupation, from 1898 to 1941 (and military bases into the 1990s) followed Spanish colonization. From public school to government, the United States has had a strong influence on the country (NSO, 2010). The language of instruction in the country is English, and greater respect is given to anything American over anything Filipino. The United States has even had a significant impact on counseling because Filipino counselors and psychologists often trained there (SalazarClemeña, 2002). Counseling, as conceived in the United States, began in the Philippines with two colleges in Manila providing guidance services geared toward identifying professions and employment opportunities and establishing the first psychological clinic at the University of the Philippines (Salazar-Clemeña, 2002). The growth of guidance and counseling was interrupted by the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1944. From the 1940s to the 1960s was a period of counselor training (Salazar-Clemeña, 2002), as Filipinos obtained training and degrees in the United States and established academic counseling programs when they returned to the country. The birth of the two associations most instrumental in the regulation of the profession - the Psychological Association of the Philippines and the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association - happened at this time. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the movement in counseling was primarily indigenization (e.g., Bulatao, 1992; Enriquez, 1977) of assessments, constructs, and theories, focusing on the differences between the counseling models learned in the United States within

the context of Philippine culture and the realities of its social issues. The organizations established then were the Philippine Association for Counselor Education, Research, and Supervision and the Career Development Association of the Philippines. There was monumental growth in counseling following the American occupation as the country struggled through political movements, military coups, and citizen-led revolutions to become an independent republic. The volatile shifts in governance have contributed to the country's economic and socio-political structure and its instability and oppression; but these shifts have also demonstrated the power of the people, for example, when thousands of Filipinos demonstrated peacefully against dictatorship, graft, and corruption. These circumstances continue to shape the field of counseling in the Philippines, with the necessity for advocacy and a social justice agenda (Tuason, 2008). Current Status of Counseling in the Philippines The family is the main unit of Philippine society, and Filipinos value family belongingness (pagkapamilya; Enriquez, 1977). This family orientation is very much a part of counseling because Filipinos would rather go to family than trust strangers to help them solve their problems. Counseling practices that work best involve the family, and family systems therapies are predominant, along with expressive therapies in different modalities (Catipon, Dey, Garcia, & Tarroja, 20 1 1 ) such as play (Carandang, 2009), art, and music for children. Because pioneers of counseling in the Philippines were trained in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s and because of the cultural environment, another predominant model in counseling is client-centered Rogerian therapy, with elements of spirituality. Competent counselors are sensitive to the extent of people's religiosity and respectfully include

spirituality in counseling. The establishment in 2008 of the Family and Pastoral Counseling Association of the Philippines reflects counselors' responsiveness to the needs of Filipinos by tapping into the valuable resource available in people's faith and spirituality. Given Filipinos' transpersonal worldview, other forms of therapy may include placing the client in an altered state of consciousness (e.g., hypnosis, astral travel; Bulatao, 1992). What has evolved is an integrated approach to counseling that is unique to the Philippines (see Tanalega, 2004). Access to a counselor and the openness to seek help is best mediated by family or friends who have experienced the benefits of the counseling process, unlike in the United States, where counselors can be found by using the Internet or the telephone book. In the United States, a counseling session usually lasts an hour and costs about $100; in the Philippines, although a session is prescribed as an hour and can range widely in cost between 500 and 2,000 Philippine pesos (U.S. $ 1 2-$50), it usually lasts longer because Filipinos are not overly concerned with punctuality (Roces & Roces, 1985). It is also common for clients to miss sessions and not be billed for them. Because of the cost of counseling and the absence of the luxury of time, it is usually middle- to upperclass people who can afford counseling. The impoverished do not usually seek counseling services, or if they do, it is often from a religious person or a barangay captain (i.e., leader of the village). Fortunately, nongovernmental organizations and funded research may also provide counseling to the poor (e.g., Carandang, 1996). Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004 The most significant development in Philippine counseling is the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9258). The Act was intended to professionalize the practice of guidance and counseling and to create the

Professional Regulatory Board of Guidance and Counseling, which is under the istrative control and supervision of the Professional Regulatory Commission. Prior to 2004, mental health workers did not need a license to practice nor was there a regulatory board to ensure adequate training and ethical practice. Guidance counselors pioneered regulation for counseling, and psychologists are following suit through the Philippine Psychology Act of 2009 (Republic Act No. 10029), which will regulate psychology and create a professional regulatory board for licensing psychologists (Kabiling, 2010). Although mental health providers have the same mission, hierarchy dictates that a doctorallevel counselor or psychologist has the highest rank, followed by the master'slevel counselor. Other levels within this hierarchy are determined by where the individual earned her or his degree: A U.S.-trained counselor has more credibility than a Philippines-trained practitioner, although this view is slowly changing (Republic Act No. 10029, Foreign Reciprocity). According to the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004, counseling in the Philippines, similar to how it is defined in the United States, is a "profession that involves the use of an integrated approach to the development of a wellfunctioning individual primarily by helping him/her to utilize his/her potentials to the fullest and plan his/her present and future in accordance with his/her abilities, interests, and needs" (2004). The functions of a guidance counselor enumerated in this law are counseling, psychological testing, learning and study orientation, research, placement, referral and group processes, and teaching guidance and counseling courses. According to Philippine Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz, there are 49 guidance counselor networks with 1 ,739 (Department of Labor and Employment, 2011). Twenty-three universities and

colleges offer graduate studies in guidance and counseling, counseling/ clinical psychology, and counselor education, and a handful of institutes offer degrees in pastoral counseling. Most programs offer master's degrees and a few offer doctoral degrees, most of which follow the practitioner-scientist model. Curricula are determined by individual programs and are often patterned after courses in the United States, although courses are taught with extensive applications to the Philippines to make these counseling models and theories relevant to the Philippine population, as evidenced by applied research in theses and dissertations (e.g., Nísperos, 1994; Trivino, 2000). The two main differences between training programs in the Philippines and the United States are the field experiences and supervision. In the Philippines, because few field placements are available, 100 practicum hours are required for the master's degree and two semesters of internship for the doctoral degree, much less than the 1 ,000 hours required for a master's degree in the United States. Moreover, regular weekly individual supervision is not provided in the Philippines.

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