Received 09/01/11

Revised 09/27/11
Accepted 10/30/11

Counseling in the Philippines:

Past, Present, and Future
Ma. Teresa G. Tuason, Karina Therese Galang Fernandez,
Maria Aurora D. P. Catipon, Louise Trivino-Dey, and
Ma. Lourdes Arellano-Carandang
The history of colonization and persistent attempts at self-governance in the Philippines parallel the beginnings of
counseling in the country, which were largely influenced by the United States. Because of the Guidance and Coun-
seling Act of 2004 and the Psychology Act of 2009, counseling is on its way to professionalization and regulation.
Counseling is growing in depth and credibility, as evidenced by applications in practice that are not only indigenous
but powerfully relevant.

Keywords: Philippines, counseling, history, current status, future

The Philippines, an archipelago that is 300,000 square
kilometers, comprises 7,107 islands in southeast Asia (Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency [CIA], 2011). Patterned after the
United States, its base is capitalism, and it is a democracy.
The predominant religion is Catholicism. It is the 12th most
populous country in the world, home to an estimated 101
million people (CIA, 2011). The poverty rate was estimated
at 32.9% in 2006 (National Statistics Office [NSO], 2010)
using the World Bank’s definition of “living on less than $1
a day”; that estimate is 61% if poverty is defined as living on
less than $2 a day, with powerfully high food insecurity (NSO,
2010). The country has had a long history of cultural influ-
ences: the indigenous Indo-Malay, Chinese, and Islamic, due
to trade, marriage, and immigration; and Spanish, American,
and Japanese, due to colonization (Roces & Roces, 1985).
All contributed to the Filipino phenotype and rich diversity in
culture and tradition, evident in the number of dialects (about
80, 11 of which are languages). In general, Filipinos are bilin-
gual, speaking Tagalog, the national language, and English.
Much like its inherent multiculturalism, counseling in
the Philippines has evolved from multiple influences. Coun-
seling encompasses a broad spectrum of disciplines (e.g.,
guidance and counseling, counseling/clinical psychology)
and an acknowledgment of the societal context in which it
occurs (e.g., poverty, physical disasters, overseas working,
graft and corruption, and economic and political instabil-
ity). Counselors must navigate societal stigmas regarding
the need for mental health assistance and widespread igno-
rance of the field; they also advocate for mental health and
resilience in difficult life circumstances.
History of Counseling in the Philippines
Pre–Colonial Philippines was much like neighboring Indo-
nesia 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, 1992). In 1521, the Philippines was
rediscovered by Ferdinand Magellan, which began the Spanish
colonization, resulting mainly in religious conquest: 80% of
Filipinos are Roman Catholics (CIA, 2011). 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 (Salazar-
Clemeña, 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 employ-
ment opportunities and establishing the first psychological
clinic at the University of the Philippines (Salazar-Clemeña,
2002). The growth of guidance and counseling was inter-
rupted 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 coun-
seling programs when they returned to the country. The birth

Ma. Teresa G. Tuason, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, Department of Public Health, University of North Florida; Karina
Therese Galang Fernandez, Department of Psychology, and Maria Aurora D. P. Catipon, Office of Guidance and Counseling,
Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City, Philippines; Louise Trivino-Dey, In Touch Community Services, Makati City, Philippines;
Ma. Lourdes Arellano-Carandang, Department of Psychology, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, and MLAC Institute for
Children and Families, Pasig City, Philippines. The authors thank James Solari, Patrick OngAnte, and Shannon McLeish for their
thoughtful comments on earlier versions of this article. They also express their gratitude to the people who have championed the
development of counseling in the Philippines. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ma.Teresa G. Tuason,
Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, Department of Public Health, University of North Florida, #1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville,
FL 32224 (e-mail: ttuason@unf.edu).

© 2012 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

Journal of Counseling & Development  ■  July 2012  ■  Volume 90 373
 Tuason, Galang Fernandez, Catipon, Trivino-Dey, & Arellano-Carandang
of the two associations most instrumental in the regulation of
the profession—the Psychological Association of the Philip-
pines and the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Associa-
tion—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 coun-
seling 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 revolu-
tions 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; En-
riquez, 1977). This family orientation is very much a part
of counseling because Filipinos would rather go to family
members than trust strangers to help them solve their prob-
lems. 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, 2011) 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 religios-
ity and respectfully include spirituality in counseling. The
establishment in 2008 of the Family and Pastoral Coun-
seling 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).
374 Journal of Counseling & Development  ■  July 2012  ■  Volume 90
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. $12–$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 upper-
class 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 administrative 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 doctoral-level counselor or psychologist has the highest rank,
followed by the master’s-level 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 well-functioning
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.
Counseling in the Philippines
According to Philippine Labor and Employment Secre-
tary Rosalinda D. Baldoz, there are 49 guidance counselor
networks with 1,739 members (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., Nisperos, 1994; Trivino, 2000). The two
main differences between training programs in the Philippines
and the United States are the field experiences and supervi-
sion. 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.
Unique Characteristics of Counseling
in the Philippines
Although counseling shares the important aspects of advo-
cacy, professional standards, public policy, and research, as
it does in the United States, there are unique characteristics
to counseling in the Philippines. Advocacy is directed toward
societal issues and includes a social justice agenda given
the prevalent poverty, the intersection of poverty with crime
and trauma, the necessity of overseas working in families,
the presence of street children, and child laborers. Certain
issues create the context of the Filipino’s environment, and
importantly, set the parameters for how change happens. Of
these, the most significant are poverty, overseas working, and
unstable political and economic conditions. Social issues be-
come counseling issues at the individual level. Hazards and
disasters in the Philippines exacerbate the impact of poverty;
the country is affected by typhoons, volcanoes, landslides,
earthquakes, and tsunamis (CIA, 2011).
Poverty coexists with high crime rates, overpopulation, and
illiteracy, which all impede an individual’s ability to advance
economically (Tuason, 2008). Career counseling requires
consideration of what career choice might yield possibilities
for economic mobility (Salazar-Clemeña, 2002). Overseas
working has become the nation’s response to high rates of
poverty, overpopulation, unemployment. According to NSO
(2010), unemployment and underemployment were 7.1%
and 19.4%, respectively, in 2009; unofficial reports may be
higher. Ten million Filipino people, 11% of the country’s total
Journal of Counseling & Development  ■  July 2012  ■  Volume 90
population, leave the Philippines and work in approximately
194 countries and territories around the globe (Go, 1998).
Given the importance of family, separation issues resulting
from overseas work are central concerns in counseling be-
cause family roles are altered, forcing children to substitute
for a missing parent for their younger siblings (Taylor &
Tuason, 2008). Because nearly as many women as men work
overseas, there is evidence of the changing role of the father
as the sole parent in the home (Garabiles, 2010). Telephone
counseling for overseas Filipino workers who are employed
as domestic helpers in Hong Kong found that the problems
of these workers mainly had to do with the pain of separation
from children, the inability to take care of them, philandering
husbands, fathers sexually abusing their daughters, loneliness,
and maltreatment by employers.
Sociopolitical crises due to unstable political leadership
and extreme socioeconomic inequities stress Filipino families
(Carandang, 1989). Furthermore, because of rampant graft
and corruption in government offices and dishonesty in the
media, a collective and personal sense of volition is difficult
to achieve. One problem is that the absence of consequences
makes it hard for people to be accountable and realize the
consequences of their actions. Another is that people feel help-
less in the face of power inequality and inequity of rights and
duties (de Guzman, 2009). Hence, the sense of control is lack-
ing, which is a necessary variable for change in counseling.
Counseling in the Philippines has evolved to address the
substantial influence of social illnesses. On the other hand,
the country is rich in resources that play a significant role
in the counseling process. These resources, which strongly
contribute to healing and flourishing, include religiousness
and spirituality (Dy-Liacco, Piedmont, Murray-Swank, Rod-
gerson, & Sherman, 2009); engagement of family members
and friends (Grimm, Church, Katigbak, & Reyes, 1999);
and a strong drive for survival, hopefulness, and hardiness
(Tuason, 2008).
Future of Counseling in the Philippines
Counseling will continue to develop through increased profes-
sionalization. As evidenced by the Guidance and Counseling
Act of 2004 and the Philippine Psychology Act of 2009, the
Psychological Association of the Philippines, the Philippine
Guidance and Counseling Association, and other related
agencies and institutions collaborated to create guidelines and
policies that not only regulate the profession of counseling
but also pave the way for the distinction between counselors
and psychologists. Licensing and certification will also help
maintain the level of expertise within the profession through
laws that require continuing education and research.
The aforementioned legislation makes it possible for the
counseling profession to become more visible and accessible
to Filipinos. The laws and the boards they created demonstrate
that Philippine society recognizes the relevance of the coun-
375
 Tuason, Galang Fernandez, Catipon, Trivino-Dey, & Arellano-Carandang
seling profession and that the counselor has power, status, and
responsibility in Philippine society. Counseling organizations
will become more institutionalized, gaining recognition not
only from constituents but also from the public and the gov-
ernment, and they will be more accessible and responsive to
the issues in Philippine society. Oversight boards ensure that
the profession will be more regulated and that only licensed
practitioners will provide services, thus making the profession
more credible. With appropriate advocacy, communication,
and collaboration with allied professionals and the general
public, using counseling services will become less stigma-
tized. Moreover, continued research studies on the efficacy
of counseling will provide the public with evidence that
counseling is indeed needed for nation-building and healing.
Counseling Where it Matters
The counseling field will continue to develop services for
the poor primarily as nongovernment entities but will also
pave the way for counseling services to be provided for street
children, the sexually abused, the impoverished, and victims
of unsolved crimes and human and natural disasters. Although
these services are already available, the future holds hope
for more services to be offered to more people, particularly
through the venue of funded research. In the future, counsel-
ing services will be provided in conjunction with advocacy to
alleviate poverty, primarily through prevention; we are hopeful
that these services will be made available with participation
from government agencies and affluent professionals and sup-
port from outside sources, such as UNICEF or other countries.
Much of the future focus in counseling needs to be on
healing the nation. Because of the deep conflicts perpetrated
by long-standing graft and corruption, bribery, and injustices
toward the citizens, the protracted conflict between Christians
and Muslims (Ebal, 2006), exacerbated by intractable poverty,
counseling practices and research, training, and supervision of
future counselors will need to focus on restructuring societal
systems to be more reliable and just. At the individual level,
counselors will need to focus on redefining themselves within
the context of the system to be empowered and create changes
within their spheres of influence.
Counseling models and theories will develop that are
indigenous and more applicable to the field as counseling
applications become more far-reaching. The indigenization
of theories that started with Filipino psychology by Enriquez
(1977) and phenomena of religion, consciousness, and culture
by Bulatao (1992) will continue in the future, specifically
identifying, labeling, and using counseling models borne in
Philippine society (e.g., Ramos, 2010; Tanalega, 2004). Coun-
seling models that acknowledge the changing identity of the
Filipino living with both Western and traditional influences
(Carandang & Lee-Chua, 2008) and the growing diversity
of Filipino family types (Tarroja, 2010) will also be helpful.
Additionally, the counseling field will benefit from a more
376 Journal of Counseling & Development  ■  July 2012  ■  Volume 90
structured and intentional avenue for supervision through field
training and curricula, guiding counselors’ professional and
personal growth. Although the field of counseling began in
the Philippines by drawing from the U.S. model as a guide,
it will come into its own, respecting the depth of its context
and problems, using the resources that are intrinsic to the
Filipino soul, and having an impact on the Filipinos who need
counseling services the most.
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