The economic status and progress of local and marginal communities are impeded by perennial problems such as inaccessibility to health services, emerging diseases, food scarcity, low literacy, poverty, and effects of climate change especially on the agricultural produce. Currently, emerging diseases continue to increase while the cost of commercial drugs is becoming expensive for marginal communities. Additionally, declining food sources is an increasing problem as an effect of population growth. These problems contribute to poverty. The Cordillera Administrative Region is no exception to these problems. When these issues and problems remain unresolved, the economic status of almost all communities is stagnated.

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With the above challenges in mind, the goals of the HPCDP project are (1) to identify the wild, indigenous and ethnomedicinal plants in selected communities in the Cordillera and determine their potential for anti-diabetes and anti-bacterial activities to be developed into drug products such as ointments (2) to determine the nutritive value of indigenous, underutilized and neglected plants, and also develop food products as alternative source of food and livelihood (3) to develop an online website and database system which is a repository of the medicinal and food value of indigenous and underutilized plants (4) to develop awareness of the underutilized plants, potential drugs from identified potential drugs and the online database through technology transfer to selected communities.

The HPCDP is a project funded by CHED K to 12 Transition Program - Discovery Applied Research and Extension for Trans/Interdisciplinary Opportunities Grant-in-Aid 2017 (CHED DARETO). Lead by the University of the Philippines Baguio with partner Higher Education Institutions: Benguet State University, Pines City Colleges and Saint Louis University, the project duration is from October 16, 2019 until 2021.

The project proponents would like to thank the following communities:

  • Barangay Sagpat and the Municipality of Kibungan, Benguet
  • Barangay San Pascual and the Municipality of Tuba, Benguet
  • Municipality of Sablan, Benguet
  • Municipality of Kapangan, Benguet
  • Municipality of Atok, Benguet

LEAD HEI

PARTNER HEI

LEAD HEI

University of the Philippines Baguio

PARTNER HEI

Benguet State University Pines City Colleges Saint Louis University

Publications related to this project:


Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Philippines



The Cordillera region is endowed with a vast diversity of flora and fauna and a similarly rich diverse culture. For many decades, the different groups in the region have closely entwined their lives with their surrounding environment leading to a robust indigenous knowledge on plant utilization. From food to medicines, years of experience allowed them to build their own collection of “tried-and-tested” methods which they hand down to generations.