between China and the Philippines was recorded as early as the eighth century and enhanced in the sixteenth century. The activity of trade during the sixteenth century was especially active because of the Manila-Acapulco Galleons. The methods used by manghihilots is similar to the Chinese acupuncture study of the Yellow Emperor's Body, the idea that the body through fluids of energy known as a yin and yang, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Native Filipino medicine uses the four elements (earth, water, fire, and air) to diagnose conditions while TCM views the conditions of the body through the Five Element Theory: fire, earth, wind, metal, water, and wood. Another similarity is the diagnosis of imbalance caused by engkantos, or the unseen entities within the body. For instance, the manghihilot may describe a person who is having trouble breathing air by calling that trouble engkanto sa hangin meaning air entity. This person's actual condition may be asthma according to Western medicine. In TCM, this imbalance may be explained by the imbalance set between yin and yang (the force of yin may be dominating the body and vice versa). Other similar approaches to diagnosing include herbs (not necessarily accompanied by the blessing of it shown in the Albularyo practice), taking patient history, facial diagnosis, and tongue diagnosis. Current research on the Hilot shows that it is not clear as to whether or not the Chinese medicine had a direct influence on the Hilot or the Hilot had an influence on TCM because it is not clear whether these Hilot methods were a coincidence of similarities or borrowed from Traditional Chinese Medicine since the people coming from Southern China were primarily involved in commerce. It is also not clear which Indigenous practices originated from Ayurveda. It is not known whether these merchants had medical knowledge. Present day The sophistication of the practice has evolved over time and is still being practiced, primarily in rural areas of the Philippines. The challenges of incorporating traditional/alternative medicine into the Philippine national health care system shows the competition against Western medicine because of the stigma of superstition and the lack of scholarly evidence to prove alternative medicine effective. There are organizations advocating for the fusion of both western medicine and alternative medicine out of the Traditional and Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) passed in 1997 to make healthcare accessible in rural areas. The Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative