The Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Program of the University of the Philippines-Manila, College of Allied Medical Professions (UP-CAMP) initially started in 1973 as part of the UP-Comprehensive Community Health Programme (UP-CCHP) in Bay, Laguna. This pioneer program served the municipality of Bay for a total of 15 years spearheading efforts to bring rehabilitation services to underserved populations until 1988. In the years that followed, UP-CAMP CBR was implemented from 1989 to 2007 in Rodriguez (Montalban) Rizal. The program was initially headed by Prof. Lucia Magallona, CAMP’s proponent of the approach to transfer technology, provide rehabilitation, and address the education and livelihood needs of persons with disabilities and their families. The program facilitated the integration of persons with disabilities in mainstream society as well as the prevention and early detection of disabilities through training, research and service. 

The CBR approach also instilled in its stakeholders (i.e. the community and the students) the value of self-reliance and sustainability through the utilization of indigenous resources. CBR workers were trained from among persons with disabilities themselves and their families. The program was successful at institutionalizing therapy services in barangay health centers and acquiring a full time position for a physical therapist at the municipal level.

In November 2007, UP-CAMP’s CBR program joined the rest of the UP Manila community in a five year partnership with the local government of San Juan, Batangas. The Community Health and Development Program (CHDP) is a comprehensive program that addressed three major areas – health, environment, and livelihood – relevant to the prevalence of illnesses in the community. UP-CAMP contributed its CBR approach as a strategy to include persons with disabilities in community development by enhancing their skills and participation through direct provision of rehabilitation services, training of family members and local CBR workers, conducting health promotion activities, disseminating disability prevention strategies, and establishing interprofessional collaboration with other health and development professionals. From 2013-2016, the UP-CAMP CBR program has established two community programs in partnership with the local government units and disabled people’s organizations (DPO) of Bustos, Bulacan during the first semester, and San Mateo, Rizal during the second semester. CBR refocused its approach from training CBR workers to engaging the DPO, involving key

government leaders for policy changes and inclusion, and most importantly, adopting a more family and community approach to promote empowerment and participation. Programs focused on both individual and community-level interventions that integrate clinical and social approaches to health and wellness. However, sustainability of the programs were affected by changes in the political climate and changes in the direction of programs prioritized in these municipalities. The changes prompted the UP-CAMP CBR to look for other key organizations to link with, knowing that the CBR matrix cannot be fully realized without the linkages and networking with other CBR programs already established.

In 2016 to present, the UP-CAMP CBR program has partnered with identified organizations who practice the CBR strategy directly in their communities and who has further identified the need to collaborate with rehabilitation workers to enhance their programs. Linkaging with already established organizations (i.e. advocacy groups, parent organizations, NGO) was a way to ensure that community organizing was addressed to ensure access to therapy services and coordinate community activities. This change in perspective further allowed the program to realize its role in teaching and strengthening both the biopsychosocial approach and the rights based approach in the community. This allowed the program to further enhance collaborative approaches in detection, screening, capacity building, and facilitating participation for persons with disabilities in community institutions such as schools, day care centers, and the barangay. In addition, having fully realized its own unique approach, the UP-CAMP CBR reconnected itself with the CHDP in its program in Alfonso, Cavite.