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The emergence of Thai wellness spa industry, which caters to the influx of both local and foreign tourists alike in Cebu, has opened up more job opportunities for the locals.

And looking at the brighter prospect of providing proper training and education to the manpower of this emerging wellness sector, a local Thai massage company has opened its own training center aimed at professionalizing the industry and its practitioners.

Tonton Massage Corporation owned by Maria Teresita P. Tatara, which has been operating in the city since 2005 has opened TTM Training Center which is the only accredited school in the Philippines by the Wat Po Thai Traditional Massage and Medical School in Bangkok, Thailand.

The center has regularly produced graduates who have become expert massage therapists in their field thus providing them with livelihood while at the same time promoting health and wellness, said Tatara in an exclusive interview.

Tatara shared that the idea of the school was conceived after a series of visits to Bangkok which drew her and her husband into the “mysticism and healing properties” of the Wat Po Traditional Massage.

The couple then decided to invest in learning the massage technique in the Philippines in 2002 and to ensure the preservation of the traditional art, TonTon Massage Corp. entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Wat Po Thai Traditional Massage and Medical School based in Bangkok.

Local trainors who have been trained by Wat Po experts from Thailand supervise the progress of students in basic Thai massage and foot massage.

These graduates would then take the Department of Health licensure review course which is also being offered by the center as the exam is a requirement from the DOH.

In April and October of every year, Wat Po experts also come over from Thailand to directly train around 30 local trainees per month up to 60 annually, said Tatara.

“With the emergence of several Thai massage parlors in the city, it has become very important that everyone learn the correct and proper way to do Thai massage,” she said.

Aside from this advocacy, Tatara is also helping other stakeholders to revise the requirements of the DOH licensure examinations to also accommodate more interested trainees who have minimum level of schooling.

Right now the licensure exam is also limited to college levels.

“It has become our advocacy to teach the unemployed the proper way to do the massage because as an art, it’s more than just relaxation because massage is also about healing. Instead of them to go into other unrewarding careers, they can become therapists because as they become well-trained their expertise grows and they will be sought after in the industry,” said Tatara.

TTM Training Center at the Fuente Osmeña Circle offers Thai massage courses such as general Thai, Thai traditional, basic Thai massage as well as infant or child massage and woman and foot massages. The basic Thai courses are priced at P18, 900 for 30 hours of practical application training.

The TTM Training Center is also accredited by the technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).