A Filipino doctor, Dr. Conrado Dayrit Jr., has been posthumously commended by the House of Representatives for his untiring and courageous effort in research on, and advocacy of, coconut oil as antidote to AIDS and AIDS virus in the country for 45 years.

It may also be recalled that when the US soybean industry in the United States was campaigning against the alleged dangers of coconut’s highly saturated fat content which may be bad for the heart, Dr. Dayrit debunked the allegation and reiterated that far from causing heart disease, coconut oil may even prevent it, and many other diseases besides.

In behalf of Congress, Rep. Proceso J. Alcala of the second district of Quezon handed over the congressional commendation to Mrs. Milagros Dayrit, wife of Dr. Dayrit, in simple rites at the Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila. Sons and grandchildren of the late doctor who died last year were present.

The resolution stated that Dr. Dayrit "directed the first formal study on the treatment of the Human Immunodeficiencey Virus (HIV), comprising of coconut oil and the purified monoglyceride of lauric acid of coconut oil, the highly promising results of which now serve as bases for continued tests aimed at alleviating the suffering and would-be suffering millions in Asia, Africa and elsewhere.

The resolution also cited that while coconut oil is good for human consumption, it is also an antibiotic, an immuno-enhancer, and a drug that regulates the body’s functions and defense mechanism. It restores the normal balance of tissues or cells that have become dysfunctional.

At the same time, coconut oil is a powerful drug that is non-toxic. It protects the body from infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, yeasts, fungi, protozoa, worms). It can kill them all. In other words, it is an antibiotic with the widest spectrum of action of all antipathogens.

In House Resolution No. 1385, Alcala urged the Philippine Coconut Authority and Coco Levy-funded companies to actively promote and support current research efforts to validate the qualities of coconut oil as antidote to AIDS and AIDS virus, especially on account of the increasing millions who have fallen victims to the dreaded disease.

The Coco Levy companies include the Coconut Industry Investment Fund, Legazpi Oil Company, Granexport Manufacturing Corp., Cagayan de Oro Oil Company, Southern Luzon Coconut Oil Mill, San Pablo Manufacturing Corp., Cocochem, Cocolife, United Coconut Planters Bank which are tasked to help the coconut industry and the coconut farmers.

Dr. Dayrit was a professor emeritus of pharmacology; a cardiologist and internist; a renowned scientist with over 200 scientific papers published in both local and international journals of medicine; and a former president of the Philippine College of Physicians and of the National Academy of Science and Technology, the highest scientific body in the country.

A native of San Fernando, Pampanga, Dr. Dayrit on October 26 last year died at the age of 88.