Taking advantage of a growing preference for natural and indigenous wellness products, enterprising Catholic nuns in the southern Philippines are producing their own brand of organic medicine.

The group of Catholic sisters in Tagum City in Mindanao has been taking mangosteen, a sweet tropical fruit, and manufacturing them into capsules.

Many people believe the fruit has healing properties and can help cure skin infections, inflammations, dysentery and urinary tract infections.

The Handmaids of Christ the King (Ancillae Christi Regis) sisters have been making the capsules by hand for almost two years, painstakingly pounding pieces of dried mangosteen rind into powder with the use of mortar and pestles. The powdered rind is then put into biodegradable capsules, and packed for sale.

The income generated is used to sustain the processing facility and to support the nuns’ apostolic and charitable work.

Sister Concordia Pingoy, the congregation's superior general, said her sister’s are currently producing 100,000 mangosteen capsules a month up from initial production levels of 30,000 capsules a month.

Output has more than tripled since the Department of Agriculture provided a hammer mill, allowing the nuns to turn the rind into powder faster.

Agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala has also promised the nuns a food grade dryer to help increase production further.

The department is also providing 500 mangosteen seedlings for planting to provide a steady supply of fruit.

Each capsule is being sold at 3 pesos (US$0.07) at designated outlets in Tagum City. The sisters are now also producing and selling malunggay and yellow ginger (turmeric) capsules.

Pingoy said demand for herbal capsules is growing as people are claiming to have benefited from their healing effects.

She said her group has a pending accreditation application at the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration.