Abstract Objective: To describe beliefs about the cause, prevention, and treatment of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL±P) among working class people and health care workers in the Philippines. Design and Setting: The study was a focused ethnography and took place in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. Participants: Using a stratified purposeful recruitment strategy, 80 individuals were selected for study. They were categorized into three groups: those having a CL±P or a child with a CL±P, those who neither had a CL±P nor child with CL±P, and health care workers. Methods: Kleinman's explanatory models of illness theory were used to elicit Filipino explanations for CL±P. Data were collected through guided individual and group informant interviews and analyzed through content analysis. Results: Filipinos reported that inheritance, falls, cravings, environmental factors, and God's will were causes for CL±P. Beliefs about prevention of CL±P included limiting the number of children, being ...