BETTER DAYS
Senator Sonny Angara
In January this year, the Senate Committee on Basic Education chaired by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian conducted a hearing to tackle Senate Bill No. 379 which aims to strengthen the promotion and delivery of mental health services in basic education schools through the institutionalization of the Mental Health and Well-Being Program.
During the hearing, the committee was appraised by the Department of Education (DepEd) of the horrifying situation in our country’s schools where 404 learners’ deaths were attributed to suicide during the academic year 2021-2022 and that in the same period, some 2,147 learners had attempted to commit the same. According to DepEd Assistant Secretary Dexter Galban, “This is an alarming rate that continues to go up given that the transition from online to face-to-face classes can also put a strain on our learners, in the same light that the transition from face-to-face to online provided a strain.”
Figures from the department showed that at least 775,962 learners sought guidance counseling from guidance counselors. However, DepEd lamented that there is a serious lack of guidance counselors in schools with only 2,093 to cover around 28 million learners in public schools — far from the recommended ratio here in the Philippines of one counselor for 500 learners and farther from the 2005 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommendation of one is to 250.
A huge factor in the lack of qualified personnel according to DepEd is the high degree requirement which “is not commensurate” to what the country is paying them. To be hired by DepEd to work in a public school, a guidance counsellor must have a master’s degree but the average monthly pay offered ranges from ₱25,000 to ₱28,000 only.
While the department has a Mental Health Program which involves campaigns and psychosocial support services in addition to co-curricular and extracurricular activities focused on mental health and the prevention of bullying and self-harm, there is an obvious need for the whole-of-government to ramp up its strategies in addressing what many are calling “a silent pandemic” especially since mental health problems stem from factors within and outside the school’s boundaries. In fact, during the same hearing, the Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association Inc. (PGCA) shared that family issues and the individual’s environment which includes what the association are calling “sadfishing” and “oversharing in social media” are significant triggers.
What is happening in our public schools is but a small snippet of the bigger picture of mental health in the Philippines. In fact, in 2020, the Philippine World Health Organization (WHO) Special Initiative for Mental Health identified at least 3.6 million Filipinos suffering from mental, neurological, and substance use disorder. Furthermore, based on the results of a 2021 University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) survey, close to one in five Filipino youth aged 15-24 considered committing suicide. The same study found that 7.5 percent or around 1.5 million Filipino youth tried to end their lives in 2021 which is significantly higher than the three percent or 574,000 registered in 2013.
This is why we are elated by the recent announcement of PhilHealth that the corporation is intending to roll out an outpatient benefit package for mental health this year which has been our appeal for many years now. In fact, we filed Senate Bill No. 920 which will amend Republic Act No. 11036 or the Mental Health Act to mandate our national health insurance to include therapy sessions in the coverage of its mental and behavioral benefit package. Under the same measure, the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) created under Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care Act shall review the existing case rate packages of PhilHealth for mental health with the end in view of recommending an appropriate increase in the benefit package from the current measly amount of ₱7,800.
In the 2023 national budget, Congress has also worked to allot ₱4.029 billion for mental health services. Obviously, more can be done in terms of eliminating the stigma of mental health and empowering more Filipinos to seek professional help especially since a 2020 study entitled “Filipino Help-Seeking for Mental Health Problems and Associated Barriers and Facilitators: A Systematic Review” by Martinez, et. al. revealed that the rate of formal help-seeking behaviors of Filipinos for mental health problems only ranged from 2.2 percent to 17.5 percent. Without proper strategies to empower those struggling with mental health problems to not only avail of affordable and accessible services but also admit that they need help, the country would not be able to curb this “silent pandemic.”
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Senator Sonny Angara has been in public service for 18 years — nine years as Representative of the lone district of Aurora, and nine as Senator. He has authored, co-authored, and sponsored more than 330 laws. He is currently serving his second term in the Senate.