Las Piñas City lone district Rep. Camille Villar (Rep. Villar's office)

Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas City lone district Rep. Camille Villar filed two measures in the House of Representatives aimed at addressing the worsening mental health crisis in the Philippines.

Under her House Bill (HB) No. 10934, Villar is proposing the inclusion of mental health disorders in the benefit packages of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth).

She said this bill was triggered by the report of the Philippine Council for Mental Health (PCMH), which showed that 3.3 percent of the country’s population, or around 3.3 million Filipinos, live with depression. 

"In order to address this seeming mental health crises among our population, this bill shall expand the coverage of the benefit package to include all mental health disorders and regardless of age group," she said in a statement.

Villar said the benefit package shall cover emergency services, psychiatric and neurological services, the Mental Health Gap Action Program, and therapy sessions.

"This bill also address the rising costs of mental health treatment by mandating an appropriate increase in PhilHealth's benefit package taking into consideration the current costs in medical services," she added.

Mental health leave

At the same time, Villar has also filed HB No. 10929, which is seeking to provide a three-day mental health wellness leave, with full pay, for employees in both the public and private sectors.

"It is the hope of this bill to increase labor productivity and efficiency and raise awareness of the importance of mental health not only for the individual well-being of the employees but also to the overall health and well-being of our nation," she explained.

Villar, a senatorial candidate under the administration’s “Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas” slate, says this measure also complements Republic Act (RA) No. 11036, or the Mental Health Act.

Enacted in 2018, the landmark law sought to provide affordable and accessible mental health services for Filipinos.

"One of the objectives of the Mental Health Act is to develop and establish a comprehensive, integrated, effective and efficient national mental health care system responsive to the psychiatric, neurologic, and psychosocial needs of the Filipino people," she noted.