Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez (center), Bulacan 4th district Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica (third from left), and other legislators during the inauguration ceremony (AWLFI)

Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Bulacan 4th district Rep. Linabelle Ruth Villarica spearheaded the inauguration of the new Women and Children Protection Unit building at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) in Mandaluyong City.

Romualdez and Villarica are chairperson and president, respectively, of the Association of Women Legislators Foundation, Inc. (AWLFI) of the 19th Congress.

The new facility was completed through the collaboration of the NCMH headed by Director Noel Reyes, the Mandaluyong City Government, and the 86-strong AWLFI.

Funded by the AWLFI, the building marks another milestone in the group’s commitment to support Republic Act (RA) No. 11036, or the Philippine Mental Health Law.

The law, signed in 2018, marked as the first piece of legislation that laid down the groundwork for the delivery of integrated mental health services to vulnerable sectors in the country.

In her speech, Villarica expressed gratitude to House Speaker Martin Romualdez for his financial support, which will go the furnishing of the new facility.

Speaker Romualdez is the husband of Rep. Romualdez.

Also present during the inauguration were former president and incumbent Pampanga 2nd district Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mandaluyong lone district Rep. Neptali Gonzales II, Vice Mayor Menchie Abalos, and NCMH officials.