1.

What is mental health? Is it that important that the Philippine Government took notice of its gravity?

Republic Act No. 11036, “An Act Establishing a National Mental Health For The Purpose Of Enhancing
The Delivery Of Integrated Mental Health Services, Promoting And Protecting The Rights Of Persons
Utilizing Psychosocial Health Services, Appropriating Funds Therefor And Other Purposes”

Mental health disorders are one of the most underestimated elements that affect the daily life of a
person. This disorder cannot be easily perceived by the five senses of a human, yet this can be
categorized as a pandemic because it affects more people than you may think. Mental health is invisible,
it is silent, and once you take note of it some would realize that it is too late. We can commonly think
that mental health disorders are only associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and others, but we fail
to recognize the insane people walking down the streets. The government takes pity of these people,
who have been born with their rights but have no capability on how to exercise the full range of their
human rights. Will these affected people be able to participate fully in society? Will they be continuously
deprived of their rights? These are the people who the Philippine Government takes pity on, thus the
creation of this law, that aims to provide treatment or prevention, appropriate medication, and among
others with a goal to have these people enjoy their rights. This law aims to educate the general public
that mental health disorders, though invisible to the eye, is not supposed to be underestimated.

This Law aims not only to treat the affected community of mental health, but also to educate and
promote awareness of mental health disorders to the general public by implementing national policies,
strategies, programs, and regulations; develop systems to respond to psychiatric, neurologic, and
psychosocial needs; to protect the rights of the affected; strengthen information campaign on mental
health disorders; to integrate mental health care in basic health services; to integrate strategies
promoting mental health in educational institutions, workplace, and in communities.

Effectiveness

RA No. 11036 is the first law of its kind that recognizes, assesses, treats, and provides rights for the
community affected by mental health disorders, where before this law was implemented only Health
Insurance Coverage from PhilHealth covers mental health patients’ hospitalization as long as the event
was caused by extreme episodes of mental or behavioral disorders. This package entitled subscribers to
only a rate of Php 7,800. Now after RA No. 11306 had been passed, as discussed by the objectives in
Section 3 of this law, mental health care is now considered one of the basic health care services; mental
health awareness is integrated in the government, in educational institutions, workplace, and
communities, among others. Chapter II of this law provides for the rights of the service users and other
stakeholders, in which the law recognizes that service users, although can be categorized as those who
are incapable of fully exercising their rights, still have some rights that entitle them to the equal and
nondiscriminatory rights as guaranteed by the Constitution as well as those recognized by the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, and other relevant international and regional human rights conventions and declarations.
Chapter III of this law speaks also of treatment and consent. It is recognized here that there will be
appointed a legal representative to those people who are severely affected by mental disorders thus
incapacitating them to give their consent to the treatment provided by this law.

Chapter IV provides for Mental Health Services that are responsible for the treatment of the service
users from national level down to the barangay level. Mental Health Services will be performed by
mental health workers who will also be given rights as they will be the frontliners of this “pandemic”
through the Medical Health Facilities that will be provided. Also, to aid the frontliners, this law aims to
raise public awareness on the protection and promotion of mental health and rights, so as to not have
the front liners overload with the arising battle against mental health disorders. Chapter VI is a
supplementary of Chapter V, for which the former provides for the continual capacity building, research
and development of mental health disorder treatment while the latter causes the studies to be made
known to the private sectors of the Philippines.

The Philippine Council for Mental Health was provided by Chapter VIII that was established to be the
policy making planning, coordinating and advisory body attached to the DOH to oversee the
implementations of this act. The composition of this council was provided by Chapter VII which provides
for the duties and responsibilities of government agencies such as DOH, DepEd, DOLE, DILG, CHR, and
CHED, all equally contributing to the fulfillment and implementation of the said law. Chapter IX defines
the implementation of those drug dependents who develop mental health disorders- these are the
people severely affected by drugs that they become mentally incapable of their functions.

To summarize, this law has a unique attack on the problem it seeks to resolve. The underlying problem
of mental health issues has long been among us and is considered to be a global deadly silent pandemic.
The best chapter for this law has to be Chapter V, since this aims to develop and make aware the minds
of the young Filipinos of the pandemic on hand, while it also aims to make the work sector a partner of
the State in enabling affordable and timely access to professional help, if the need arises. When you
come to think of it, there are approximately 4.5 million Filipinos engaged in the work sector who could
be suffering from depression or any mental health issues that you could find working in their offices
between 6 to 12 hours, almost every day. Depression, similarly, is like an untreated physical symptom
that can lead to death if the condition remains untreated. Depression and other mental health issues are
not something to be chased away by words of “thinking positive everyday”, it should be recognized with
great gravity as to avoid dangers to the rights of Filipinos such as their right to enjoy life, to love and be
loved, to be treated with dignity as a human, to be free from discrimination, and to be a fully functional
subordinate of the society. Finally, help is on the way.

2.

Mental Health Policy, Mental Health Plan, and Legislation

The first mental health policy instituted by the Department of Health was DOH Administrative Order No.
8 series

of 2001. This was followed in 2016 by DOH Administrative Order No. 2016-0039 Revised Operational
Framework

for a Comprehensive National Mental Health Program.12 The Philippines has moved forward with a
progressive,

widely praised legislation to support the development of a strong mental health system in the country
with the

enactment of the Mental Health Act or Republic Act No. 11036, a national legislation approved by the
President

on June 20, 2018. Its Implementing Rules and Regulations was issued on January 22, 2019.

This legislation mandates that mental health is a basic right of all Filipinos and is a fundamental right of
people

who require mental health services. Mental health services shall be free from coercion and accountable
to the

service users; and persons affected by mental health conditions are able to exercise the full range of
human
rights, and participate fully in society and at work, free from stigmatization and discrimination.

Key Components of the Policy and Plan

Primary Health Care Integration

The law aims to integrate mental health care in the basic health services,

including integration of strategies promoting mental health in educational

institutions, workplace, and in communities. It mandates the development of

responsive primary mental health services, integrated as part of the basic

health services at the appropriate level of care, particularly at the city,

municipal, and barangay or village levels. It mandates the establishment of

community-based mental health care facilities. WHO mhGAP training has been

planned for all of the administrative regions of the country.

Decentralization

The Philippines’ health care system has evolved since the enactment of

Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991. The code

institutes—through a system of decentralization—more power, and a transfer

of authority, responsibilities and resource management capacities, to the local

government units (LGUs). The LGUs include the province headed by the
governor, the city/municipality headed by the mayor, and the barangay (village)

headed by the captain. The national government supports the LGUs through

funding and technical assistance. Although the Department of Interior and

Local Government (DILG), a national government agency, has some authority on the local governments
(i.e.,

provincial, city/municipal, and barangay governments), the LGUs enjoy relative autonomy from the
national

government. In this regard, they are able to implement programs in the peripheral levels of the
government

system.

13

Integration into General Hospitals

Republic Act No. 11036 requires all regional, provincial, and tertiary hospitals, including private hospitals

rendering service to paying service users to provide psychiatric, psychosocial, and neurologic services.

Implementation Status14

The Mental Health Act’s implementation is supported by the National Mental Health Strategic
Framework. Since

its enactment in 2018, many areas of the policy are still on the first phase of implementation. The
strengthening

of the National Mental Health Program through DOH-AO 39 s.2016 expanded the implementation of
mhGAP,
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) (disaster preparedness) and MAP-MH, which are core
mental

health programs at the community level.

Prevalence and Treatment Coverage of Priority Mental Disorders

GBD 2017 estimates a population prevalence of 0.2% for schizophrenia, 0.5% for bipolar disorder, 1.1%
for

major depressive disorder (MDD), 0.4% for epilepsy, 0.9% for alcohol use disorders, and 0.7% for drug
use

disorders. The prevalence of alcohol use disorders is lower in the Philippines (0.9%) than globally (1.5%).
The

prevalence of MDD is lower in the Philippines (1.1%) than globally (2.2%). The Philippines has a much
lower

estimated suicide rate, at 5.4 deaths per 100,000 overall, compared to the South-East Asia regional
average of

12.5 deaths per 100,000 population and the global average of10.4 deaths per 100,000 population.

3.

4.What are the objectives of Mhpss training?

Providing mental health and psychosocial support is one of the ways to help people who are in
unfortunate situations. MHPSS aims to promote the importance of mental health and psychosocial
support. Moreover, it seeks to prevent mental health issues such as mood, anxiety, eating, personality,
and psychotic disorders.Dec 15, 2021
Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) includes any support that people receive to protect or
promote their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. One major component of MHPSS is treatment
and prevention of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD).

What is mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS)?

Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) includes any support that people receive to protect or
promote their mental health and psychosocial wellbeing.

One major component of MHPSS is treatment and prevention of psychiatric disorders such as
depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

MHPSS and wellbeing

However, there is far more to MHPSS than that. It also includes support for people’s general
psychosocial wellbeing. Helping people connect with other family and community members, or helping
them deal more effectively with personal challenges or practical problems, can have great benefits in
reducing their distress and suffering.

Forms of MHPSS

MHPSS may come from within or outside people’s communities. It may be provided by professional
specialists or others. It can take many forms, depending on people’s needs and on what services are
available.

5 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 8

DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO LOOK INTO THE REPORTED
DECLARATION OF A BANGSAMORO REPUBLIC IN THE AUTONOMOUS REGION OF MUSLIM MINDANAO
The Secretary of Interior and Local Government (SILG) is hereby directed to look into and investigate the
reported declaration of a Bangsamoro Republic in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

The SILG is hereby authorized to call upon the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process or
such other government agency for any assistance he may need in the conduct of his investigation.

Within thirty (30) days from the issuance of this Order, the SILG shall submit to the Office of the
President, through the Office of the Executive Secretary, an initial report of his findings.

City of Manila, May 8, 2001.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

President of the Philippines

By the President: