Filipinos with mental health issues can now have better access to services that could help better their conditions as President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the Philippine Mental Health Law.
Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, author and principal sponsor of the bill in the Senate lauded this move of the President, saying: “No longer shall Filipinos suffer silently in the dark. The people’s mental health issues will now cease to be seen as an invisible sickness spoken only in whispers. Finally, help is here.”
The measure will secure the rights and welfare of mental health professionals and persons with mental health needs, provide mental health services in hospitals and barangays and improve mental health facilities and integrate mental health education in schools and workplaces.
The signing into law of Republic Act No. 11036, according to Hontiveros “will set the path for the government’s policy in integrating mental health care in the country’s public healthcare system.”
Other authors of the bill are Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senators Loren Legarda, Sonny Trillanes, Bam Aquino, Sonny Angara, and Joel Villanueva.
(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 06/ 21 /18)