EDITORIAL - 2,000 suicides in 6 months

The Philippine Mental Health Act, Republic Act 11036, was signed way back in June 2018. Among other things, RA 11036 provides that hotlines operating 24/7 must be set up nationwide to assist people with mental health problems, particularly those at risk of committing suicide.

Apart from these government-run hotlines, private groups have been operating free hotlines for many years now, to provide counseling to people contemplating suicide or suffering from other mental health problems.

Yet in the first six months of this year, the Philippine National Police recorded nearly 2,000 cases of death by suicide. PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III said many of the fatalities were victims of both physical and online bullying. At one point when he was the police chief of Quezon City, he said 15 people committed suicide within just one month, or an average of one every two days.

The first two times that the country participated in the Program for International Student Assessment, the results showed that Filipino 15-year-old students suffered the worst bullying among their peers who took the PISA.

This earned the country the dubious distinction of being the “bullying capital of the world.”

RA 11036 specifically protects those suffering from mental health issues from discrimination, torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. Such people are entitled to psychosocial and clinical assessments as well as aftercare and rehabilitation, with their evidence-based informed consent needed in case they are committed to a rehab program. They have a right to counsel and confidentiality.

The most critical intervention, however, is often needed long before a person decides that he or she needs to undergo mental rehabilitation. This is true especially in schools, where there is an acute shortage of mental health professionals including trained guidance counselors.

The country itself lacks psychologists and psychiatrists. And despite the passage of RA 11036, mental health services remain underfunded and facilities for intervention are inadequate.

While these issues are being addressed, more effort is also needed to stop bullying in schools, especially online. Perpetrators must be caught and punished and bullying prevented. Reporting mechanisms must be in place to protect victims or witnesses from retaliation by the bullies.

It’s time to fully implement the law, with sufficient support to prevent further suicides.