MANILA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the Philippine Mental Health Law, aiming to support Filipinos with mental health needs.
"Help is finally here," Senator Risa Hontiveros, the author and principal sponsor of the bill in the senate, said in a statement on Thursday.
She said the signing of the landmark measure will set the path for the government's policy in integrating mental healthcare in the country's public healthcare system.
"Every day, seven Filipinos turn to suicide. One in five Filipino adults also suffers from a form of mental disorder," Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said the new law "cements the government's commitment to a more holistic approach to healthcare: without sound mental health there can be no genuine physical health."
She added, "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."
The law will also provide mental health services down to the villages, integrate psychiatric, psychosocial, and neurological services in regional, provincial, and tertiary hospitals, improve mental healthcare facilities and promote mental health education in schools and workplaces.