THREE full years after the drafting and subsequent passing of the Baguio City mental health program from the city council and its proponents, the local government continues to push for additional systems and actions to address the continued struggle for mental wellbeing in its borders.
Only last month, the local government took the proposal of Senior Citizens Officials For-A-Day (SCOFAD) Councilor Elma B. Buaguen to push for the establishment of a mental health program for government workplaces, as well as the proposal of SCOFAD Councilor Jocelyn Paac that would do similar things at the barangay level with monthly mental-health seminars.
The latest move to come in this push is Resolution No. 689, series of 2023, where city legislators seek the promotion of mental health education and awareness, establish local community-based support networks, and connect small communities at every level to larger mental health systems in the city.
Said resolution would see a system always in place in every barangay in the downtime between the proposed monthly mental health seminars and consultations.
This resolution also comes from a temporary legislator, having been adopted from the Scout Official for a Day (SOFAD) session held on October 23, 2023 where SOFAD Councilor Fritzie Nichole Mallari proposed the start of mental health initiatives towards building resilient communities at the grassroots in support of the barangay-level initiative in the hope that implementing both will minimize the portion of the population without access to mental healthcare.
Mental health continues to be a cause for concern for Baguio’s populace, with a small but consistent and noticeable uptick in suicide noted as far back as 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong ordered the City Health Services Office (CHSO) to head a newly-made mental health task force in cooperation with the Baguio City Mental Health Council (BCMHC), which is the body creating policies for the mental health situation in the city.
This was prompted by the knowledge that suicide incidence continues to stay on an upward trend years after the city first passed its own local legislature to address it.
Here are the helplines to call in case of emergency: CHSO – 0919 069 6361; Mental Health and Wellness Unit – (074 ) 661 7910; Baguio General Hospital & Medical Center Psychiatric Department – 0919 207 0736; Benguet General Hospital & Medical Center Psychiatric Department – 0917 899 8727, 0966 351 4518, 0908 639 2672; National Center for Mental Health – 0995 093 2679, 0918 402 9832; Philippine Mental Health Association Cordillera Chapter Inc.- 0917 517 2083 and (074)442 2337.
