CREATION OF MENTAL HEALTH OFFICE IN SCHOOLS PUSHED BY SENATORS ESTRADA AND GATCHALIAN
Senator Jinggoy Estrada has filed a bill seeking to require state universities and colleges (SUCs) to establish mental health offices (MHOs) in their campuses, as reported today by CNN Philippines.
Senate Bill 1508 provides that “all SUCs shall be required to have MHOs in all their campuses, set up campus hotlines with dedicated and trained guidance counselors to provide assistance to students, teaching and non-teaching staff.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said the panel is set to endorse the Department of Education’s (DepEd) request to increase the salary of guidance counselors, said the CNN report.
Gatchalian’s Senate Bill No. 379, or the proposed Basic Education Mental Health and Well-Being Promotion Act filed in 2022, aims to increase the pay of the following: Guidance Counselor I from SG 11 (₱25,439) to SG 16 (₱38,150); Guidance Counselor II from SG 12 (₱27,608) to SG 17 (₱41,508); and Guidance Counselor III from SG 13 (₱29,798) to SG 18 (₱45,203).
The report further said that the House of Representatives has approved House Bill 6574 that also seeks to create MHOs in school divisions nationwide.
