Leslie Dulfo
- The thriving mental health community - July 30, 2026
- The Boundaries We Set - May 14, 2026
- The weight on our shoulders - May 7, 2026
There’s a new law passed called the Basic Mental Health and Well-Being Act or RA 12080 that intends to employ and equip associate counselors in school institutions. It is said that the lack of guidance counselors will in effect be solved one way or the other by the new law passed.
For the mental health community, this is a new initiative and proves hope that our children will find light in the noise and chaos they experience even at an early age. The likes of bullying, trauma and lack of family support encountered by the youth nowadays will be – hopefully, warded off and its harmful effects to society will not be as fatal as in Tacloban, Leyte where people were gunned down by teenagers 14 and 15 years old.
According to the current law, the age of discernment is valued at 15 years old. In criminal law, if a person 15 years of age acts with discernment, he or she shall be punished by the arm of the law. But if done without discernment, he or she shall be exempted subject to disciplinary actions or reprimands on the parents’ way of raising him or her. If less than 15 years of age, he or she will be exempted from criminal liability.
The crime consisting of on or about murder, was basically done in broad daylight and pre-meditated. Subject to further discussions of lowering criminal liability for children, as long as a person is below 18 years old, for all intents and purposes by the law, is considered a minor.
To speak of, mental health is to look at all factors affecting a child who has grown and is continuing to grow with parents who also staggered to grow on their own terms. Violence is learned through the internet and even gore and brainwashing is evident especially for children. Sometimes, a community in some ways herald bravery , toughness and violence in a survival mode where the fittest wins. These onsets and perspectives do trigger mental health woes.
I am in the hope that the initiative of employing 10,000 counselor associates can help schools in the keeping of their students’ sanity. Why? It is because an environment may or may not trigger a threat to one’s own life or other people’s lives.
In Australia, there are certificates for mental health advocates. They realize that even physical therapies for long users of medicines are needed. It is often seen that a community effort can help lessen the stigma arising from mental health and make consulting psychiatrists or shrinks a typical decision to ask for help. More so, having a healthcare system that persists for free for its citizens.
Anent the lack of mental health professionals in the Philippines, we are tasked to be our brothers’ or sisters’ keepers. That being said, it takes a community to help each other especially in recognizing mental health.
