Sen. Joel Villanueva's statement on the passage of Mental Health Bill in HoR

We welcome the passage of the Mental Health Bill on third and final reading in the House of Representatives. This piece of legislation is an important policy that would soon provide a national mental health system and address the concerns of our fellow Filipinos who are in dire need of accessible mental health care.

As one of the authors of the bill's counterpart version, we have inserted a provision in the Philippine Mental Health Bill or Senate Bill No. 1345 that proposes to standardize collection and management of data and promote evidence-based research on youth suicide; and institutionalize the 24/7 national hotline for suicide prevention. The proposed measure was already passed on third and final reading last May of this year.

We are positively hopeful that during the bicameral conference committee hearing, we would be able to reconcile the differences in the House and Senate versions and eventually produce a cohesive and strong policy that will respond to the mental health needs of our fellow kababayans.