Mental health programs: Is it lip service or a plan?

By Aretha Mae Capistrano

mental issues, but how others can help remains vague.

We expect swift actions from government agencies, but the public still cries due to heightened cases. The issues commonly amok in ordinary citizens, employees working on a daily basis, and students suffering mentally aside academic performance, leading to depression and worse conditions.

In 2018, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Philippine Mental Health Law or Republic Act 11036. The law secures the rights and welfare of each individual in terms of mental health, down to improving facilities and services, and pursuing promotion of mental health education to various organizations and type is different. On top of this, inclusivity continues to be explored by rising make up and skincare enthusiasts for deeper skin tones and those with companies aside academic institutions. We finally affirm better access to mental health facilities without scorn or condemnation towards mental illness, with local government units (LGUs) establishing their separate program.

Furthermore, the DOH’s plan spanning to 2019 till 2023 maps out mental hospitals, outpatient and inpatient facilities attached to general hospitals, and children’s centers,whichmeansaccessible council and medicines. Thus, the public lauds the start of improving mental health care in the country.

By the succeeding year, the law is still praised as the first legal framework for comprehensive psychological care. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and volunteers varying skin sensitivity. While promising brands have shown that they have what’s best for certain skin types over the years, the industry still has a long way to go alike promote public and private facilities to those in need. However, in the next three years, a pandemic struck, enclosing us to limited space and lesser social interactions. Depression, isolation, and suicidal ideation pass through their minds.

Under the newly elected officials in June 2022, a DOH secretary was yet to be appointed. As such, a study published in the National Library of Medicine highlights further—the Philippines was deemed with prohibitive economic conditions preventing equitable access care, proper budget allocation, and recognition of home or barangay level concerns to be addressed.

Ironically, out of the DOH’s ₱301B allocation in elevating the majority towards that level. As we turn to see our real skin in this way, we can look forward to viewing this physical aspect of ourselves in from the 2023 budget, only ₱2.1M is to be provided for mental health programs. The foregoing praise changed into a spiral of doubts. Moreover, a briefing earlier this year cemented the suspicions surrounding the cause as house committees and legislators found that notable government divisions, such as Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Department of Education (DepEd), do not have concrete plans to alleviate the problem. It is worth noting that a series of student suicides has been relentless for the past ten months. DepEd recorded over 2,147 attempts in the preceding school year, equating to more than 200 attempts per month.

Yes, the Mental Health Law was created. However, when programs are not a much healthier state.

We can always work on its progress not as a race to solely get rid of something based on what the world looks like on screen but as a form of adequately funded and disregard higher costs of medicines and consultations, especially to a lower middleincome economy, then it is only an outdated plan. A single consultation and hospitalization do not result in healing immediately. They live on a daily basis with these conditions, fending themselves. Progress of planning an actual program does not indicate such a slow process, especially when the citizens suffer, and agencies continue to talk about initiatives but show no actual movement outside conferences. Based on such progress under unexpected turbulence, did the government really succeed in its laid plans? We are still far from providing quality mental health care in the country. self-care and love for oneself. It then ends with something that is much more rewarding— radiating what makes us who we really are.

“Pay with Sibuyas” apparently became a thing for a day—with a local branch of Japan Home Center launching the campaign last February 4, buyers were purchasing select in-store items for one onion bulb.

A Filipina bride also walked down the aisle with the vegetable—instead of the traditional welcoming flowers, onions became the decorative element in their wedding.

Onions in Manila markets cost as high as ₱600 last December 2022, costing more than the daily minimum wage in in Metro Manila worth ₱570, encouraging consumers to utilize the pungent yet tasty bulb in unusual ways.

With the price hike of what was once an affordable ingredient, Filipinos cannot help but treat this common household vegetable as edible gold. Therefore, what caused the kitchen staple in the country to be sold at such a high cost?

A shortfall on supplies. As early as last August 2022, agriculture officials warned the government that the supply of onions in the country would be insufficient to meet the demand for the vegetable as the projection for the consumption of it was to rise during the holidays. As a result, this forced the price of the commodity to be higher.

“This happens year in and year out because we harvest only once a year (between February and April), so stocks have to be kept in cold storage to maintain supply until the next harvest. Normally, local production is from 10% to 20% short of local demand, so stocks have to be augmented by imports,” Raul Montemayor, the National Manager of the Federation of

Free Farmers Cooperatives Incorporated, told Rappler.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., also the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (DA), then allowed the importation of onions last January. Montemayor then claimed that they should have executed it months before as the imported ones would clash with the harvest season of the local onion farmers.

“This will further depress prices for farmers, allow traders to take advantage and buy low from farmers, and give them the opportunity to hit the jackpot again during the offseason later this year when prices go up,” the national manager claimed.

Just this February, Philstar reported that the DA found out, through their local monitoring, that locallysourced red onions are sold in wet markets per kilogram for above the suggested retail price of ₱250 to ease the upsurge—still comparably high from the global average price of $1.54 or around ₱84.47 for the commodity.

An impact of illegal trade. Hidden together with the delicious smell of bread and pastries were ₱20M-worth of smuggled onions that were confiscated in the Philippines last 2022, per The Guardian. A few days later, shipment boxes supposedly containing household items were full of the mentioned ingredient.

Due to the skyrocketing price of onions, a staggering ₱500M to ₱600M seized illegal stashes of the commodity took place last year.

With the frequent smuggling of the kitchen staple, the DA suspects that a syndicate is hoarding red onions to be sold at a high cost, giving them a hunch that illegal trading is one of the causes behind the gold-like price of onions.

Factors beyond control.

National Statistician Dennis

Mapa stated in a press conference for the Philippine 2022 inflation report that the country reached a 14-yearhigh last December—an 8.1% upsurge of commodity costs, and onion making up 0.3% of the percentage.

Supply of locally grown onions became more deficit with farms dealing damages from super typhoon Karding, typhoon Neneng, and severe tropical storm Paeng.

“Onions are usually planted during dry months (starting November to January), but some farmers gamble by planting as early as September. But these were affected by a series of typhoons, so it is very possible that stocks reached a very low level in November,” Montemayor highlighted. What to expect. Authorities launched probes into the smuggling and cartels of onions in the country as lawmakers filed resolutions to address the illegal trading acts. Moreover, the Office of the Ombudsman claimed that they would investigate the DA officials regarding the high cost of red and white onions in the market.

Historically, the Ancient Egyptians viewed onions as a symbol of eternity and an object of worship due to their belief that the circlewithin-circle pattern of the vegetable reflected eternal life.

Ironically, the present time proved that onions are still a significant figure in our lives—but sadly as a symbol of inflation and pressing social issues in the Philippines.