Policy basis and declared intent
- The State is directed to protect and promote the right to health of the people, instill health consciousness, and adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health development that makes essential goods and health and other social services available to all at affordable cost.
- Health is framed to include physical, social, and mental well-being, consistent with the WHO framework used in the order’s rationale.
- Good mental health is defined by the cited framing as a state of well-being where an individual can utilize abilities, work productively and fruitfully, and contribute to the community, not merely the absence of mental disorder.
- Mental health coverage in the order’s rationale extends beyond mental disorders and substance abuse to issues arising from medical illnesses, psychosocial issues of daily living, high-risk groups (including victims of disasters, children, women and the elderly), family disruptions due to overseas employment and internal migration, and changing lifestyles from rapid urbanization and globalization.
- The order recognizes the need to improve public awareness of mental health as an integral component of total health care and to ensure mental health inclusion in the Government’s health care program package.
Creation and nature of the Council
- The Philippine Council for Mental Health (PCMH) is created as the policy-making and advisory body on all government programs on mental health.
- The PCMH is expressly designated to serve as the national coordinating body for policy and advice on mental health programs across government.
- The Council is referred to as the “Council.”
Composition and membership
- The Council is chaired by the Secretary of Health.
- The Council is composed of the following members:
- the Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development;
- the Secretary, Department of Education, Culture and Sports;
- the Secretary, Department of Justice;
- the Secretary, Department of Labor and Employment;
- the Secretary, Department of Interior and Local Government;
- the Medical Center Chief, National Center for Mental Health;
- the Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, UP-PGH;
- the Chairman, Commission on Higher Education;
- the Director General, Technological Education and Skills Development Authority; and,
- three (3) representatives from non-government organizations concerned with mental health, appointed by the Chairman of the Council.
Council powers and functions
- The Council must formulate policies and guidelines on mental health issues and concerns.
- The Council must develop a comprehensive and integrated national plan on mental health.
- The Council must conduct periodic monitoring, evaluation and research in support of policy formulation and plan development on mental health.
- The Council must promote and facilitate collaboration among sectors and disciplines for the design, development, and implementation of sectoral mental health plans.
- The Council must review all existing laws related to mental health and recommend legislations that sustain and strengthen existing programs, services, and other mental health initiatives.
- The Council must advise the President in the field of mental health.
- The Council must submit an annual report to the President.
Institutional support and funding
- The Council is authorized to call upon any department, bureau, office, or instrumentalities of the government, including GOCCs, to extend all necessary assistance to the Council.
- The DOH must provide the technical, administrative and secretariat support to the Council.
- The Council’s funding must come from the DOH 1998 budget.
- Appropriations for succeeding years must be incorporated in the regular budget of the DOH.
Administrative continuity and transitory provisions
- The Council is constituted immediately and operates through the DOH support mechanism designated in Section 3.
- The Council’s funding is anchored on the DOH 1998 budget, with continuing appropriations handled through DOH’s regular budgeting for succeeding years.