FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 
503 
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INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The promotion of mental health among the youth, especially among the 
school children, is often neglected because of the focus given to the academic or 
curricular development in aiming to upgrade and improve the quality of education 
in our country. The government and its partners in the academe, however, fails 
to realize that the intellectual development of a child can only prosper if he is 
given the adequate mental health services. 
Despite the immense need for counseling professionals, we have a very 
limited number of school-based counselors, psychologists and social workers 
who are serving in our educational institutions. 
This bill seeks to recruit, hire, and train additional school-based guidance 
counselors, psychologists, school social workers and mental health personnel. 
This will enable the students to avail of services that will attend to their mental, 
emotional and developmental needs. Hence, we can expect a holistic approach 
to the development and learning of our students. 
The immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought. 
Senator 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
503 
Se nate Bill N 0._-=-",-",-
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INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
AN ACT 
TO RECRUIT, HIRE, AND TRAIN ADDITIONAL SCHOOL-BASED GUIDANCE 
COUNSELORS, PSYCHOLOGISTS, SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS AND 
MENTAL HEALTH PERSONNEL 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Students' 
Guidance Counseling Acf'. 
SEC. 2. Purposes. - The purposes of this Act are to: 
(1) help elementary and secondary institutions to recruit, train, and hire 
additional school-based mental health personnel, counselors, social 
workers, and school psychologists; 
(2) help adequately address the mental, emotional, and developmental needs 
of elementary and secondary school students; 
(3) remove the emotional, behavioral, and psycho-social barriers to learning 
so as to enhance the classroom preparedness and ability to learn of 
students; 
(4) support school staff and teachers in improving classroom management, 
conducting behavioral interventions to improve school discipline, and 
developing the awareness and skills to identify early warning signs of 
violence and the need for mental health services; and, 
(5) support parents in improving the school behavior and academic success 
of their children. 
SEC. 3. Definitions. - For purposes of this Act -
(1) "Mental Health and Student Service Provider" includes a qualified school 
counselor, school psychologist, or school social worker. 
(2) 
"Mental Health and Student Services" includes direct, individual, and 
group services provided to students, parents, and school personnel by 


mental health and student service providers, or the coordination of 
~revention strategies in schools or community-based programs. 
(3)' "School Counselor" refers to an individual who has documented 
competence in counseling children and adolescents in a school setting 
and who: 
(A) possesses licensure or certification granted by a professional 
regulatory authority; 
(B) in the absence of such licensure or certification, possesses national 
certification in school counseling or a specialty of counseling granted 
by an independent professional organization; or, 
(C) holds a minimum of a master's degree in school counseling. 
(4) "School Psychologist" refers to an individual who possesses a minimum 
of sixty (60) graduate semester hours in school psychology from an 
institution of higher education and has completed one thousand two 
hundred (1,200) clock hours in a supervised school psychology 
internship, of which six hundred (600) hours shall be in the school 
setting; 
(5) "School Social Worker" refers to an individual who holds a master's 
degree in social work. 
SEC. 
4. 
Hiring 
of Additional 
School-based 
Counselors, 
Psychologists and Social Workers. - The Secretary of Education shall, subject 
to existing rules and regulations of the Department of Education, the Civil Service 
Commission and the Department of Budget and Management, provide for hiring 
of additional school based counselors, psychologists and social workers such 
that each public elementary and secondary school will have at least three (3) 
counselors, one (1) psychologist, one (1) social worker, and other mental health 
and students service providers when the need arises. 
SEC. 5. Guidelines. - The Secretary of Education shall, one hundred 
twenty (120) days after the enactment of this Act, issue the necessary guidelines 
in the selection, recruitment and hiring of personnel and the nature and scope of 
the mental health and services to be offered to students. 
SEC. 6. Appropriations. - There shall be appropriated from the National 
Treasury such sums as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act. 
SEC. 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof is held 
invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise 
affected shall remain valid and subsisting. 
SEC. 8. Repealing Clause. - Any law, presidential decree or issuance, 
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation 
contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby modified or 
amended accordingly. 
SEC. 7. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved,