REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

pre 3904

House Bill No.

Introduced by REP. DOY C. LEACHON

EXPLANATORY NOTE
The most significant aspirational clauses of the 1987 Constitution focus on

Education, Health and the Environment. Art. II, Sections 13, 15 and 17 of the 1987
Constitution provide for a Right to Health, a right that pundits point out, is textually
enshrined uniquely in only three or four Constitutions all over the world. However, the
right, as enshrined in our fundamental law, can only be made practicable if health
requirements are adequately fulfilled in accordance with accepted international
standards. Health education is an important felt concern because it makes citizens
aware of their personal responsibilities in the maintenance of their own personal health
and in minimizing health hazards, communicable diseases, and in promoting healthy

families, communities and lifestyles.

Individuals must take a grasp of their responsibilities in maintaining health, and
the only way by which they can be made aware of their own individual responsibilities —
the path to health empowerment — is by promoting health education at all levels.
Empowering a health conscious citizenry can only be achieved by promoting health

consciousness, health education and responsible health and lifestyle practices through


an educational curriculum that embeds health consciousness from the very beginning. A
comprehensive health education thrust that addresses the students’ physical, mental,
emotional health needs, plays a large role in preventing ordinary diseases and in arming
citizens with the right educational skills and training to take a proactive role in
maintaining their health and their families. Recently, the private medical sector,
through health organizations like the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP), has
partnered with the Department of Education and other public stakeholders in the
promotion of health education. Through the PCP’s initiative, the Health Education and
Reform Order (HERO) was launched. PCP has been at the forefront of the vigorous
advocacy of health education marshaling its members in sponsoring and adopting
primary and secondary schools in a concerted effort to raise and maintain health
consciousness and responsibility and in addressing the problems of lack of school
clinics, absence of baseline medical check-ups of students, lack of school dental
treatment, inadequate vaccinations and the absence of student medical records. HERO
boldly addresses the 1987 Constitution's command that the State must promote health

consciousness.

This bill takes off where HERO began as a private initiative spearheaded by the
Philippine College of Physicians. It integrates the Constitution’s aspirations for
education and health and intersects these aspirations with other related constitutional
initiatives such as the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. By mandating the
Department of Education and Department of Health to embed health consciousness by

curricular integration from K1-K12, the Bill provides a necessary tool for inculcating


health responsibility and consciousness - towards achieving the goal of a healthy
citizenry. The Bill provides a necessary first step in aligning the country with the best

internationally recognized health practices and attaining sufficiency in the area.

Hence, the immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought for.

PAULING SA waft “DOY”
sition


REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

f 3901

House Bill No.

Introduced by REP. DOY C. LEACHON

AN ACT CREATING A BUREAU OF HEALTH EDUCATION AND
APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREOF, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

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 “Healthy Lifestyle Bill

of 2014.”

Section 2. Declaration of Policy An integrated and comprehensive
health education program is integral to the policy of the State to promote the
right to health of the people and instill health consciousness among them. In
furtherance of this policy, a health program of learning experiences and
pedagogic lessons and exercises in preschool, kindergarten, and grades one (K1)
through twelve (K12) shall be established jointly by the Department of Education
and the Department of Health in the areas of preventive medicine,
communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases, environmental health,
mental health, nutrition, accident prevention, among other areas of discipline
identified by a Board of Health Education established for the purpose of keeping

in mind the articulation (to join together, to unify) of Education, Health and


Environmental concerns in the promotion and development of health

consciousness among citizens.

Section 3. Scope and Coverage. The Health Education Reform Order
(HERO) health curriculum shall be comprehensive and integrated to ensure that
in an individual's formative years, the didactic elements necessary for creating
the foundation for the understanding of integrated health consciousness
initiatives are completely understood. It shall cover the primary and secondary

levels and be integrated into the tertiary level curricula.

The same may be incorporated in the school community through the mandatory use of
Books which will be considered as one of the Books prescribed under MAPEH (Music,
Arts, Physical Education and Health) or in a similar subject as the case may be. Further,
in the school community, school canteens should be encouraged to offer healthy menus
or food plates. Coverage shall cover the following areas:

1. Mental and Emotional Health - The K1-12 curriculum shall enable and
empower students to develop the use of mental and emotional health
knowledge, skills, and strategies to enhance not only their personalities,

self-worth, personal independence but also their relationships with others.

2. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs — The curriculum shall enable
students to demonstrate the ability to use drug information, decision-making
skills, and health enhancing strategies to address the short-term and long-
term effects of non-use, use, and abuse of medications, alcohol, tobacco,

and other drugs. They shall be made aware of the concepts and


consequences of drug use and abuse, the spectra of prohibited and regulated
drugs and be introduced to legal and administrative regulatory controls

affecting drugs, alcohol and tobacco use.

3. Personal and Consumer Health — The curriculum shall foster the ability
to use knowledge, skills, and strategies to develop sound personal and
consumer health practices involving the use of health care products, services,

existing regulatory controls and community resources.

4, Personal Status, Family Life and Sex Education — The curriculum for
sex education, sexuality, personal and family life shall integrate the purposes
and provisions of Republic Act 10354 otherwise known as the Responsible
Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 by developing age
appropriate sexuality and sexual health education using “life skills" and other
approaches. In addition, students will demonstrate the ability to use human
development knowledge, social skills, and health enhancing strategies to
promote positive relationships and healthy growth and development

throughout the life cycle.

5. Safety and Injury Prevention — The curriculum shall enable students
to demonstrate the ability to understand disease pathogenesis, preventive
medicine and apply prevention and intervention knowledge, skills, and
processes to promote healthy and safe living in the home, school, and

community.


6. Nutrition and Fitness - The curriculum shall develop the ability to use
nutrition and fitness knowledge, skills, and strategies to promote healthy

lifestyles.

7. Disease Prevention and Control — The curriculum will foster and
develop the ability to apply prevention and treatment knowledge, skills, and

strategies to reduce susceptibility and manage disease.

8. Health in the Workplace — The curriculum shall prepare and enable
the student to understand the basic issues surrounding health in the
workplace, the rights accorded them by the Constitution and our labor laws
not only for the purpose of fostering health consciousness in the labor force
but health consciousness and awareness of the rights of workers on one
hand, or the entrepreneurs and business leaders of the future, on the other.
To empower them, the curriculum must develop among students a broad
understanding of mandatory labor standards for health and environmental
workplace health under the country’s Labor Code or PD 442, as amended
and its implementing rules and regulations affecting health in the workplace,
and the country’s health commitments under its various international
commitments with the International Labor Organization and other
International Labor covenants of which the Republic of the Philippines is a

signatory.


9. Health Economics and Health Insurance. — The growth of the
Philippine Health Insurance Corporation was hastened by a similar health
initiative, expanding the MEDICARE system. Since then, private health
insurance has likewise grown by leaps and bounds, complementing
Philhealth’s coverage. In a country where both the providers and the insured
must understand the concept of allocation of scarce resources, students for
themselves or as future parents and recipients of healthcare must
understand the concept and need for properly managed health care by
understanding the principles and policies that govern the same so as to help
prevent loss of scarce health resources. At the end of the courses, the
students must be able to understand that taking health insurance coverage
empower themselves and provide guarantee for themselves and their
families of a healthy future by taking responsible roles in reducing costly

health care and avoiding precarious economic health risks.
Section 4. Definition of Terms

1) "Universal health education" means health education embedded in the basic
school curriculum from K1-K12 intended to foster a culture that seeks to maintain,
reinforce, or enhance a citizen’s health, health-related skills, and health attitudes
and practices from childhood, conducive to their overall health. It involves the
earliest years of primary education in promoting the fulfillment of the “Right to
Health” through wellness, health maintenance, and disease awareness and

prevention. It includes age-appropriate, sequential instruction in health, integrated


into existing curricular courses or as a separate subject.

(2) "Reproductive health education" means instruction in human physiology,
conception, prenatal care and development, childbirth, and postnatal care, but
does not include instruction concerning sexual practices outside marriage or
practices unrelated to reproduction except within the context of the risk of disease.
Abstinence and the risks associated with sexual activity outside of marriage must

be strongly emphasized
(3) "Family life education" means instruction intended to:

(a) develop an understanding of the physical, mental, emotional, social, economic,
and psychological aspects of close personal relationships and an understanding of

the physiological, psychological, and cultural foundations of human development;

(b) provide instruction that will support the development of responsible personal
values and behavior and aid in establishing a strong family life for themselves in

the future and emphasize the responsibilities of family and marriage.

(c) provide instruction as to the laws of this country relating to the sexual conduct

of minors, including criminal sexual conduct.
(4) "Pregnancy prevention education” means instruction intended to:

(a) emphasize the importance of abstaining from sexual activity until the

attainment of biological, sexual, psychological and emotional maturity;

(b) help students develop skills to enable them to resist peer pressure and


abstain from sexual activity during their developing years;

(c) explain methods of natural and artificial contraception consistent with the
country’s laws and the risks and benefits of each and every method. Instruction
explaining the methods of natural and artificial contraception must be age-
specific and age-appropriate and included in any education program in
accordance with the Reproductive Health Law (RH Law). Contraceptive
information must be given in the context of responsible parenthood and the

nurturing of the country’s responsible parents of the future.

(5) "Local board" means the lowest-level board of Philippine public school
districts as well as those of other government-supported institutions, which
provide educational services to students at the elementary and secondary school
level. For purposes of this chapter, programs or services provided by the
Department of Education in educational settings must be developed and

approved in coordination with the existing hierarchy of DECS.

(6) "DEPED" means the Department of Education.

(7) "CHED", means the Commission on Higher Education.

(8) “Labor”, means the Department of Labor

(9) “Board of Health Education”, means the Health Education Board

(10) “DOH”, means the Department of Health


Section 5. The Health Education Standards and Goals.- In addition
to the Scope and Coverage of Health Education found under Section 3 hereof,
the following standards shall govern any implementation of all programs under
this Act for the purpose of helping students adopt and maintain health
consciousness and health lifestyles. Thus, health education must empower
every student through his or her knowledge of successfully practice behaviors
‘that protect and promote health, minimize or avoid health hazards and risks, and
promote a healthy and sustainable environment through the following minimum

standards:

1, At the conclusion of the K1-K12 curriculum, students should be able to

understand basic concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention.

2. Early in the curriculum, students must be able to grasp and understand the
influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology and other factors affecting

health and health behaviors.

3. The curriculum shall empower students and ensure their ability to access valid
information and products and services to enhance health and the necessary role
of the Food and Drug Administration and other government regulatory agencies

in ensuring safety and quality of health products and services.

4. The subjects under the curricula developed under this Act must enable the
student to demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to

enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.


5. Develop decision-making skills to enhance health.
6. Develop goal-setting skills to enhance health.

7. Develop the ability to practice health-enhancing behaviors and avoid or

reduce risks.

8. Develop leaders in health education by fostering skills in the advocacy of

health for personal, family and community health.

Section 6. The Bureau of Health Education.- There shall be
established, a Bureau of Health Education created under the Department of
Education. The Health Education Bureau shall be the principal arm of the
Department of Education tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the goals
and purposes of this Act. It shall ensure that all of the functions of the Board
are carried out with fealty to the provisions of this Act. The bureau shall primarily
be responsible for and shall be the Center for Excellence of the Republic of the
Philippines in the area of health education, health education reform, health
information, the training and education of an informed labor force in the areas of
workplace and workplace environmental health with the ultimate goal of

improving the quality of life in the country through health awareness.

Section 7. Personnel Composition and Plantilla. - The personnel
composition of the bureau shall follow customary personnel composition of

bureaus under the Department of Education.


The Board shall submit to the Department of Budget and Management, the
Bureau's personnel requirements for the DBM’s approval. No funds specifically
earmarked for this act may be transferred, realigned or utilized for any other

purpose other than for this Act or for the purposes of this Act.
Section 8, The Board of Health Education

The Board of Health Education shall be the policy making arm of the Bureau
which shall develop the HERO curriculum. The Board shall be composed of the

following:

1, The Under Secretary of Education for Planning and Projects who shall be the

Chairperson of the Board who shall be called Director.

2. The Assistant Secretary for Health Support Delivey Technical Cluster II as

Vice-Chairperson.

3, The Assistant Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry for Industry
Development and Trade Policy Group.

4. The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Labor Standards and Social Protection
Cluster or his designated representative.

5. Two representatives, one each from the Philippine Medical Association (PMA)

and the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP).

Section 9. Appointment and Tenure. — Except for ex- officio members,

the other members of the Board herein established shall be appointed by the


Secretary of Education upon the recommendation of the Chairperson and after
due consultations with the private sector. The term of office of the ex- officio
members of the Board shall be coterminous with the government positions/
private sectors they respectively hold. The term of office of members of the

Board from the private sector shall be for a period of three (3) years.

Section 10, Functions of the Board of Health Education under Section
8. - The Board shall serve as the highest policy making body of the Departments
of Education and Health in the area of Health Education, It shall carry out the

following functions:

1. Establish general policies and guidelines for health education covering the
areas enumerated under Section 3 hereof;

2. Recommend, to the President of the Republic, through the Secretaries of
Education and Health acting jointly, specific health education recommendations
and initiatives affecting health, education, the environment and health
technology;

3. Establish a system of practical, hands-on, health education integrating the
knowledge disseminated through the health education curriculum contained in a
Healthy Lifestyle Handbook duly approved by the Department at the appropriate
levels of the K1-K12 system adopted by the DepEd;

4. Ensure that no child under the Philippine educational system shall enter the

school system without a proper determination of the child’s current health,


emotional and psychological status through appropriate screening tests and
health examinations. The initial and continuing assessment of the child’s health
status through the K1-K12 years shall be the primary responsibility of the
government's departments and agencies affecting health, education and
environment and may be coordinated with, or carried out through, or with the
assistance of, the private sector through major health organizations such as the
Philippine Medical Association and its Chapters.

5.Ensure continuing care and monitoring of the health status of all students
under the system through school clinics with the goal of establishing a complete
school clinic system by 2016. Towards this goal, every school under the
Department of Education with a population of at least three hundred (300)

students must have a school clinic by 2016.

6. Supervise the Bureau of Health Education under the Department of Education
and recommend to the President of the Republic, the head of the bureau, its
division heads and other major officers and personnel.

7. Determine the qualifications of the head of the Bureau of Health Education
and its officers and staff and establish reasonable qualification standards
therefor;

8. Ensure that the provisions of the RH Law affecting sex education are carried
out by all institutions under the supervisory jurisdiction and control of the
Department of Health.

9. Support the Sin Tax Law, otherwise known as R.A. No. 10351 “An Act


Restructuring the Excise Tax on Alcohol and Tobacco Products” and other
laws affecting banned, hazardous and prohibited substances by integrating
appropriate education modules in the curricula for K1- K12.

10.Ensure knowledge and awareness of environmental health laws, regulations

and issuances.

Section. 11. Health Education and Reform Policy Research. - Among the
staff departments that will be established by the Board as an integral part of the
Bureau shall be the Health Education and Reform Policy Research Department,

which shall have the following duties and functions:

(a) undertake research in the area of “best practices” in health education and

reform;

(b) recommend specific areas for curriculum development and curriculum

implementation;

(c) submit for consideration, programs that ensure practical application of key
topics in health education identified or recommended by various stake holders

or under the provisions of this Act;

(d) submit recommendations on policy and operational issues that will help the

Bureau of Health Education completely meet the objectives of this Act; and

(e) conduct surveys and research in order to assess teaching and curricular goals,


Section. 12. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within sixty (60) days
from the effectivity of this Act, the DepEd, in coordination with the DOH, shall
issue the necessary rules and regulations for its effective implementation through
@ committee of designated representatives from each of the sectors represented
in the Board. At its first organizational meeting, the Committee tasked to
formulate the IRR of this Act shall determine the precise nature and composition
of its subcommittees to enable it to come up with an IRR within the sixty day

period,

Section 13. Appropriations. - - Such sums as may be necessary for the
implementation of this Act shall be taken from the Sin Tax. Thereafter, such amount

shall be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

Section. 14 . Separability Clause. — If any part or provision of this Act shall
be held unconstitutional or invalid, other provisions which are not affected thereby

shall continue to be in full force and effect.

Section 15. Repealing Clause. — All laws, issuances or parts thereof

inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 16. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
Publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general

circulation.

Approved,