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

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. BG L2.

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. Il, 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 tg 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.

DOY C. LEACHON


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

SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 8612 _

Introduced by REP. DOY C. LEACHON

AN ACT ESTABLISHING A BOARD OF HEALTH EDUCATION
AND CREATING THE BUREAU OF HEALTH EDUCATION
UNDER THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, 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 the Comprehensive Health

Education Act of 2013,

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 inteprated into the tertiary level curricula.

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
Gurriculum 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
Intemational 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
sloss 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 conceming 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.

(¢) 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:

(@) 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
accortiance 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
pevtce 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) "DECS" 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 Health Education Board

The Health Education Board shall develop and administer the HERO

curriculum. The Board shall be composed of the following:

1. The Secretary of Education who shall be the Chairperson of the Board

2. The Secretary of Health, as Vice-Chairperson


3. The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry

4. Secretary of Labor or his designated representative

5. A representative from one of the Professional Regulation
Commission's Boards covering the Health Sciences

6. Two representatives, one each from the Philippine Medical Association
(PMA) and the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP).

7. A representative from any of the duly-recognized organizations or

alliances of private schools.

Section 7. Appointment and Tenure. — Except for ex officio members, the
other members of the Boaid shall be appointed by the President of the
Philippines in accordance provisions of Republic Act No. 10149, otherwise
known as the ‘GOCC Governance Act of 2011, although the Board and the
Bureau herein established do not strictly belong to a GOCC: Provided, That
board members appointed from the private sector shall be appointed by the
President of the Philippines upon the acorariieTeiaect of the Chairperson and

after due consultations with the sectors concerned,

The term of office of the appointive members of the Board shall be
coterminous with the government positions they respectively hold. The term of
office of members of the Board from the private sector shall be for a non-

renewable period of three (3) years.

Section 8. Functions of the Health Education Board under Section 6.
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:


. Establish general policies and guidelines for health education covering
the areas enumerated under Section 8 hereof;

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;

Establish a system of practical, hands-on, health education integrating
the knowledge disseminated through the health education curriculum at
the appropriate levels of the Kt-K12 system adopted by the
Department of Education;

. 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
Ensure continuing care and monitoring of the health status of all
students under the system tlirough 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
cattied 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 9. The Bureau of Health Education. There shall be established, a
Bureau of Health Education 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 10. Personnel Composition and Plantilla. The personnel
composition of the bureau shall follow customary personnel composition of
bureaus under the Department of Education with its own separate budgetary
allocation in the “next annual national budget and in the years thereafter.
Following completion of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act,
the Board shall submit a plantilla of all personnel requirements necessary for

carrying out the mandate of this Act.

Immediately thereafter, 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 utllized for any other purpose other than for this Act or for the

purposes of this Act,

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;


() 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, developments and needs.”

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 a 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 - 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 14. Repealing Clause. — All laws, issuances or parts thereof

inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 15. Effectivity. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after


itspublication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of

general circulation

Approved,