CAGAYAN de Oro City Councilor Edna Dahino called for strong measures to fight depression among the teachers.
In a special report on Monday's (November 25) regular session, Dahino sounded alarm bells over the rising number of suicide cases involving teachers.
Dahino said she was shocked to learn that a teacher in Leyte ended his life.
"Teachers are a big influence to our child's development, our children almost spend most of their time with a teacher, so it is time we pay attention to our teachers' mental health state," Dahino said.
Dahino pointed out that one of the possible reasons of teachers falling to depression is stress attributed to their heavy workload.
"Teachers are always busy making lesson plans and checking papers. They have almost no time for themselves. We, as legislators, the Department of Education should proactively address mental health in the workplace," she added.
"We should initiate actions to help create a more nurturing environment for our teachers, introduce interventions for their mental well-being," Dahino said.
Councilor Jocelyn Rodriguez, for her part, said no one is exempted from depression, pointing out that suicide cases have affected people from all walks of life.
"The urgency is real. In fact, last week 3 suicides were recorded. Our data now reaches 24-27 cases but really, 1 suicide case is already alarming," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also made a report about the rising suicide cases in the city, pointing out that Cagayan de Oro's suicide rate at 3.6 suicides per 100,000 population is higher than the national rate at 3.2 suicides per 10
0,000 population a year.
Meanwhile, Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said she had reviewed three cases of teacher suicides that happen in the past two years and found that they were triggered by "very unique" circumstances, and not due to heavy workload.
She said they have already reduced the workload of teachers, particularly on clerical works, to lighten their jobs and vowed to work with the Department of Health to help teachers cope emotional stress.