Written by Alliah Mae O. Banglos
Art by Marxlene Sarah Sumundong
Culminating National Suicide Prevention Month, we make a way to dedicate September to highlight the story of those who are fighting an invisible war against themselves and the world. A heavy and delicate subject to tackle, yet it is often overlooked in the lens of every Filipino. This imposed shut-eye has left only an option to face the hardships of life at large: a smile. However, attempts to break this ceiling are long overdue and lips curved upward is not the sole margin left to explore.
The Annual World Happiness Report by the University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Center dubbed the Philippines the “Second Happiest Country in Southeast Asia” last March of this year. Barangay taken over by a flood? “Great! An impromptu swimming pool!”; Awful work environment? “At least you have a job.” Tired and stressed out? “Cheer up! It could be worse.” Filipinos pride themselves on being known as “optimistic” and “positive” people, able to smile and sing merrily no matter the circumstances. As a third-world country on the receiving end of countless adversaries, Filipinos are subjected to various types of struggle nearly every day, and what better way to cope with negativity than with positivity? Not like there’s much choice, to begin with.
The persistent resiliency armored by the Filipinos as a whole has nurtured the consensus that there is no room to struggle because life asks for more. This, among layers of constant disregard to cope with the cycle that pressures irrepressibility has enveloped the necessary conversation of suicide with stigma at large. Ending one's life is seen as the coward’s way to go; you were too inadequate to handle the obstacles life threw at you.
Ironically, between 2021-2022, 404 students died by suicide, alongside a staggering 2,147 students who had noted attempts according to the Department of Education (DepEd), and that’s only limited to what has been reported. Who knows how many of the “happiest people of Southeast Asia” are currently suffering behind closed doors and many people still refuse to acknowledge it.
“True siya nga kuyaw ang suicide—pero kung tiguwang ka, you don’t really care about it, you treat it as a sin,” said Ralph Joshua B. Orlanes, a student peer facilitator from the OGC, who observed the cases they’ve been receiving. The older generation at large has shown a sense of indifference towards these issues. And while that may be unfortunate, we also have to take into account that they might be victims of their environments as well, and that their hostility is not of their pure own intent.
Your inner struggles are unseen, so they may as well not exist.
Beyond resiliency and the adversaries that demand the visible actions one must perform to provide a “solution,” people struggling with suicidal ideations are, more or less, cornered with only a black-and-white perspective at hand. The proven linkage between quality of life and mental health is far too tight to not acknowledge. Quality life that is not experienced by more than half of Filipinos today. It is important to note that pretension is not enough; that a smile is barely a band-aid to heal the wound that is the poverty of the Filipino. Poverty has pressured generations to perform excellence in school, in work, among other spaces that will make life better, or at least, possible.
Though it may not be a permanent cure, services, and resources that allay one's plight should at least be accessible for everyone. Noteworthily, the Office of the Guidance and Counseling of Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) provides similar resources, equipped with orientations for every freshman to inform them that the office is ready to lend a hand in easing whatever load they bear on their shoulders. They cater walk-ins or referred counseling to help students navigate their issues alongside the Referral Service that enables students to have accessible specialized psychological intervention. They also offer programs like Enhanced Better Mental Health Access (E-BMHA) program which allows students access to quality, professional, and affordable mental health care services, or their Annual College Life Symposiums (ACLS) program that assists students through the adjustment period between high school to college life. They also provide numerous hands-on beneficiaries such as the MSU-IIT's Online Psychological Response Team, and their Learning Assistance Volunteers (LAV) which consists of student peer tutors who assist other students in academic troubles. Yet even then, there is a lot more to do as far as these preventive measures are concerned. It springs back from the very idea of why such service units exist and do they exist equally for everyone.
Though the current generation is much more accepting and open towards the discussion of such a topic of care and thought, it is still not enough to break through the generational stress and the dire state that deeply positioned many Filipinos. This pressure has led some into further isolation, refusing to admit that something is wrong. And those who did have the privilege to talk about what troubled them were shut down, their issues dismissed because in the eyes of those who scoff at the vulnerable, inner struggles are unseen, so it may as well not exist. And when the weight of their struggles and the tantalizing pressure to smile becomes too much, some look to permanently ending their problems. Worse, themselves.
In the end, these cases are not a result of people being too weak to handle their issues. Instead, it’s from the environment pushing them to unfortunate measures. Even if services may be available, the root cause that leaves the biggest influence on a person also lies in the system that boxes people into perpetuating a culture of disregard. There is only a remedy, not a cure, to satiate the throbbing slit of a system that tightens the rope when you start to scream. Beyond just measures that center on comforting the uncomfortable, it should be understood that real comfort will never be experienced under a fabric umbrella in a rain of thorns. Until then, the only thing we can do is ‘just smile’.
Culminating National Suicide Prevention Month, we make a way to dedicate September to highlight the story of those who are fighting an invisible war against themselves and the world. A heavy and delicate subject to tackle, yet it is often overlooked in the lens of every Filipino. This imposed shut-eye has left only an option to face the hardships of life at large: a smile. However, attempts to break this ceiling are long overdue and lips curved upward is not the sole margin left to explore.
The Annual World Happiness Report by the University of Oxford Wellbeing Research Center dubbed the Philippines the “Second Happiest Country in Southeast Asia” last March of this year. Barangay taken over by a flood? “Great! An impromptu swimming pool!”; Awful work environment? “At least you have a job.” Tired and stressed out? “Cheer up! It could be worse.” Filipinos pride themselves on being known as “optimistic” and “positive” people, able to smile and sing merrily no matter the circumstances. As a third-world country on the receiving end of countless adversaries, Filipinos are subjected to various types of struggle nearly every day, and what better way to cope with negativity than with positivity? Not like there’s much choice, to begin with.
The persistent resiliency armored by the Filipinos as a whole has nurtured the consensus that there is no room to struggle because life asks for more. This, among layers of constant disregard to cope with the cycle that pressures irrepressibility has enveloped the necessary conversation of suicide with stigma at large. Ending one's life is seen as the coward’s way to go; you were too inadequate to handle the obstacles life threw at you.
Ironically, between 2021-2022, 404 students died by suicide, alongside a staggering 2,147 students who had noted attempts according to the Department of Education (DepEd), and that’s only limited to what has been reported. Who knows how many of the “happiest people of Southeast Asia” are currently suffering behind closed doors and many people still refuse to acknowledge it.
“True siya nga kuyaw ang suicide—pero kung tiguwang ka, you don’t really care about it, you treat it as a sin,” said Ralph Joshua B. Orlanes, a student peer facilitator from the OGC, who observed the cases they’ve been receiving. The older generation at large has shown a sense of indifference towards these issues. And while that may be unfortunate, we also have to take into account that they might be victims of their environments as well, and that their hostility is not of their pure own intent.
Your inner struggles are unseen, so they may as well not exist.
Beyond resiliency and the adversaries that demand the visible actions one must perform to provide a “solution,” people struggling with suicidal ideations are, more or less, cornered with only a black-and-white perspective at hand. The proven linkage between quality of life and mental health is far too tight to not acknowledge. Quality life that is not experienced by more than half of Filipinos today. It is important to note that pretension is not enough; that a smile is barely a band-aid to heal the wound that is the poverty of the Filipino. Poverty has pressured generations to perform excellence in school, in work, among other spaces that will make life better, or at least, possible.
Though it may not be a permanent cure, services, and resources that allay one's plight should at least be accessible for everyone. Noteworthily, the Office of the Guidance and Counseling of Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) provides similar resources, equipped with orientations for every freshman to inform them that the office is ready to lend a hand in easing whatever load they bear on their shoulders. They cater walk-ins or referred counseling to help students navigate their issues alongside the Referral Service that enables students to have accessible specialized psychological intervention. They also offer programs like Enhanced Better Mental Health Access (E-BMHA) program which allows students access to quality, professional, and affordable mental health care services, or their Annual College Life Symposiums (ACLS) program that assists students through the adjustment period between high school to college life. They also provide numerous hands-on beneficiaries such as the MSU-IIT's Online Psychological Response Team, and their Learning Assistance Volunteers (LAV) which consists of student peer tutors who assist other students in academic troubles. Yet even then, there is a lot more to do as far as these preventive measures are concerned. It springs back from the very idea of why such service units exist and do they exist equally for everyone.
Though the current generation is much more accepting and open towards the discussion of such a topic of care and thought, it is still not enough to break through the generational stress and the dire state that deeply positioned many Filipinos. This pressure has led some into further isolation, refusing to admit that something is wrong. And those who did have the privilege to talk about what troubled them were shut down, their issues dismissed because in the eyes of those who scoff at the vulnerable, inner struggles are unseen, so it may as well not exist. And when the weight of their struggles and the tantalizing pressure to smile becomes too much, some look to permanently ending their problems. Worse, themselves.
In the end, these cases are not a result of people being too weak to handle their issues. Instead, it’s from the environment pushing them to unfortunate measures. Even if services may be available, the root cause that leaves the biggest influence on a person also lies in the system that boxes people into perpetuating a culture of disregard. There is only a remedy, not a cure, to satiate the throbbing slit of a system that tightens the rope when you start to scream. Beyond just measures that center on comforting the uncomfortable, it should be understood that real comfort will never be experienced under a fabric umbrella in a rain of thorns. Until then, the only thing we can do is ‘just smile’.
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