ILOILO – While local government units (LGUs) expend vital resources to curtail the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a shadow pandemic is bringing its own devastation, challenging authorities to come up with solutions to address another wave of health crisis.
In Iloilo province, deaths caused by suicide are higher compared to COVID-related fatalities.
From January to Aug. 12 this year, the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO) recorded 50 suicide incidents.
Forty LGUs in the province reported suicide incidents, with Cabatuan, Estancia and Passi City topping the list with four followed by Calinog, Anilao, Dumangas, Igbaras, Miag-ao , Oton, San Dionisio, and Sara with two suicide cases each.
The towns of Badiangan, Balasan, Banate, Barotac Viejo, Batad, Bingawan, Concepcion, Guimbal, Lemery, Leon, Maasin, San Enrique, San Rafael, Sta. Barbara, Tigbauan, and Tubungan each recorded one suicide incident.
On the other hand, data from the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 showed Iloilo province with 11 deaths from 646 COVID-19 cases as of Aug. 18.
The figures are alarming, according to IPPO spokesperson Master Sergeant Francis Lindero.
Last year by the month of November there were already over 70 suicide cases.
“We’re only on the second quarter of 2020 but we already have 50 cases,” Lindero said.
What drove these people to kill themselves?
The most common reasons were likely depression and problems in the family and love life, explained Lindero, citing the statements of the victims’ families.
In 2019 the IPPO recorded 78 suicide cases. Most of the victims were between 10 to 19 years old. In 2018, it recorded 65 cases.
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts to contain it, represent a unique threat – a contagion nearly as psychological as it is physical, according to Lindero.
“This pandemic may be an added circumstance that further burdened some individuals and making them easily get depressed,” he theorized.
Earlier, the DOH-6 acknowledged that physical distancing, self-isolation, working from home and loss of social contacts during the community quarantine could sink some people into loneliness and depression, and even suicide.
Various government agencies, Lindero said, must recognize the pandemic that will quickly follow it – that of mental and behavioral illness – and implement the steps needed to mitigate it.
“Ginapadayon sang IPPO ang coordination with other agencies concerned para magatukod sang PAG-ULIKID DESK agud magtutok sa mga pwede obrahon nga mag-prevent sang padayon nga pagsaka sang suicide incidents sa probinsya,” Lindero added.
The IPPO is not the only one hoping there won’t be more suicide cases in the province.
No less than Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. also recognized the need to institute responsive strategies and mechanisms that will enable the community and service providers to cope with psychosocial issues brought about by the pandemic.
In his Executive Order No. 183, Defensor bared the “Plan for Rehabilitation and Transformation of the Province of Iloilo to Catalyze Recovery” under the modified general community quarantine status of the province.
One of the three major components of Defensor’s Plan RT-PCR is a psychosocial program. It enforces the following measures:
* The Province shall implement a program to promote and protect the psychosocial welfare of the people. It shall address the collective anxiety and emotional stress they experienced after five months of community quarantine.
* The Province shall implement a psychosocial response known as “Project PRIME” (Program for the Resilience of Iloilo in Mind and Emotion), which aims to restore the social functioning, and improve the coping and resilience of persons who have traumatic experiences, difficulty in handling changes, and those who are exposed to various risks.
* The program shall be implemented by Task Force PAG-ASA created under Executive Order No. 159, Series of 2020, entitled “Executive Order Approving the Creation of Task Force PAG-ASA (Provincial Agencies in Action to Prevent Suicide Among People of All Ages) for the Implementation of Project PRIME.”
* The program shall have the following target beneficiaries:
a. Persons, especially minors and learners, who are experiencing psychosocial difficulties, focusing on the effects of the community quarantine experience;
b. OFWs and LSIs, focusing on their quarantine experience; and
c. Frontline workers who have been exposed to stressful demands of work, family, or community.
* The program shall provide psychosocial support –a range of care and support that address both psychological and social needs of individuals, families and communities, administered in a holistic and integrated development approach.
* The program shall administer Psychological First Aid-Humane, supportive, practical and immediate assistance to individuals suffering from exposure to serious stressors, which include the following:
a. intrusive and practical care;
b. comfort and support;
c. assessment of needs and concerns;
d. helping to address basic needs;
e. connection to information; and
f. protection from further harm.
* The program shall conduct psycho-social processing-method of facilitating ventilation of emotions related to traumatic experiences, generating emotional and social issues through a helping process.
* The program shall conduct monitoring of interventions, through the following monitoring tools:
a. Monitoring tool for the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) staff; and
b. Monitoring tool for the stakeholders who shall be trained in administering psychosocial support.
* The program shall have an evaluation towards the end of the calendar year. An evaluation tool shall be designed by the PSWDO Planning Division. Evaluation results shall serve as reference for the PSWDO in reviewing guidelines and project components for further development./PN
