QUEZON CITY — The Healthy Pisay and YAKAP in Pisay pilot implementation were officially launched in celebration of Teachers’ Day on Wednesday (Oct. 7) at the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) Main Campus.
Dr. Ronnalee N. Orteza, Executive Director V of the PSHS System, delivered the welcome remarks, expressing the heartfelt gratitude of the PSHS System for the launch of Healthy Pisay and the YAKAP in Pisay pilot implementation.
“We cannot measure something that does not exist,” Dr. Orteza said.
She also thanked the teachers and scholars for supporting Healthy Pisay.
In a video message, Dr. Renato U. Solidum Jr., Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), said, “We launch today both Healthy Pisay and YAKAP in Pisay pilot implementation at the Pisay Main Campus.”
“In Science as in Health, we do not wait for a problem before we act,” he added. Solidum noted that both his parents were teachers.
He cited teachers for their dedication to their duties inside and outside the classroom.
“Maraming salamat sa ating mga guro para sa inyong tapat at mabuting paglilingkod,” Solidum stressed.
Dr. Edwin M. Mercado, Secretary of Health, said that he did not hail from Pisay but had many schoolmates who were NSDB scholars and came from Pisay.
Mercado noted that they signed a joint circular with DepEd and DILG yesterday, strengthening the Unified National Agenda (UNA) for Health by bringing health promotion, prevention, and essential health services closer to Filipinos through healthy settings such as schools, workplaces, and communities.
He stressed that through the YAKAP Caravan sa Pisay, the DOH and PhilHealth are bringing health screening and PhilHealth benefits closer to the PSHS community.
“For the 1,440 learners, while 360 teaching and non-teaching staff, at extended sa kani-kanilang pamilya, hatid namin ang YAKAP sa Pisay,” Mercado said.
“Makakatanggap din kayo ng libreng cancer at tuberculosis screening,” he added. “Kayo ang patunay na kaya nating maabot ang Universal Health Care. Kayo ang resibo namin na pwedeng gawin ito sa iba pang campus,” Mercado said.
Dr. Beverly Lorraine C. Ho, PhilHealth President and CEO, said, “Ngayon na, mas malawak ang coverage ng PhilHealth.”
“We are very happy to extend our services to our dear teachers here at Pisay,” she said.
“We have to invest in primary care and preventive care in order to prevent catastrophic health conditions,” she added.
“Under the UNA for Health, the DOH targets the registration of at least 60 million Filipinos under YAKAP, with 48 million targeted to undergo health screening and gain access to medicines through GAMOT.
“And the 1,440 learners and 360 teaching and non-teaching staff of Pisay are included in the 48 million,” Dr. Ho said.
The program also connects patients to further care through YAKAP and GAMOT, supporting the goal of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. to make quality health care more accessible to every Filipino and ensure that no one is left behind.
Early-life exposure to poor nutrition, mental health challenges, and clinical anxiety among Filipino adolescents aged 13 to 15 highlights the broader effects of these challenges on learning, social development, and overall well-being (PIDS, 2026).
In line with President Marcos Jr.’s directive to expand quality and accessible health care to Filipinos, the DOH is strengthening the UNA for Health through the Healthy Settings approach in schools, workplaces, and communities.
To achieve this, the DOH, together with the PSHS System, unifies the Healthy Learning Institutions (HLI) framework and the Yaman ng Kalusugan (YAKAP) program.
This alignment ensures that while transforming schools into health-promoting settings, schools actively navigate and connect every student to a YAKAP provider for quality, free, and accessible health care services.
The school is commonly regarded as the second home of a child — a vital health setting where a considerable portion of developmental years are spent and lifelong healthy behaviors are built.
To safeguard their learning and productivity, maintaining children’s health and well-being is imperative.
Hence, the DOH seeks to bring primary health services closer to schools to directly deliver preventive, promotive, and necessary curative care.
DOH and PhilHealth’s YAKAP sa Pisay strengthens prevention, health promotion, screening, and access to PhilHealth benefits such as YAKAP and GAMOT.
Additionally, it demonstrates the DOH’s theory of change that first touchpoints of health, such as school clinics, are best positioned to serve as care coordinators and patient navigators within the greater referral network of available services.
A network of accredited specialty providers made available by PhilHealth to PSHS received referrals from the participants’ YAKAP clinics to ensure continuous care.
