Iloilo City: On 15 January 2026, a team from the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) led by Dennis B. Batangan, MD, MSc (Heid.) convened various stakeholders from Iloilo City and Pasig City for a Joint Architectural Design (JAD) workshop for the development of eMHPRe UHC, a DOST-funded project monitored by DOST-PCHRD seeking to develop an electronic mental health program registry to aid the cities’ delivery of Mental Health, Neurological, and Substance Abuse (MNS) services.

The eMHPRe UHC JAD brought together representatives from the Ateneo de Manila University – Institute of Philippine Culture; the Iloilo City Health Office, Data Assessment and System Management Office, and RAISE Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Program under the City Mayor’s Office; and the Pasig City Health Department, as well as from the Department of Health’s Metro Manila and Region VI Centers for Health Development; the event was held under the auspices of and with the support of the Department of Science and Technology – Region VI.

Throughout the day-long programme, different facets of the eMHPRe UHC system under development were discussed, ranging from the high-level to the granular and technical components involved in its implementation. The programme commenced with welcoming remarks from DOST Region VI Director Engr. Rowen R. Gelonga, Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu, and IPC Director, Dr. Enrique Niño Leviste, which highlighted the push for smarter governance, mental health as essential in a holistic understanding of wellbeing, and the congregation of different institutional actors with a common goal: the development of technology based on and tailored to locally situated knowledge and experiences. 

The programme featured presentations from the respective LGU partners providing overviews and lessons from their experiences of implementing mental health services and technologies to aid in service provision. In particular, Pasig City representatives shared their experience in implementing the Multi-Programme Local Mapping Tool developed with IPC, a system similar to eMHPRe UHC, which has greatly aided in the management of service provision and has also seen use in the planning of health services for the Non-Communicable Disease Programme; also shared by the Pasig Health Department were their current MNS management practices through a locally-developed system. Meanwhile, Iloilo’s mental health advocacies and services through the City Health Office’s MNS programme and the RAISE Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Program were also featured; in particular, the psychosocial arm of the city’s MNS services was highlighted as a relevant addition to existing biomedical frameworks. 

From IPC, presentations focused on the technical development of the eMHPRe UHC system and the tentative work plans for the coming second year of the project, which will include software development, the training of concerned personnel, and the actual deployment of the system. Finally, the IPC eMHPRe UHC Team facilitated discussions concerning the LGUs’ tailored needs, which will be integrated into the further development of the plans for the coming year, ensuring the system’s responsiveness to local needs and priorities. At the end of the LGU participants, local thrusts for the MNS programmes were highlighted, as well as the pressing concerns faced by on-the-ground service providers.

The event also comes at the heels of the eMHPRe UHC Research Team’s appearance at the Iloilo City Sangguniang Panlungsod as part of the process of endorsing the jointly-developed Memorandum of Understanding to the Mayor’s office for signing. This further situates the project in an ongoing process of collaboration with both local governments and with the concerned national agencies and follows after the ceremonial signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ateneo de Manila University and the Local Government Unit of Pasig City on 4 December 2025.

Following up on the event, the team from the Institute of Philippine Culture were also able to meet with Iloilo City Mayor Raisa Treñas-Chu on 16 January 2026 to discuss the progress made on the project, particularly in the workshop conducted the day before, as well as measures to be taken for the development of the eMHPRe UHC project. 

eMHPRe UHC is the most current iteration in a series of IPC projects concerned with facilitating the gradual implementation of Universal Health Care in the country through technological solutions, including earlier iterations such as eTSI_NOVuS, MuPLoMT, and SMILHIS. UHC, as a target of national-level health administration, was first mandated through R.A. 11223, or the Universal Health Care Act, in 2018.

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