Bohol’s provincial health office has recorded 139 suicide deaths from 2023 through early 2025, with men accounting for an overwhelming majority and the current year on pace to surpass previous tallies, a health official said Friday.
Jeb Orig Borromeo, a nurse and mental health program coordinator at the PHO, disclosed the figures during the radio program “TAMBUNAY with Ate M” on DYTR. The data covers 2023 through the first quarter of 2025.
Of the 139 recorded deaths, 118 — or 85 percent — were male.
The gender gap mirrors a pattern documented nationally: the Philippine rate is estimated at 4.3 male suicides per 100,000 population against 2.1 per 100,000 for females, a disparity the Department of Health attributes to men’s tendency to use more lethal methods.
Annual figures show 50 deaths in 2023, dipping slightly to 48 in 2024.
The 41 deaths already logged in the first months of 2025 signal a sharp acceleration that health officials are monitoring closely.
The toll fits a worrying national picture. Suicide and self-harm deaths in the Philippines spiked in 2020, reaching approximately 4,420 — a 57.3-percent increase from 2019 — making it the 25th leading cause of death that year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
A more recent study puts the national average at roughly 40 suicide deaths per month, with more than half involving individuals below 30 years old.
The 36-to-55 age group remains the most affected demographic in Bohol, though Borromeo flagged a growing concern among senior citizens aged 56 and above, where cases have risen noticeably.
A gradual uptick was also recorded among youth aged 13 to 25.
No deaths were reported among children 12 and under during the three-year period.
The youth trend is consistent with findings from a 2022 University of the Philippines Population Institute survey, which found that close to one in five Filipino youth aged 15 to 24 had ever considered ending their life, and that in 2021, roughly 1.5 million young people attempted suicide.
A DOH official separately reported in 2024 that one in 10 students in Eastern Visayas had seriously attempted suicide.
Depression was identified as the primary driver of suicide in Bohol.
Health conditions and financial hardship are emerging as increasingly significant factors year on year.
Relationship-related cases, by contrast, have declined, while family conflict and other mental health disorders remain variable.
The national response has been slow relative to the scale of the problem.
The DOH and the World Health Organization launched a 2024-2028 Philippine Council for Mental Health Strategic Framework in 2023 to guide policy development, strengthen referral pathways, and train media for responsible reporting on suicide.
Republic Act 11036, the Mental Health Act of 2018, mandates suicide prevention as part of national health policy, though implementation gaps remain wide at the local level.
(Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the National Center for Mental Health Crisis Hotline at 1553 (toll-free) or 0917-899-8727.)