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A room built for one question

BAYANIHAN carried the theme “Reframing Mental Health: A Filipino Perspective” and ran as a half-day hybrid event on 10 November 2025 at Ramada by Wyndham Manila Central in Binondo, Manila, to ask a practical question that many of us carry into every case, call, and conversation: what does mental health support look like when Filipino realities lead the design, not follow behind it. Within the programme, Prof. Jay A. Yacat’s keynote sat at the center of that aim under the theme Sikolohiyang Pilipino sa Kontekstong Maritima (Filipino Psychology in the Maritime Context), and it gave the room shared language for experiences that are often felt deeply but explained poorly. His presentation is entitled, “Silent and Silenced: Applying Sikolohiyang Pilipino to understand Filipino seafarers’ distress.”

The numbers, then the human cost

Prof. Yacat began with scale because global shipping often speaks in numbers before it speaks in lives. He cited more than 504,000 Filipino seafarers deployed in 2024 and described Filipino seafarers as the backbone of international shipping, with Filipinos making up one-quarter of seafarers globally. He also cited the economic narrative that usually follows, including a $7 billion annual contribution and the claim of “10% of PH gross domestic product (GDP),” and then he paused on what that framing can hide: it often obscures the human costs of maritime labor.

The resilience trap

One of the clearest warnings of the keynote was what Prof. Yacat called the “Resilience Trap.” He described Filipino seafarers as stereotyped and marketed as obedient, compliant, resilient, hardworking, happy, and cooperative, and he also said that the state is complicit in framing them as “ideal for export.” He warned that this story is not harmless because it can make suffering less visible, justify neglect of mental health and labor rights, and pressure emotional suppression, so the same narrative that helps keep employment pipelines moving can also keep distress unnamed and unsupported.

Loob, labas, and the work of pakikiramdam

Prof. Yacat did not dismiss care or clinical practice, but he questioned what gets missed when tools assume distress must appear in one familiar format. He explained that standard Western mental health models can be a poor fit because they focus on individual symptoms, use diagnostic categories that miss Filipino cultural nuances of distress, and often lack cultural resonance. He put it plainly: Western tools look for “depressed mood,” and he said this misses the point because distress may be voiced as masama ang pakiramdam (feeling unwell) or mabigat ang loob (heavy-hearted), and it can also appear through physical symptoms that carry emotional meaning.

To explain why distress may look “invisible” to outsiders, Prof. Yacat brought the room into key ideas from Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology). He explained loob (inner being) as connected to inner states and moral core, while labas (outer expression) offers signs that do not always match what is carried inside. He then explained pakikiramdam (sensing what is felt but not said) as the work people do to navigate that gap, especially when direct disclosure feels risky, inappropriate, or simply not the habit.

Kapwa explains why support often stays onboard

Prof. Yacat used a word that does not translate cleanly into English: kapwa. People sometimes translate it loosely as “others,” but he explained why that shortcut breaks down, because kapwa is not about a separate “them.” He defined kapwa as a shared identity of self and other, strongest with Hindi Ibang Tao (not an outsider), such as family or close friends, and in practice it is best captured as “the other-as-self,” where “self” and “other” are not treated as separate.

In his logic, this matters because distress and relief are not only internal experiences that sit inside one person; they are relational realities that rise and fall with belonging, trust, and acceptance. He said many seafarers rarely tell their families about psychological struggles because they do not want to worry or cause distress to loved ones, and through kapwa (the other-as-self), that silence can function as protection, not only avoidance. He also explained that many seafarers rely on trusted kabaro (shipmates), where emotional release happens through kuwentuhan (story-sharing), shared meals, and casual banter, because those spaces allow connection without forcing someone to perform strength or translate pain into formal categories.

Hiya, and why help-seeking can feel dangerous

Prof. Yacat treated hiya (shame or propriety) as a force that regulates expression, not a personality flaw. He explained that emotional distress can be regulated by hiya, and that losing control publicly can be seen as nakakahiya (shameful or embarrassing). He also pointed to rank, noting that displeasure expressed by lower-ranked crew toward a superior can be labeled walang hiya (disrespectful; “without shame”), which helps explain why disclosure can feel dangerous when reputation, evaluation, and contract security sit in the background.

Ginhawa changes what “wellbeing” means

The keynote offered a different way to name wellness, and Prof. Yacat treated it as a practical lens rather than a poetic idea. He said ginhawa (relief or wellness) is relational, and he explained that people experience ginhawa when they feel seen or accepted by their kapwa (the other-as-self), captured in the line Hindi ka nag-iisa (you are not alone). He also said people feel ginhawa when relationships are in order, and he explained that ginhawa can be felt when one’s kapwa experiences ginhawa, which shifts the target of mental health work from symptom control alone to relational safety and belonging.

Prof. Yacat added a point in delivery that many in the room carried out with them: he said he does not know mental health models that take all these relational dimensions into account. That statement does not reject Western frameworks outright, but it places a limit on what they can claim as complete for Filipinos. If wellness is tied to being seen, being accepted, and having relationships that hold, then support must be built to protect and restore those conditions, not only to measure what is happening inside one individual.

He also named system-level moves that respond to the “silenced” side of suffering, including culturally informed protocols, treating silence and emotional suppression as occupational hazards, and protecting people who report abuse and exploitation. These directions do not ask seafarers to carry the whole burden of adaptation. They ask institutions, employers, and support systems to meet seafarers where they already are, in the relationships and realities that shape life onboard.

What we left the room holding

BAYANIHAN created space for a Filipino lens to lead, and Prof. Yacat’s keynote showed why that leadership matters in everyday welfare work. His argument was not that Filipino seafarers need less rigor; it was that they need language and support that match how distress and relief are lived in relationships, in hierarchies, and in the daily conditions of shipboard life. When a seafarer stays quiet, his keynote asks us not to mistake that quiet for wellness, and not to treat silence as proof that support is unnecessary; it asks us to ask better questions about what silence is protecting and what silence is risking.

By: Marville Cullen Espago