Good Morning:
(Magandang Umaga Po)
My name right now is simply "e". I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park in the United States of America. I also attended the Associate of Arts in General Studies Program at Montgomery College in the United States of America and completed Masteral Coursework in Computer Information Technology at Regis University in the United States of America.(online but I was located in the Philippines)
I have been involved in non-profit activities in the United States of America.
I have attended seminars at the University of the Philippines Diliman and Georgetown University(United States of America)
I am sending this e-mail because I am "appalled" by the conditions that I witnessed at the National Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong while a residential patient on November 2008.
Patients were tied up, denied access to contact relatives, isolated, given electroconvulsive therapy, medications were based on pay ability, left to lie on wired beds, forced to bathe themselves even when unable to, subject to verbal abuse by staff members, faced infrequent visitation and sensory deprivation techniques, compelled to drink "unhealthy" tap water, allowed to commune with stray cats, also patients were left to urinate on their persons and I witnessed some suffering from tremors.
I am currently taking medication and have always been for the past 5 years under different mental health professionals (in the United States of America) and at the National Center for Mental Health (in the Philippines).
I was published in The Washington Post in the United States of America for having bipolar disorder yet graduating from the University of Maryland and unable to find a job like so many college graduates nationally and here in the Philippines.
I receive around $600.00 per month(approximately 28200PHP) in Social Security Administration (SSA) United States of America Disability Payments from my previous employments as administrative assistant, concession sales, inventory technician, crew member, and sales associate.
I am dual citizen both Philippine and United States of America.
God-willing, I hope to attend the University of Santo Tomas (here, in the Philippines)next year and pursue a second Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A.) in Asian Studies which will hopefully lead me to the Bachelor of Laws(LL.B) program in Civil Law at the Univesity of Santo Tomas.
This will require patience, fortitude, discipline, and dedication.
I will also have to wear a uniform:)
Take Care,
Erica Bermudo
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