Mental Health Licensing & Regulation in the Philippines: 2026 Guide

If you are choosing a psychologist or a guidance counsellor in the Philippines, for yourself or for a member of your family, it helps to know that both are licensed professions. The law sets out who may practise, and you can check the licence it requires before you book a first appointment.

How mental-health practitioners are regulated in the Philippines, in short

Two national laws set the rules for psychologists, psychometricians and guidance counsellors. Other professions, including physicians, have their own PRC licensure examinations. The practice of psychology is governed by the Philippine Psychology Act of 2009,¹ and guidance and counselling by the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004.² Each law creates its own regulatory board, and both boards are under the administrative control and supervision of the Professional Regulation Commission, the PRC. The pattern is the same for both professions: a practitioner studies, passes a national licensure examination, and is then issued a certificate of registration and a professional identification card.

Psychologists and psychometricians

The 2009 Act was written to protect the public by keeping inexperienced or untrained people from offering psychological services. It draws a distinction between two licensed roles. A professional psychologist is someone entered on the register who holds a current certificate and identification card issued by the Board of Psychology and the PRC. A psychometrician holds a separate, more limited licence: the holder administers and scores certain psychological tests and conducts intake interviews, but must work throughout under the supervision of a licensed psychologist.¹

The body that oversees them is the Professional Regulatory Board of Psychology, created by the Act as a board under the control and supervision of the PRC. Its job includes supervising the registration, licensing and practice of psychologists and psychometricians across the country, and it may suspend or revoke a practitioner's certificate and identification card after due process. Applicants for registration to practise psychology and applicants for registration as psychometricians must both pass a licensure examination conducted by the Board. A psychologist must in addition hold at least a master's degree in psychology and have completed a minimum of two hundred hours of supervised practice under a licensed psychologist or other licensed mental-health professional.¹ For the academic qualifications behind these titles, see academic credentials for mental-health professionals in the Philippines.

The identification card carries a registration number and is valid for three years, after which the psychologist or psychometrician renews it by showing they have kept up their continuing education.¹ That renewal cycle is why the card is the document to ask for.

Guidance counsellors

Counselling is regulated the same way, under the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004. A guidance counsellor is a person who has been registered and issued a certificate of registration and an identification card by the Professional Regulatory Board of Guidance and Counseling and the PRC. That Board, like its counterpart in psychology, is under the administrative control and supervision of the Commission. Its powers include the authority to supervise and regulate the practice of counselling, and to issue, suspend or revoke a counsellor's licence.²

Counsellors sit an examination too. The Act requires all applicants for registration to undergo a licensure examination given by the Board and the Commission. To sit it, a person needs a bachelor's degree in guidance and counselling or an allied field together with a master's degree in guidance and counselling.² Those who pass are issued their certificate of registration as guidance counsellors.

What this means for you, and how to check

In the Philippines a psychologist and a guidance counsellor must both be licensed. The licence is a current certificate of registration and a professional identification card from the PRC. The Philippine Psychology Act of 2009 makes the point from the other side as well. It is prohibited to practise psychology or psychometrics, or to represent yourself as a practising psychologist or psychometrician, without a valid certificate of registration, a valid professional identification card, or a valid special or temporary permit granted by the Board.¹

You do not have to take the licence on trust. The Professional Regulation Commission runs an online verification service, and it lets you verify a licence by name as well as by licence number.³ So you can check even if you do not have the number.

On that page, psychologist, psychometrician and guidance counsellor all appear in the list of licensure examinations.³

If a practitioner cannot show you a current PRC licence, and the name does not come back on that lookup, that is a reason to ask more before you go further.

Quick reference

Ask about the PRC licence, and treat the certificate of registration and identification card as the documents that confirm a practitioner is entitled to practise.

Team TherapyRoute

References

1. [1] Republic Act No. 10029, the Philippine Psychology Act of 2009 (lawphil.net) - regulation of the practice of psychology; the Professional Regulatory Board of Psychology under the PRC; definitions of psychologist and psychometrician; licensure examination; certificate of registration and professional identification card; the prohibition on practising without a valid certificate/PIC. lawphil.net.
2. [2] Republic Act No. 9258, the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004 (lawphil.net) - the Professional Regulatory Board of Guidance and Counseling under the PRC; definition of a guidance counselor; licensure examination; certificate of registration and professional identification card. lawphil.net.
3. [3] Professional Regulation Commission (Philippines), Licensure Examination and Registration Information System (LERIS) online verification. Offers VERIFICATION OF LICENSE (BY NAME) and VERIFICATION OF LICENSE (BY LICENSE NO.), alongside verification of examination ratings. PSYCHOLOGIST, PSYCHOMETRICIAN, GUIDANCE COUNSELOR and PHYSICIAN are among the professions covered. verification.prc.gov.ph.