In the recently completed National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week, advocates call for the strengthening and implementation of laws supporting rights of persons with disabilities in the city.
They also commended the formation of the PWD Affairs Office and the order of Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio to designate a PWD development affairs officer.
The Davao City PWD Federation is hoping for the finalization of the PDAO since it is still in its interim period. The office of Councilor Victorio U. Advincula, chairman of the committee of social services, is now working on the ordinance to create the PDAO.
Under RA 10070 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), other cities nationwide have already created the PDAO. For the city, the resolution in compliance to the Act, particularly on the positions to be created, is currently underway.
In the previous administration, laws advocating PWDs have also been pushed as well.
Proclamation 688 of former President Benigno Aquino III declared 2013-2022 as the Philippine decade of “Make the Right Real” for persons with disabilities in support of the 3rd Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities in line with the Incheon Strategy for PWDs for 2013-2022.
The DSWD issued a memorandum requiring every barangay to establish a local PWD association or group. A group will comprise a maximum of eight members, beyond that, it will be registered as an association.
PWD advocates also call for social services to HIV/AIDS-diagnosed persons.
The group expressed optimism with the current administration’s programs for PWDs. They further asked for intensified implementation of PWD laws.
“His (President) concrete achievement of the administration is the continuance of the laws in fact anytime now, he will come out with his contribution to PWDs” said Andres Rhudy B. Ravelo, Jr., retired chief administrative officer of National Council on Disability Affairs and now a PWD advocate.
Currently a House bill providing for social pension for poor PWDs is being pushed in Congress.
