If we can recall correctly, sometime in 2020 there was an ordinance approved by the then City Council intended to address the growing problem of parents with children having special needs like serious or even mild autism.
The local legislation was authored by then councilor lawyer Petite Principe of the third district of Davao City. It authorizes the construction of a Davao City Special Needs Intervention Center for Children, a facility that has to be provided with equipment and other apparatus that shall be used in the treatment of the concerned children in the whole of Davao City.
Other than that the center is also to be manned by personnel whose expertise is on the aspect of addressing the various degrees of the special needs in every particular child brought to the center.
We can recall in her explanatory statement in sponsoring the Ordinance, the lawyer councilor justified that even up to that year (2020), there were a huge number of such children in Davao City. And above all, these kids were mostly those of parents in the “marginalized” sector of society. Therefore, according to Principe, they cannot afford the very costly intervention needed for their children’s cases offered only by private institutions.
We could also vividly recall that the center is to cater only to children residents of Davao City since allowing those from other local governments would mean depriving a number of those with special needs in Davao.
Four years had already passed and the sponsor of the ordinance had “graduated” from the Council after reaching the 3-term maximum allowed by law for city councilors and other local government elective offficials.
We have no update as to whether or not the building to serve as home to the center has already been constructed according to the desired design. We also haven’t heard if the needed equipment were already acquired, and most of all whether the City Government has already screened or hired the personnel with the required specialized skills for the intervention process.
We can only hope that the mentioned ordinance has not been “dumped” into the “canal for forgotten memories,” to quote our then favorite Councilor, the late Polkyok Castillo.
We also have no idea if the various components needed to effect the ordinance have already taken off. Perhaps, all the needed work to have the Ordinance fully implemented still wait for a possible Petite Principe’s comeback to the council.
We read it in the papers and heard it on radio that she was among those who filed her certificate of candidacy for councilor in the third district of the city.
We hope that this local legislation be pushed strongly as this would mean bringing a number of children with special needs back to being normal members of society and be able to contribute to the development of Davao City’s society years from now.
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We strongly agree with Congressman Marcoleta with his push for the termination of the so called Quadruple Committee (Quad Com) hearings (investigations) on the alleged extra-judicial killings (EJKs) during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The hearings, over-extended for quite a long time already, is supposedly done “in aid of legislation.” That is, the members of the Lower House want to craft a new law, or amend provisions of existing ones, to ensure that no such heinous crime be ever committed by those in authority in the future.
But then again, Marcoleta could not be wrong in asking that how long will it take for the concerned congressmen to draw from the hearing’s many resource persons, including the former President himself, to draw to the surface the needed inputs for them to craft or amend any appropriate laws?
Personally too, we noted that except for a few among the members, many from the quad com appear to be with intellectual capacity. Therefore, we, like Marcoleta, believe that they could have easily determined the weaknesses of existing laws that encompass the EJKs as crimes against humanity.
Or, if the real intention of the probe is not “in aid of crafting new or amending old legislation,” by this time they could have already gathered enough evidence against the former President who they suspect as the man behind the crime committed. So, why not submit these evidence to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the latter agency to do the job for the Congressmen and the Filipino people who felt directly aggrieved by the EJKs?
Of course by doing so that would mean then end of the Quad Com members’ opportunity for grandstanding.
Unfortunately for the said Committee members, the longer they continue their investigation (the more appropriate word than hearing) it only exposes their lack of finesse, their true intention and their being used as tools by certain politician aiming the highest position of the land.
What a pity to the people they represent in Congress.
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