“In observance of the PWD month this June, we are making it easier and more accessible for PWDs to register for the 2013 midterm elections by giving them priority lanes in satellite registration sites such as malls in key cities nationwide,” said Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento.

Sarmiento handles the poll body’s ad hoc committee for PWD registration as well as the special committee on detainee registration.

All election officers have been notified to prioritize the registration of PWDs and to hold satellite registration in accesible areas such as  malls and in barangays with high number of PWDs.

PWDs can only register in malls located in the municipality where he or she resides per registration rules.

Sarmiento urges families of PWDs or barangay officials to help them register early to avoid long queues. Comelec will use the PWDs registration record to map out precincts that will have express lanes for PWDs during elections.

PWD registration also coincides with the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week.

MANILA

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 33

TRANSFERRING THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY AFFAIRS (NCDA) FROM THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT (OP) TO THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT (DSWD)

WHEREAS, the Philippines as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), manifests its commitment to promote and protect the rights and welfare of PWDs by way of legislations, programs and institutional support;

WHEREAS Presidential Decree No. 1509, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1761, created the National Commission Concerning Disabled Persons (NCCDP) which was later renamed as the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) attached to the DSWD by virtue of Executive Order (E.O.) No. 123 (s. 1987);

WHEREAS, the NCWDP is tasked to formulate policies and coordinate the activities of all agencies, whether public or private, concerning disability issues and concerns as well as monitor the implementation of national laws and international commitments;

WHEREAS, E.O. No 232 (s. 1987) provided for the structural and functional reorganization of the NCWDP towards a more effective and efficient delivery of services to PWDs;

WHEREAS, by virtue of E.O. No. 676 (s. 2007), the NCWDP was transferred from the DSWD to OP to further strengthen the government’s programs for the welfare of PWDs;

WHEREAS, E.O. No. 709 (s. 2008) renamed the NCWDP as the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) redefining its functions and organizational structure in consonance with the government’s international commitments and national laws;

WHEREAS, recognizing that majority of PWDs live in a condition of poverty and are faced with challenges as a result of their disabilities that need to be addressed by concerted efforts between and among government agencies and the civil society, both at the national and local levels;

WHEREAS, the DSWD is mandated to provide social protection and promote the rights and welfare of the poor, vulnerable, and the disadvantaged individuals, families and communities to contribute to poverty alleviation and empowerment through social welfare and development (SWD) policies, programs, projects and services implemented with or through local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs), peoples organizations (POs), other government organizations (GOs) and members of the civil society;

WHEREAS, the DSWD given its mandate has institutional support that can be provided to the NCDA in order to carry out its functions more effectively;

WHEREAS, one of the thrusts of the present Administration is the streamlining of attached agencies to ensure that each agency has a defined set of functions and obligation in accordance with law; and,

WHEREAS, the Administrative Code of 1987 grants the President the continuing authority to reorganize the administrative structure of the Executive Branch;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BENIGNO S. AQUINO III, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. Transfer of the NCDA to the DSWD. The NCDA is hereby transferred from the OP to the DSWD as its attached agency.

SECTION 2. Ex-officio Chairman. The Secretary of the DSWD shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the Council.

SECTION 3. Repealing Clause. All Executive Orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this E O. are hereby revoked, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 4. Separability Clause. In the event that any provision of this E.O. is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the provisions not thereby affected shall remain valid and subsisting.

SECTION 5. Effectivity. This Order shall take effect immediately.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 5th day of April, in the year of our Lord, Two Thousand and Eleven.

(Sgd.) BENIGNO S. AQUINO III

By Authority of the President:

PAQUITO N. OCHOA, JR.

Executive Secretary

The drugstore chain signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party and the House of Representatives committee on social services pledging to honor the discount.

The MOA was signed on Tuesday afternoon by Mercury Drug President Vivian Que-Azcona, AKBAYAN party-list Rep. Walden Bello, and House committee on social services chair Arturo Robes.

Bello said based on consultation with various PWDs, Mercury Drug was a “violator” of the discount on medicines for the consumption of PWDs that Republic Act 9442 required.

In a statement, Mercury Drug claimed it did not implement the 20-percent discount after its experience with RA 7432 or the Senior Citizens Act of 1992. It said it immediately implemented RA 7432 even without the implementing rules and regulations, “believing in the just and fairness of the law and in the propriety of the elderly.”

“However, the anticipated fairness of the law was saddened by the issuance by the Bureau of Internal Revenue of Revenue Regulation No. 2 series of 1994, by treating the grant of the 20% discount as tax deduction instead of tax credit; and the expected propriety of the elderly was frustrated by the abuses made by unscrupulous persons,” said lawyer Edsel Manuel, who represents the drugstore chain, at a press conference Tuesday.

“With the limited space to move and limited air to breathe, certainly, gradual death by suffocation will happen to drugstores,” said Manuel, citing reduction in sales, profit, and drain in the company’s cash flow, as well as RA 9502 or the Cheaper Medicine Law of 2008.

The MOA allows Mercury Drug to set up the appropriate system that would facilitate the provision of the 20-percent discount on all medicine and medical supply purchases by PWDs within a month’s time. The drugstore will also provide the House committee on social services with bi-monthly reports regarding their compliance with law.

Mercury Drug’s concession came after four hearings in connection with Akbayan’s House Resolution 221, which was filed August last year and called for an investigation into different drugstores’ refusal to provide PWDs the discount mandated by law.

However, Mercury Drug appealed to the government and to PWDs to allow a six-month moratorium to prepare before fully implementing the law.

According to the drugstore, preparation includes POS system modification in accordance with BIR regulations, employment of additional personnel in all branches nationwide who would cater to the needs of PWDs, coordination with the Health department in the verification of PWD IDs, store signs and employees’ training and orientation.

The drugstore also asked for serious consideration of several amendments to RA 9442, including granting the discount as tax credit, and burden sharing among manufacturers, suppliers and retailers on the 20 percent discount. It also said only deserving and indigent PWDs should be given discounts, and that medicines subject to discount should be related to the disability supported by the prescription.

“Drugstores are already over-burdened by discounts and price regulations, which endangers its survival,” said Manuel as he suggested that all future legislations granting discounts on medicines consider all of the aforementioned parameters.

Several representatives from the PWD sector saw the MOA as cause for celebration.

“Ito po ay araw ng tagumpay para sa Mercury Drug kasi finally na-realize nila na dapat silang sumunod sa batas at sila ay kaibigan na rin ng mga may kapansanan. Ito rin ay tagumpay ng Kongreso na siyang gumagawa ng batas, dahil finally ang kanilang ginawang batas ay ipapatupad. Ito rin ay tagumpay sektaryang may kapansanan dahil finally natuto na rin ang gobyerno na ipatupad ang aming batas,” said Lauro Purcil of Alyansa ng May-Kapansanang Pinoy, Inc. (AKAP Pinoy).

(This is a success of Mercury Drug, because they finally realized that they should follow the law and be a friend to PWDs. It is also a success of Congress, because it came out with the law. It is also a success of the PWD sector, because finally the government learned to implement a law that would benefit them.)

“Ang decision ng Mercury Drug ay isang malaking tulong para sa pamilyang tulad namin na may anak na may autism (Mercury Drug’s decision will be a big help for us parents of children with autism),” said Mary Grace Adviento of the Autism Society Philippines (ASP).

While the MOA is a welcome development, several representatives of the PWD sector expressed reservations about the agreement, particularly on the six-month moratorium requested by Mercury Drug.

“I think six months is too long,” said AKAP Pinoy chairman Noli Agcaoili.

He said there is no need to amend RA 9442 as it is a “valid” law. “The problem is in the implementation.”

On the other hand, Carmen Zubiaga of Women with Disabilities Leap Social and Economic Progress Inc. (WOWLEAP) sympathized with Mercury Drug and promised support for the amendment.

New Vois Association of the Philippines Inc. president Emer Rojas, meanwhile, said six months is an acceptable waiting period. “Technically as an engineer I know it’s not that possible to change the system within one month.” - KBK, GMA News

February 26, 2011 (Saturday)

1:00 P.M.

Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (OSCA)

Mabalacat Municipal Hall, Xevera

GMANews.TV teamed up with several deaf educators to interpret the SONA into sign language for those watching the website’s livestream of the speech.

Longtime deaf interpreter Jojo Esposa, an educator from the Manila Christian Computer Institute for the Deaf (MCCID), signed President Aquino’s speech live for the benefit of GMANews.TV’s deaf users. Having worked as an interpreter since 1992, Esposa said that this was the first time in the Philippines that the SONA has been interpreted into sign language for an online webcast.

The idea for doing a sign language interpretation of the SONA began when some members of the deaf community were offended by a phrase included in the English translation of President Aquino’s inaugural speech, explained Maria Veronica Perez, Dean of the De la Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies or DLS-CSB-SDEAS. DLS-CSB-SDEAS was one of several schools for the deaf that have partnered with GMANews.TV and other broadcast news organizations to interpret the SONA into sign language. The other schools are the Philippine Deaf Resource Center, and the MCCID College of Technology, and the Philippine School for the Deaf.

SONA translated into sign language

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed into law an amendment to an existing law directing all government units to set up an office that will oversee the welfare and promote the rights of people with disability.

Republic Act 10070 directs the setting up of Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) in all government units. An amendment to RA 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, it was signed last April 6.

Under the new law, a PDAO shall be created in all provinces, city and municipality to be headed by a qualified disabled person. Its responsibilities include formulating and implementing policies, plans, and program that will promote the welfare of disabled persons; ensuring the implementation of the Accessibility Law; representing the sector in meetings of local development councils and other special bodies; and gathering relevant data on the disabled persons in their localities.

The PDAO shall also disseminate information on programs and activities of disabled persons including training and employment opportunities; monitor fundraising programs and activities for the sector seek donation from local and foreign donors; and ensure that programs and policies for the promotion of the welfare of the sector are funded by both national and local government, among others.

The law also directs the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the National Council on Disability Affairs and relevant groups to review after three years the implementation of the law.

It also instructs the DWSD to ensure that annual budget is provided to fund programs and provide support for disabled persons.

RA 10070 is a consolidation of Senate Bill No. 3560 that was passed by the Senate on Jan. 18, and House Bill No. 1387 that was passed by the House of Representatives on Jan. 26. – KBK, GMANews.TV

Senate Bill No.3560, otherwise known as “An Act establishing the institutional mechanism to ensure the implementation of programs and services for persons with disabilities in every province, city and municipality,” the measure was approved unanimously on second reading by the Senate on December 16 before going on a four-week recess.

Cayetano, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development and the bill’s principal sponsor, said Senate Bill No.3560 mandates the creation of a “Persons with Disability Affairs Office” (PDAO) in every province, city and municipality.

In the case of fourth, fifth and sixth class municipalities, the bill calls on LGUs to designate a “Focal Person” who shall be responsible for coordinating and ensuring the delivery of programs and services for PWDs. Priority in appointment should be given to a PWD with experience in providing services to his or her fellow PWDs.

The measure also renames the term, “disabled persons” into “persons with disabilities” – the internationally accepted and recognized term for people who are either: 1) hearing impaired; 2) orthopedically impaired; 3) visually impaired; and 4) mentally challenged.

Cayetano said several Filipinos with disabilities have proven they can stand out despite their physical limitations. “Disabilities should never be a hindrance to excel in one’s chosen field. By being assets in society, many PWDs are breaking barriers and changing the misimpression that they are a burden to the nation.”

In her sponsorship speech, Cayetano cited several outstanding PWDs, and more can follow with enough support at the local government level:

• Isabela Governor Grace Padaca, whose polio did not prevent her from serving her province mates, a 2008 Ramon Magsaysay awardee for government service;

• Roselle Ambubuyog, visually impaired student from Ateneo who graduated Summa Cum Laude and now heads a number of foundations for the blind while acting as consultant for a US firm that develops new products for the blind;

• Ana Kristina Arce, 23-year-old hearing impaired student who is the first to graduate magna cum laude from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde;

• Olegario “Ollie” Cantos VII, visually impaired Filipino-American lawyer who is presently the Vice-Chairman of United States Pres. Barack Obama’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities; and

• Adeline “Ads” Dumapong-Ancheta, the first Filipina Paralympics medalist who won the bronze medal in powerlifting in the 2000 Paralympics, and has recently gone to swimming despite having no legs below the knee and no right hand..

“Passing Senate Bill 3560 is a step towards the right path. Establishing these institutional mechanisms would ensure that the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons will now be implemented and thus helping our brothers and sisters living with disabilities in their rehabilitation, self-development, and self-reliance and for their eventual integration into the mainstream of society,” Cayetano stressed.

Other coauthors of the measure are Senators Loren Legarda, Lito Lapid, Miriam Defesor-Santiago, Edgardo Angara, Manny Villar, Antonio Trillanes IV, Mar Roxas, Bong Revilla and Alan Peter Cayetano.