Nancy Torrelino Boroc
MANILA, Philippines — A woman born without legs in Calbayog, Samar was barred from entering a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) branch office for supposedly wearing shorts.
Nancy Torrelino Boroc shared her experience with the local BIR office on Aug. 5. She there to process a document request for her sister, but she was stopped from entering by a security guard.
In her Facebook post, Boroc said that she and her boyfriend, Xander, were wearing shorts that time. Both were barred from entering the premises, with the security guard saying that he was enforcing the rules of a new memorandum recently implemented.
“Kuya, kahit ako po?” Boroc asked the security guard, to which he replied “Yes po bawal po, kahit naka sapatos ka po. Dapat po naka long pants po kayo.”
After sharing what she went through with the BIR branch, her Facebook post has gone viral, having 9,200 likes and reactions and 5,100 shares, as of writing.
Boroc, who was born with an Orthopedic disability, said that she was used to the discrimination.
“Madming beses na din po [naranasan] sa mga common places like neighborhood, school, suermarket. Yung mga ganun po,” Boroc told INQUIRER.net on Friday via Facebook Messenger.
However, she said it was her first time to experience such discrimination in a government office.
“I was wondering po why I was judged right away. I was asking myself what happened. I was shocked po,” she explained.
Nevertheless, her second attempt to visit the local BIR branch on went smooth sailing—with the same security guard allowing her to enter inside.
Despite what she went through, she said that it was not her intention to humiliate or call out the security guard.
“Kuya guard, pasensya na po kayo sa nangyari. Sana po next time po maging mapanuri at sensitibo po kayo sir sa taong nakakausap po ninyo sir,” Boroc told INQUIRER.net.
“Sana po maging maayos po ang lahat sa inyo.”
Instead, she wants to raise awareness about the reality of persons with disabilities (PWD) experience each day.
“I’m not posting to rant but to let people know about our daily life struggles and situations. We are PWDs, [we are the] same as normal people, we have rights and privileges and exemptions,” she wrote in her post.