House OKs ‘in principle’ bill granting P750 monthly cash aid to PWDs during pandemic

FILE A person with disability. — INQUIRER VISAYAS/ HAZEL P. VILLA

MANILA, Philippines — The House Special Committee on Person with Disabilities (PWDs) on Wednesday approved “in principle” a bill that seeks to provide emergency health grants to PWDs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

House Bill (HB) No. 7180, known as the “COVID-19 Emergency Health Grant for Persons with Disabilities Act,” seeks to provide targeted financial assistance to PWDs to help cover disability related costs worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bill was introduced by Negros Occidental Rep. Luli Arroyo in July 2020, a few months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and local transmissions drove most parts of the country into massive lockdowns and closed off various commercial establishments from the public.

“Persons with disabilities, unlike those without disabilities, are constrained by their physical, mental or psychosocial impairments… sadly, it is not accounted for in existing anti-poverty measures of the government,” said Arroyo, also chairperson of the committee, in her explanatory note.

Committee member Bukidnon Rep. Malou Acosta-Alba asked that a technical working group be created to further discuss the bill.

Under Section 5 of HB 7180, all PWDs verified and certified by the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Council for Disability Affairs “shall be entitled to a monthly health grant of P750 to augment his or her daily subsistence during the COVID-19 crisis, subject to existing government auditing rules and regulations.”

This will be “regardless of their age and socio-economic status.”

The committee also approved “in principle” four other bills: HB No. 7753, which declares the last week of September as “National Week of the Deaf,” and September 23 as “Filipino Sign Language Day”; HB No. 8590 and 9203, which provides lifetime validity to PWD identification cards; and HB No. 9243, which grants additional benefits to PWDs.

The TWG will have further discussion and consolidation of the said bills to prepare a final committee report.

EDV