(Last of a series)
Persons with disabilities enjoy special protection.
Lawyer Earl Bonachita, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Cebu City chapter, said Persons With Disabilities (PWD) are protected under Batas Pambansa 344 or the An Act Enhancing the Mobility of Disabled Persons; Republic Act 7277 or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons; R.A. 9442 or the Law Amending the Magna Carta for Disbled Persons; and R.A. 10070 an act establishing institutional mechanism to ensure implementation of prgrams for disabled persons in every province, city, and municipality.
Under the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, PWDs “have the same rights as other people to take their proper place in society.”
“They should be able to live freely and as independently as possible. The rehabilitation of the disabled persons shall be the concern of the government in order to foster their capability to attain a more meaningful, productive and satisfying life,” the law states.
“A qualified disabled employee shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a qualified able-bodied person,” the law states.
Anyone who violates the law protecting the PWDs shall face imprisonment of not less than two years but not more than six years or fine of not less than 100,000 but not more than 200,000 or both.
Judge Meinrado Paredes said facilities of the government should also be PWD-friendly.
For one, he said the Palace of Justice in Cebu City still doesn’t have an elevator and special comfort rooms that can be used by PWDs.
“We have been requesting the Supreme Court but nothing happened,” he said.
Support
With deficiencies in government services, PWDs sometime rely on members of the community to move around.
Phoebe Francisco, 29, for one, is grateful that there are persons who help her every time she boards a public utility vehicles.
Francisco does not have legs since she was born. She crawl or use her wheelchairs to move.
She now works as a manicurist and is among the graduates of the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC), a facility operated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in barangay Labangon, Cebu City.
Jaybee Binghay, information officer of the DSWD in Central Visayas, said they have been accommodating around 70 PWDs every year.