Amendment of decades-old PWD law pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Senior Citizen party list Rep. Rodolfo Ordanes on Monday pushed for updating the over 40-year-old law for persons with disability (PWDs) to expand its coverage to the elderly, children, and members of the LGBTQIA community.

According to Ordanes, amendments to Batas Pambansa 344 and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) are “long overdue.”

BP 344 was passed by the Batasang Pambansa, the country’s parliamentary body at the time, in December 1982 and signed into law by then-President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on Feb 25, 1983. However, its IRR was crafted only in 2003, with revisions done in July last year.

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Ordanes said that he was looking to file a bill seeking to expand the law to “explicitly” include senior citizens, children, people with special needs, and the LGBTQIA community.

“I believe there is room to add the disabilities of older seniors and people with special needs. Perhaps even the LGBTQIA concerns on access to comfort rooms or lavatories can be incorporated into the IRR,” he added.

No defined terms

“The IRR scope and application provisions can be improved to consider a wider and inclusive definition of accessibility,” he said, noting that BP 344 does not have a definition of terms.

Agencies implementing the law, Ordanes said, could also add their company, including those that did not exist back then when the law was passed.

He cited as examples the National Commission of Senior Citizens and the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, which were only recently created.

“Other provisions that need updating can also be revised. New provisions can also be added,” Ordanes said.

Another option, he noted, was to overhaul the law completely “to align it with the new ways laws are written today.”