AKAPIN espouses rights of persons with disabilities

AKAPIN (Asosasyon ng mga may Kapansanan sa Pilipinas) partylist has espoused for the acceptance of persons with disabilities, or PWDs, as partners of development and not mere subjects of charity.

Lawyer Jonathan Capanas, of AKAPIN partylist that is vying for a congressional seat in the May 14 elections, said that Republic Act 7277, or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, have remained ineffective since its enactment 15 years ago, as of yesterday.

Capanas said that people in this sector must be empowered through the granting of opportunities for quality education and employment.

"Access to quality education is greatly hampered since government always use the excuse, no available funds," Capanas said. "Without quality education, who would ever want to hire them without the needed skills."

AKAPIN is vying to obtain a seat in Congress and have a voice of some eight million PWDs nationwide that should be provided with proper education to make them productive to society and help the country address the problem of poverty.

"We dismally fail in implementing the Magna Carta, in terms of education and employment," said Capanas citing that barely 2 percent of public elementary schools cater to the education needs of children in the sector.

The country’s education system lacks teachers with skills in handling and training PWDs, and this is what AKAPIN wants to resolve, including the education of parents and relatives on how to care and teach these people.

Capanas said poor countries, like the Philippines, have higher number of PWDs because of poverty but this could be reversed through education and employment so that they would be productive.

Wilson Ramos, the provincial head of the Cebu Provincial Federation of Persons with Disabilities, said there are 70,000 PWDs in Central Visayas and there are 47 local governments that have already organized groups of the sector to carry on AKAPIN’s political campaign.

Provincial Board Member Victor Maambong meanwhile pushed for the approval of House Bill 1214 and Senate Bill 2580 that would amend RA 7277 and provide additional privileges and benefits to PWDs.

Maambong said the bills intend to grant similar benefits as those of senior citizens, such as exemptions from income tax, and grant of discounts in restaurants, medicines, medical and hospital services, and transportation and travel.

Maambong filed a resolution asking Congress to approve the bills and have it enacted to help PWDs be "integrated into the mainstream of society." — Ferliza C. Contratista and Garry B. Lao/RAE