DSWD’s center for PWDs turns 39

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC II) turns 39 this year and aims at strengthening its ties with its partner organizations.

DSWD-7 Director Mercedita Jabagat said AVRC II has helped thousands of persons with disabilities (PWDs) find jobs, including visually impaired, hearing and speech impaired and orthopedically handicapped.

DSWD-7 information officer Kerwin Macopia said it was in 1974 when DSWD saw the need for a place where differently-abled individuals could maximize their functioning abilities. The result was the AVRC II that caters to a multi-disability group of clientele in the entire Visayas region.

Since then, AVRC II has been in the forefront of providing human resource development to PWDs through various skills enhancement program which will encourage them to integrate into the community, Macopia said.

“I encourage our stakeholders and the rest of the community to give on PWDs a chance to prove their selves that they can also work like normal people,” Jabagat said during the founding anniversary celebration at the AVRC II in Labangon, Cebu City.

As a non-residential institution, AVRC II provides various courses ranging from Therapeutic Massage, Electronic Motor Repair, Computer Electronics, Basic Sewing, Furniture and Cabinet Making, Commercial Cooking and Cosmetology.

Macopia said that just recently, two batches of AVRC students successfully passed the massage therapy licensure examination conducted by the Department of Health (DOH). In fact, Olymer Adiva, 24, a partially blind masseur, ranked third in the nationwide licensure examination.

“The success of our clients is also the success of AVRC and to the rest of the DSWD family,” Jabagat added.

For years, reliable partners and stakeholders had contributed to the success of AVRC II. Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) like the Cebu Centennial Lion’s Club, Rotary Club of Cebu West, and Tzu Chi Foundation have been donating logistical supplies regularly to the center and to the trainees themselves.

Meanwhile, the Mactan Cebu International Airport Authority (MCIAA)  has given a space for a blind therapist to offer therapeutic massage to passengers at the lobby of the airport in the last 14 years.  The Department of Education (DepEd) also supported the center through its Alternative Learning System (ALS).

“I’m truly grateful for the strong partnership and I hope it will last long until we reach our golden anniversary,” Jabagat said.  (FREEMAN)