3,500 disabled driving on RP streets

More than 3,500 disabled people, including visually and hearing-impaired persons in the country have licenses to drive motor vehicles, according to the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP).

The NCWDP said that the statistic proved that the Philippine government does not discriminate on the disabled, even when it comes to their right to drive vehicles.

The NCWDP said that of the 3,521 people with disabilities (PWDs) who were given driver’s licenses by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) as of March 2002, 2,550 were partially blind, 56 were hearing and speech impaired, 777 were lower limb-impaired and 138 were upper limb impaired.

Marlou Evangelista of the NCWDP stressed that the 3,521 PWDS were considered as "partially disabled". She said that no totally blind person was issued a license to drive by the LTO.

It will be recalled that the LTO several years ago was placed in "hot water" when a blind person in Pampanga revealed that he was able to get a driver’s license with the agency.

The LTO got off the hook when the blind person later admitted that he was able to get the license with the help of an acquaintance who claimed to be him and secured the driver’s license.

The Star tried to contact LTO Director Roberto Lastimoso and his spokesman Mariano Gui to comment on the issuance of driver’s license to PWDs but they were unavailable for interview at the LTO head office yesterday.

President Arroyo declared last Aug. 26 the Philippines’ observance of its own Decade for Disabled Persons from 2002 to 2012, noting that the Asia Pacific Decade for the Disabled Person was not enough for the country to address the needs and welfare of the disabled sector.