QUEZON City Rep. Patrick Michael Vargas has filed a bill seeking the grant of a P2,000 monthly support allowance for persons with disabilities, saying they need “equitable solutions to overcome the barriers of poverty.”
Vargas’ House Bill No. (HB) 5803 or the “Disability Support Allowance Bill” aims to establish a social protection program to support persons with disabilities and their families.
The bill noted that persons with disabilities represent at least 12 percent of the adult population in the country who “face significant barriers in accessing education and health care, community and citizenship participation, and seizing economic opportunities.”
“Because of multiple socio-economic barriers, persons with disabilities have less income and more expenses than those without disabilities, and under the COVID-19 crisis, their economic vulnerabilities have intensified further preventing them and their families from escaping poverty,” Vargas said in the bill.
“In a just and humane society that leaves no one behind, it is important that we ensure equitable access and empower persons with disabilities to free themselves and their families from the poverty trap,” he said.
The bill’s passage is being pushed by advocacy groups Life Haven Center for Independent Living, Nationwide Organization of Visually Impaired Empower Ladies (NOVEL), and the Philippine Coalition on United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Persons with disabilities, as defined in the bill, “include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others”.
Persons who may fall in this definition are, but not limited to, the following: persons with psychosocial disability, person with autism, person with down syndrome, person who are blind, person with low vision, person hard of hearing, deaf, person with rare diseases, and all other person who will be certified under the proposed disability assessment and determination system.
The disability support allowance bill was first filed in the 18th Congress by Vargas’ brother and predecessor, former Rep. Alfred Vargas but it remained pending in the committee level.
For the 19th Congress, advocates of the bill lobbied for a progressive roll-out based on age to prioritize children with disabilities, hoping to increase its chances of passing into law.
The progressive rollout strategy mandates the program to first cover all children with disabilities, aged 17 and below, for a maximum time frame of three years.
For another three years, the second phase of the program shall expand the coverage to include persons with disabilities aged 18 to 59 years old. Its final phase shall seek to expand the coverage to the rest of the population of persons with disabilities.
