Labella urged: Release financial aid to PWDs

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Council has requested the executive department to release the "much-needed" financial assistance to registered persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the city.

Councilor Alvin Dizon sponsored a resolution asking Mayor Edgardo Labella to release the aid to help the PWDs address their most basic necessities such as food, water, medicines, at this difficult time of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

"Just like our senior citizens, our PWDs have also maintenance medicines and the prolonged lockdown even make it more difficult for them to address their basic necessities," said Dizon.

Dizon said the PWD sector is one of the sectors greatly affected by the pandemic.

He said the lockdown, which has already lasted for two months, rendered them jobless given the reality that a substantial number of the PWDs are employed as massage therapists in malls and other commercial establishments.

Cognizant of their impairment which put them at a disadvantaged and marginalized position, the city government enacted City Ordinance 2456 which grants annual cash aid to qualified PWDs in the amount of P12,000 or P3,000 every quarter.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) refer to PWDs as “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."   FPL (FREEMAN)