Burger delight for PWD athletes

(Disability rights advocate JP Maunes gives PADS members golden ‘patty’ opportunity)

CEBU, Philippines —  At first, he only prepared burger for his wife Mai-Mai to eat while on duty as chief nurse at a private  hospital in Mandaue City.

In a snap, he thought of making six more burgers because he still has a lot of extra ingredients left and  then decided to sell it online.

To his surprise, it was sold-out instantly.

Due to a sudden wave of request from his friends who have seen his Facebook post on that very same day, he was forced to produce additional 20 burgers that were all bought in just a matter of minutes.

And the orders kept on rising each day.

That prompted Cebuano disability rights advocate John Paul “JP” Ecarma Maunes to venture into online  business he named Dubby’s Ultimate Burgers.

In a span of two weeks, Dubby’s became a big hit among burger lovers in Metro Cebu as evident by the  multitude of positive reviews and comments by their satisfied customers on their FB page.

To meet the increasing demand of orders and maintain the top grade quality of their burgers and customer service, Maunes said they hired athletes with disabilities and volunteers from PADS Adaptive Dragonboat

Racing Team and Philippine Accessible Disability Services Inc. (PADS).

“We hired PWD athletes who were displaced and really needed help in these trying times to help us in the  kitchen and food delivery,” said Maunes, who now have at least a dozen PWDs under PADS in his employ. “We  want to mobilize them so they will have an income in this time of crisis.”

Maunes founded PADS (then known as Gualandi Volunteer Service Programme) in 2005 when he was still a 21-year-old college student buoyed by his ardent desire “to enable the People With Disability (PWDs) community “to grow and develop as independent, integrated,fully human and empowered citizens in the society.”

Maunes, a registered nurse like his wife, is also the man behind the PADS Adaptive Dragonboat Racing Team, the country’s first ever cross-disability adaptive dragon boat racing team that has been making waves both on the national and international stage since its inception in 2017.

In August last year, PADS Dragonboat Racing Team wrote history when they represented the Philippines during the first ever paradragon category of the 14th International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) World Nations Championships in Pattaya, Thailand. They won four gold medals spiked with a world record.

Maunes said helping the differently-abled individuals has always been the longing of his heart and it felt like a dream come true for him that opportunity presents suddenly through his mastery in whipping up palatable burgers.

“I want to give them an opportunity to make themselves productive during this pandemic,” said Maunes, a proud father of two in Chesko, 4, and Fonzo, 1 year old. “It’s also a dream come true for me. Ever since, I really  want to help these PWDs get work and now that it has become a reality, it’s like living the ultimate dream.”

“Seeing their happy faces because they have an income at the time they needed most is very gratifying.

The feeling is indescribable,” added Maunes. “Somehow we also achieved our goal at PADS to empower PWDs through sports. They have applied in their work the discipline they developed during training that is why I’m very proud of the standard quality of our burgers and customer service.”

Maunes said that if, by God’s grace and providence, he will be able to put up a restaurant one day, he will make sure that 99 percent of his staff are PWDs.

Maunes wants to let the community know that along with patronizing their mouth-watering burgers is a noble cause of making a difference in the lives of differently- abled individuals.

“So in return, we will together spearhead this initiative in empowering Cebuanos with disabilities  every time you order our burgers. The more burgers you eat, the more PWDs we will employ in the future,” Maunes wrote on his FB page.

“Thus, eating our burgers will not only make you feel good, it will also entitle you take ownership of our  vision of the disability-inclusive society,” he ended.