Senior Citizen and PWDs

SBN-2713: Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities

Filipino Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have been actively participating in shaping our history and contributing to the advancement of good governance.

We go back to as early as the 1896 Spanish Revolution era, where Apolinario Mabini, a sublime paralytic, wrote subversive manifestos against Spain and became the brains of the revolution1 . Moreover, he eventually drafted the framework of the revolutionary government in 1899.

In recent history, Art Borjal, who moved with leg braces and crutches, was a popular columnist and worked for the rights of the PWDs in the early 1990s2 , while polio-survivor Grace Padaca, a former Isabela governor and Ramon Magsaysay awardee, is a staunch advocate of governance and election reforms todal.

Furthermore, the National Federation of Cooperatives of Persons with Disability (NFCPWD) has worked with the Department of Education (DepEd) in producing public school chairs4. The organization has generated P80 million in the past twelve years for workers and staff with disabilities.

Still, our country’s challenge is to be truly inclusive to serve the needs of the marginalized, particularly the PWD sector. PWDs have found it difficult to gain employment and earn income for themselves and for their families. Families with PWDs have also had to worry about their daily expenses for medicine and rehabilitation.

Hence, the PWDs Tax Exemption Act of 2015 seeks to give reprieve to the plight of our PWDs and their families and be able to support them in their daily challenges.

This measure proposes for families with PWD dependents to have a yearly uniform P25,OOO tax exemption, in addition to the regular personal deductions, in order to augment their expenses – wheelchairs, hearing aids, nurses and caregivers, and learning disability tutors, among others. In addition, the act seeks to exempt PWDs from value add taxes (VAT).

Such accommodation for our PWD sector is part of our larger reform efforts in pushing for a society that is inclusive for the poor and most vulnerable sectors. It is one of our courses in our journey towards achieving a fully-abled nation.

In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly south.
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SBN-2730: Amending Secs. 32 & 33, Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities

Filipino Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have been actively participating in shaping our history and contributing to the advancement of good governance.

We go back to as early as the 1896 Spanish Revolution era, where Apolinario Mabini, a sublime paralytic, wrote subversive manifestos against Spain and became the brains of the revolution’. Moreover, he eventually drafted the framework of the revolutionary government in 1899.

In recent history, Art Borjal, who moved with leg braces and crutches, was a popular columnist and worked for the rights of the PWDs in the early 1990’s, while polio-survivor Grace Padaca, a former Isabela governor and Ramon Magsaysay awardee, is a staunch advocate of governance and election reforms todal.
Furthermore, the National Federation of Cooperatives of Persons with Disability (NFCPWD) has worked with the Department of Education (DepEd) in producing public school chairs”. The organization has generated P80 million in the past twelve years for workers and staff with disabilities5

Still, our country’s challenge is to be truly inclusive to serve the needs of the marginalized, particularly the PWD sector. PWDs have found it difficult to gain employment and earn income for themselves and for their families. Families with PWDs have also had to worry about their daily expenses for medicine and rehabilitation.

Hence, the PWDs Tax Exemption Act of 2015 seeks to give reprieve to the plight of our PWDs and their families and be able to support them in their daily challenges.

This measure proposes for families with PWD dependents to have a yearly uniform P25,OOO tax exemption, in addition to the regular personal deductions, in order to augment their expenses – wheelchairs, hearing aids, nurses and caregivers, and learning disability tutors, among others. In addition, the act seeks to exempt PWDs from value add taxes (VAT). Such accommodation for our PWD sector is part of our larger reform efforts in pushing for a society that is inclusive for the poor and most vulnerable sectors. It is one of our courses in our journey towards achieving a fully abled nation.

In view of the foregoing, the approval ofthis bill is earnestly sought.
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Bam: Strengthen Assistance to Senior Citizens

A senator has filed a bill seeking to establish a National Commission for Senior Citizens (NCSC) to look after the welfare and rights of Filipino senior citizens.

“Our Filipino senior citizens have contributed immensely to the growth and progress of the country,” Senator Bam Aquino said in his Senate Bill No. 2737 or the Senior Citizen Act of 2015.

“As they reach the twilight of their lives, it is our responsibility as a society to ensure their rights and privileges, and that proper accommodation is given to them,” he emphasized.

As a national agency, Sen. Bam said the NCSC will formulate and implement policies, plans, and programs that promote senior rights and privileges or address issues plaguing the sector.

“With sectors such as the youth, women, and persons with disabilities having a specialized body catering to their constituents, it is about time that our Filipino seniors are awarded their own commission as well to ensure that no Filipino gets left behind,” added Sen. Bam.

Under the bill, Section 11 of Republic Act 7432 or the Expanded Senior Citizen Act of 2010 will be amended, abolishing the National Coordinating and Monitoring Board and replacing it with NCSC.

It will be spearheaded by a chairperson and commissioners from a list submitted by senior citizens organizations and associations.

Regional commissions for senior citizens will also be established in different local government units to effectively address the needs of the elderly in the provinces.

Bam: Tax exemption for PWDs and Families with Dependents

Senator Bam Aquino has filed the Amendments to the Magna Carta of PWDs, which provides PWDs and families with PWD dependents a yearly uniform P25,000 tax exemption, giving them a reprieve from the daily challenges they face.

In addition, PWDs will be exempted from value added tax, in addition to their regular personal deductions if the measure is enacted into law.

“The exemption will help augment PWDs and families with PWD dependents from their expenses, from wheelchairs, hearing aids, nurses and caregivers, and learning disability tutors, among others,” added Sen. Bam.

Explaining his bill, Sen. Bam said the PWDs have found it difficult to find employment and earn income for themselves and for their families.

Aside from this, they have also had to worry about their daily expenses for medicine and rehabilitation.

“Such accommodation for our PWD sector is part of our larger reform efforts in pushing for a society that is inclusive for the poor and most vulnerable sectors.  It is one of our courses in our journey towards achieving a fully abled nation,” the senator explained.

In his measure, Sen. Bam also hailed the contribution of the PWDs in shaping the country’s history and to the advancement of good governance.

Republic Act. No. 10645 – Expanded Senior Citizens Act

[REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10645]

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE MANDATORY PHILHEALTH COVERAGE FOR ALL SENIOR CITIZENS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7432, AS AMENDED BY REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9994, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “EXPANDED SENIOR CITIZENS ACT OF 2010

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Section 5, sub-paragraph h(2) of Republic Act No. 7432, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

“SEC. 5. Government Assistance. – The government shall provide the following:

“x x x

“(h) Additional Government Assistance

“(1) x x x

“(2) Mandatory PhilHealth Coverage

“All senior citizens shall be covered by the national health insurance program of PhilHealth. Funds necessary to ensure the enrollment $f all senior citizens not currently covered by any existing category shall be sourced from the National Health Insurance Fund of PhilHealth from proceeds of Republic Act No. 10351, in accordance with the pertinent laws and regulations.

“(3) x x x.”

SEC. 2. Repealing Clause. – All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and regulations, or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SEC. 3. Effectivity. – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or ill at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

 

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Senate Bill No. 2117: Filipino Sign Language Act in Broadcast Media of 2014

In a truly inclusive society, the welfare of the poor and the marginalized are always upheld, and nobody gets left behind in the push for development.

In the same vein, a society that values transparency must always ensure that information transmitted through mass media is made accessible especially to the more ~vulnerable sectors of society, especially persons with disabilities (PWDs) and those with hearing impairments.

This bill seeks to require the broadcast of television programs and showing of motion pictures and other audio-visual presentation with “closed captions” (CC), and providing penalties of violation thereof to respond to the needs of hearing-impaired individuals.

“Closed captioning”, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States government, “allows persons with hearing disabilities to have access to television programming by displaying the audio portion of a television program as text on the television screen.”i

Moreover, the FCC website states that closed captioning “provides a critical link to news, entertainment and information for [the hearing-impaired] … Captions also help improve literacy skills.”

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) states: “The prevalence of disabling hearing loss in children is greatest in South Asia, Asia Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa,” with the Asia Pacific as the region with the second highest incidence next to South Asia, Moreover, “In children, prevalence decreases exponentially as gross national income per capita (GNI) increases,” and “in most regions, prevalence in children decreases linearly as parent’s literacy rate increases.” Meanwhile, “in adults of 65 years and older, prevalence decreases exponentially as income increases.”

This means that a poor individuals that are either deaf, mute or hard of hearing have a lesser chance of accessing information through mass media.

In the Philippines, 1.23% of the entire population is either deaf, mute, or hearing impaired. As of 2009, the projected deaf population is already at 241,624 for those who are totally deaf and 275,912 for those who are partially deaf. That means that at least 517,536 people currently have very limited access to media and information because of their hearing impaired ness.

We firmly believe that, as the late great President Ramon Magsaysay had said, “those who have less in life should have more in law.” Therefore, this bill seeks to provide to hearing impaired Filipinos a luxury which many of us take for granted.

By making closed captioning compulsory for all franchise holders of operators of television stations, producers of television programs, home video programs, and motion pictures, we seek to open access to information, learning, and entertainment to Filipinos who are currently denied this basic right.

In view of the foregoing, immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

 

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