Int'l PWD' day celebration highlighted
Motorcade, symposium, gift giving will mark the worldwide celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities in the city and province of Iloilo on December 3, 2008.
Iloilo Provincial Social Welfare Officer Neneth Pador said the observance will be highlighted with various activities to bring together persons with disabilities, concerned government agencies, the city and provincial governments, non-government organizations and the community.
A motorcade starting from the 5th District of Iloilo going to SM City Mandurriao will kick-off the event. This will be followed by a program at the SM City Activity Center and a Symposium on disability issue, all to be conducted in the morning.
A culminating activity for the HILWAI Project of the Handicap International in partnership with the concerned local government units and the Iloilo Provincial Federation of Differently Abled Persons is set in the afternoon.
The HILWAI project which is about to wrap up in the middle of December is being implemented in the 6 municipalities of Iloilo that benefited PWDs in the areas of orthopedic and rehabilitative services.
A booth manned by the representatives the different agencies that composed the Regional Council on Disability Affairs will also be put up during the day. Persons with disabilities can visit this booth to ask for the services, programs, projects, services of these agencies.
Some identified PWDs will also be recipients of packs of assorted goods, prosthetic devices and wheelchairs during the gift giving activity in the afternoon.
Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas and Oliver Pabre, HILWAI-Program Coordinator will be the keynote speakers during the opening program in the morning.
On the other hand, DSWD 6 Director Teresita Rosales, League of Municipal Mayors-Iloilo President Mayor Raul Tupas and Iloilo Sangguniang Panlalawigan Committee on Social Welfare, Senior Citizens and PWD Chairperson Jett Rojas will give messages in the culminating activity in the afternoon.
This year's observance has "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Dignity and Justice for all of us" as its theme. (PIA)