City creates Office of Persons with Disability Affairs
Mayor Evelio Leonardia signed City Ordinance No. 519, dated February 17, 2010, creating the Office of Persons with Disability Affairs.
This is an Ordinance created to benefit Persons with Disability in the city, providing them with a legitimate office and an annual budget of P250,000 and will be manned by a PWD Affairs Officer and 2 other personnel taken from a pool of PWD employees of the city. The budget for this office is for its administrative and operational requirements on the basis of approved Work and Financial Plan of Department of Social Welfare and Development in favor of the City Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons.
Per the Ordinance, Batas Pambansa 344, otherwise known as the Accessibility Law, mandates all local government units to promote a barrier-free physical environment for persons with disability.
The Magna Carta for Disabled Persons states that the rehabilitation of PWDs shall be the concern of Government in order to foster their capacity to attain a more meaningful, productive and satisfying life.
Proclamation 240, the Ordinance further states, or the proclamation of the year 2003 to 2013 as the Philippine Decade of the Disabled, directs all LGUs at the national and local levels, to develop and implement programs and activities that will encourage active participation of persons with disabilities in social and economic activities in their communities.
