A NEOPHYTE solon has filed a bill seeking to provide a monthly support allowance worth P2,000 for Filipino persons with disabilities.

In filing House Bill 5803, Quezon City Rep. PM Vargas said persons with disabilities (PWDs) need equitable solutions to overcome the barriers of poverty.

Some groups like the Life Haven Center for Independent Living, Nationwide Organization of Visually-Impaired Empower Ladies (NOVEL), and the Philippine Coalition on United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are lobbying for the “Disability Support Allowance Bill.”

The bill aims to establish a social protection program to support persons with disabilities and their families.

HB 5803 stated that persons with disabilities represent at least 12 percent of the adult population in the country and face significant barriers in accessing education and health care, community and citizenship participation, and seizing economic opportunities.

“Because of multiple socio-economic barriers, persons with disabilities have less income and more expenses than those without disabilities, and under the COVID-19 crisis, their economic vulnerabilities have intensified further preventing them and their families from escaping poverty,” Vargas said.

“In a just and humane society that leaves no one behind, it is important that we ensure equitable access and empower persons with disabilities to free themselves and their families from the poverty trap,” Vargas added.

Persons with disabilities, as defined in the bill, “include 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”.

Persons who may fall in this definition are, but not limited to, the following: persons with psychosocial disability, person with autism, person with down syndrome, person who are blind, person with low vision, person with hard of hearing, deaf, person with rare diseases, and all other person who will be certified under the proposed disability assessment and determination system.

In the last decades, the country has adopted a set of measures to support persons with disabilities, including the disability discount that grants 20 percent off to persons with disabilities, the mandatory and subsidized PhilHealth membership, which is supposed to cover the healthcare needs of persons with disabilities, and the 4Ps program, which invests in the education of indigent children, including those with disabilities.

However, the said programs have significant limitations in who can benefit from them.

The Disability Support Allowance Bill was first filed in the 18th Congress by Vargas’ brother and predecessor, former Rep. Alfred Vargas. The first version of the bill focused on socio-economic status, instead of age, but remained pending in the Committee level.

The veteran solon is hopeful that President Marcos will reiterate President Duterte’s declaration of transitioning to nuclear energy as a national energy strategy.