ASP Joins 1st Quezon City PWD Summit

As part of the pre-celebration of the 33rd National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation (NDPR) Week, the Office of Quezon City Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte conducted the 1st Person with Disability (PWD) Summit at the Occupational Health and Safety Center Auditorium, North Avenue, Quezon City.

ASP Executive Director, Ranil Sorongon and Trustee, Carmel Almendrala, who chairs ASP’s Advocacy Committee, representing six (6) ASP Quezon City Chapters from Commonwealth, Diliman, Lagro, Munoz, Novalichez and Project 6-Cubao; participated together with more than 250 stake holders, mostly PWDs, with the participation of the parents of children with disabilities, non-government organizations and the academes from Quezon City.

The Hon. Mayor Herbert Bautista gave an inspiring message to his constituents and revisited some laws related to PWDs during his tenure as Vice Mayor and re-affirmed his commitment to support the programs and services of the city for PWD.

Hon. Vice-Mayor Joy Belmonte gave the welcome remarks. Hon. Alfred Vargas, a staunch advocate of PWDs and Hon. Calalay, the Chairman of the Committee on Social Services; both from the City Council of QC, attended and signified their support to PWD.

Participants with ASP Trustee Carmel Almendrala (in green) during the Summit

Participants were divided into specific disability groups, with parents and the members of non-government organizations in one group and the academe in another group. The two separate groups discussed issues and concerns affecting their sub-sector.

They were also asked to come up with their respective recommendations on how to address such issues. ASP Trustee, Carmel Almendrala was chosen by the group of parents to report the results of their discussion in the plenary.

ASP Trustee Carmel Almendrala (inset) reported the result of their discussion

Other invited guests were Dr. Janairo from the Center for Health Development of Metro Manilawho spoke on the different disabilities; Ms. Flerida Labanon of the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of PWDs (UNCRPD) and Republic 9442 or the Magna Carta for PWDs; Ms. Luz Cabauatan, in behalf of Ms. Teresa Mariano of the Social Services Development Department of Quezon City (QC-SSDD), on the programs and services for PWDs of the city government and Mrs. Garcia, on behalf of Mrs. Vargas from the Department of Education, National Capital Region (Dep-Ed NCR) on the initiatives of their department.

The PWD sector would like to express its gratitude to Mayor Bautista, Vice Mayor Belmonte, the QC City Council and all the sponsors of the 1st PWD Summit.

We hope that the summit will serve as a vehicle in “Making the Rights Real of PWD Living in QC”