VARIOUS organizations of persons with disabilities on Sunday protested the House leadership’s decision to withhold the transmittal of the PWD bill to the Palace for signing of the President into law.
Principally authored by senatorial bet Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, the PWD bill seeks to exempt the sector from the payment of 12-percent value added tax on certain goods and services.
Manuel Agcaoili, president and chief operating officer of Tahanang Walang Hagdanan Inc., and Emer Rojas, Cancer Alleviation Network on Care Education and Rehabilitation party-list nominee, said House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte has no reason to archive Romualdez’s House Bill 1039 in the Bills and Index Service after Congress ratified the measure last year.
The Bills and Index Service of the House of Representatives is headed by Director Alfredo Recella, who is reportedly evading media and
PWD stakeholders’ inquiries on the status of the PWD bill.
According to Agcaoili, Director Dante Roberto “Bobby” Maling of the House Secretary General’s office allegedly sent word two weeks ago to withhold the transmittal of the PWD measure to Malacañang.
No reason was given for the stopping of the transmittal, Agcaoili said.
Agcaoili, also president of the Philippine Foundation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled Inc., said Romualdez’s PWD bill was ratified by the House and Senate two and a half months ago, before Congress adjourned for a Christmas break.
Agcaoili expressed worries that the Romualdez bill would suffer the same fate as that of the measure granting a P2,000 increase in the Social Security System pension for senior citizens.
The SSS pension hike bill was vetoed by the President due to lack of funds.
Belmonte and Senate President Franklin Drilon, who are both seeking a reelection, signed the ratified bill for transmittal to Malacañang.
Belmonte could not offer an explanation on why the transmittal was withheld when it was already ready with House Secretary General Marilyn Barua-Yap also signing the transmittal form.
“We believe Speaker Belmonte has a good heart for us after he signed the bill. He can further champion our rights and recognize us as one of the marginalized sectors of society by transmitting the measure to Malacañang immediately,” Agcaoili pointed out, lamenting that the 16th Congress is about to end this June and parents “have been carrying the burden of taking care of PWD-children especially with the lack of government support to their sector.”
“Speaker Belmonte and Senate President Drilon have signed the measure and this should have already been transmitted to Malacanang. We would like to know once and for all if the President will sign or veto it like what happened to the SSS bill,” explained Agcaoili, who was very active during the congressional deliberations of the proposal.
“Inaasahan na po ng aming sektor ito. Maganda ang malasakit ng panukalang ito ni Congressman Romualdez para sa amin,” Agcaoili stressed.
He said there were almost 10 million physically and mentally-disabled persons in the country or 10 percent of the country’s 100 million population based on the estimates by the World Health Organization in the third world countries.
But the Philippine Statistics Authority only pegged the number of PWDs in the country at almost 1.5 million.
Agcaoili added that the PWD measure will address the discrimination in their sector as they would be put on equal footing with senior citizens who also enjoy such benefits as non-payment of the VAT on top of getting 20-percent discount on several goods and services.
For his part, Rojas, a PWD leader, said their sector “needs exemption more than anyone else” because most of them do not belong to the mainstream work force.
“The persons with disabilities belong to the most deprived and vulnerable sector. The VAT exemption shall mean a lot especially to those buying medicines and getting constant medical attention. Diseases like cancer and heart disease entail so much medical cost. We need that,” said Rojas, a speech-impaired person and a cancer survivor.
Romualdez, who ran unopposed in the last polls and a former chairman of the House committee on ethics and privileges, was joined by Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, chairman of the House committee on ways and means, in pushing for the proposal.
The PWD bill’s counterpart in the Senate was co-authored by Senator Juan Eduardo Sonny Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means that deliberated on the measure; Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto who is a reelectionist; Senators Bam Aquino and Nancy Binay.
The PWD bill would allow the relatives, up to the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity to claim a tax deduction of P25,000 in their annual income tax.
Romualdez, whose key platform focuses on jobs creation, improvement on health services, education, agriculture and disaster preparedness, reiterated his PWD bill is an equalizing measure because this will accord PWDs exactly the same privilege enjoyed by senior citizens who are exempted from the VAT by virtue of Republic Act 9994.
Romualdez said the proposed VAT exemption for PWDs shall apply to the following: medical and dental services; purchase of medicines in all drugstores; public railways, skyways and bus fare; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses, concert halls, circuses, carnivals and other places of culture, leisure and amusement; and all services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants, and recreation centers.
The enactment of the bill into law would exempt PWDs from paying the 12-percent VAT on top of the 20 percent discount they were entitled to on particular goods and services.
At present, under the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, PWDs are entitled to a 20-percent discount on certain goods such as medicines, hospital and laboratory work, hotel stay, local transport fares and theatre admission.
The Romualdez bill added funeral services and burial expenses to the list of assistance and benefits to be accorded the PWDs.