PDP-Laban senatorial bet Salvador Panelo has batted for legislation that will uphold the rights and welfare of children with special needs.
Panelo, a lawyer and former chief legal counsel and spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte, bared that his advocacy for children with special needs is motivated by his own personal experience.
“I had a son with Down syndrome, and my wife and I experienced firsthand the difficulties and challenges in caring for a special child. Education and therapy are very expensive” Panelo said.
Panelo’s son, Carlo, passed away in 2017.
According to the former chief presidential legal counsel and Malacanang spokesperson, there are 5.1 million kids that are born with deficiencies in the country.
“They are little angels, sent to us by God to show our humanity to them. How we treat special children is a reflection of us as a society and as individuals,” Panelo added.
The PDP-Laban senatorial candidate laments that even though Republic Act 7277 or the “Magna Carta for Disabled Persons” was passed in 1992, its provisions have yet to be fully implemented.
“Thirty years have passed and we have yet to see the fruits of the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. It’s high time our lawmakers look into the government’s shortcomings with regards to this law, and introduce amendments, allocate proper funding for it, or introduce new laws,” Panelo said.
Panelo wants to obligate the government to provide free special education and therapy sessions for children with special needs as well as to establish care facilities for special children throughout the country.
“Providing free therapy and special education will help alleviate the plight of special children and their families. These will also help in making these special children be more self-reliant, as much as their faculties would allow. The establishment of care facilities, on the other hand, solves the problem of parents as to who will take care of the kids if the parents pass away ahead of them,” Panelo added.