More than one hundred persons with disability (PWDs) recently benefitted from the one-day offsite voters registration conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in partnership with the city’s PWD Affairs Office (PDAO) last July 30, 2024.
PDAO head Dr. Samuel G. Aquino said that the conduct of the offsite voters registration exclusively for PWDs was successful with the hope that the same activity be replicated in various public places in the city before the end of the ongoing registration on September 30, 2024.
Aside from availing of the offsite voters registration, the PWDs also benefitted from the conduct of the registration for the issuance of the national identification cards that was administered by personnel from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Benguet field office.
“We would like to express our gratitude to our PWDs who sacrificed their time to avail of the offsite voters registration and the issuance of the national identification card. We truly appreciate their efforts in wanting to participate in our programs, projects and activities so that their voices will also be heard,” Aquino stressed.
Earlier, the PDAO and the Comelec Baguio field office rallied PWDs to avail of the exclusive offsite voters registration for PWDs for them to be registered voters or to update their existing records with the poll body.
The PDAO head claimed that the data of the city government on the number of PWDs that were issued PWD identification cards does not tally with the number of PWDs that are registered voters in the various city barangays, thus, the need for PWDs to update their records with the Comelec until the prescribed deadline for the ongoing voters registration by the end of September.
Based on the data obtained from PDAO, there are some 8,200 PWDs from the different city barangays who were already issued the necessary PWD identification cards that is valid for five years for them to avail of the appurtenant benefits and privileges attached to it.
Aquino clarified that the issuance of PWDs to individuals is dependent on the severity of their disability or illness based on the assessment and recommendation of medical experts. By Dexter A. See
