BAGUIO CITY March 26 – The city government apologized to the persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the city for the alleged failure of city officials to prioritize their basic needs during the implementation of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said he will be getting the inputs of the Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office (PDAO) and the City Council Committee on Employment, Livelihood, Cooperatives and PWDs on the needs of the PWDs in the city’s barangays so that concerned offices will know what to provide as assistance to them during the quarantine period.
He underscored the local government will continue to extend to the vulnerable and marginalized sectors the appropriate assistance for them to survive the prevailing crisis caused by the government’s aggressive fight against the deadly virus.
Earlier, PWDS, especially the masseurs who lost their jobs due to the stoppage of the operation of massage clinics in the city, called on the concerned government agencies and the city government to help them and their families survive the crisis during the enhanced quarantine period.
The city mayor assured the PWD sector the local government will provide them whatever available assistance for them to have the food that will allow them to cope with the prevailing situation until the possible lifting of the enhanced community quarantine by April 15, 2020.
Part of the assistance that could be extended by the city government to the PWDs in the city’s barangays will be the relief packs containing several kilos of rice, several canned goods, noodles, sugar, cooking oil for to tide them over from the lost income from being masseurs in the different massage parlors in the city since the declaration of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine.
The PDAO and the City Council Committee on Employment, Livelihood, Cooperatives and PWDs were asked to immediately conduct an inventory on the number of PWDs in the city’s barangays so that concerned offices of the city can apportion the appropriate number of relief packs to be provided to the prospective beneficiaries as the PWDs are part of the vulnerable and marginalized sectors in the city.
Further, barangays were also requested to provide the PDAO and the concerned committee of the City Council the needed data on the number of PWDs in their areas of jurisdiction to ensure that the assistance extended by the city will go to those who really need the same.
He explained it was not the intention of the city government to leave out the PWDs in the sectors that should be provided with the assistance coming from concerned government agencies and the city but it was just an oversight on the part of city officials but for sure, the city government’s assistance to them will be forthcoming in the next several days.
By Dexter A. See
