BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office Cordillera Administrative Region (DSWD-FO-CAR) in partnership with the city government of Baguio conducted a Training on Basic Filipino Sign Language on 7 November 2024 to capacitate public assistance officers of the different line agencies and local governments, members of the Regional Committee on Disability Affairs (RCDA), as well as partners from non-government organizations.
DSWD-FO-CAR Regional Director Maria A. Catbagan-Aplaten said that the activity will help the government personnel to become bridges in transforming how we communicate with the deaf in our communities.
“I encourage everyone to take five principles to heart – serve with sensitivity, integrate inclusivity, grow in understanding, nurture relationships and strengthen the rights of all. These principles are call to action for us all to be bearers of positive change and compassion, ” Aplaten said in her message.
The training was conducted as part of the Deaf Awareness Week which was celebrated on 10 to 16 November 2024 with the theme “Overcoming Challenges: Fostering Inclusivity”.
“I am happy to see this activity come into in reality as this was part of our request during the RCDA Meeting. We will continue to support the DSWD FO CAR in its endeavors in further advocating for the rights of our PWD sector,” Baguio City Persons with Disability Affairs Officer Samuel G. Aquino said. As members of the RCDA, sessions during the training were handled by experts on Basic Filipino Sign Language from the City Persons with Disability Affairs Office including Karen Joy A. Lang-ay and Christopher Catbagan. Volunteers Karla Paungan and Eleanor Dalupan from the Deaf Association of Baguio City and Lhone Ezekiel Sango from PDAO provided experiential learning to the participants.
With the passage of Republic Act No. 11106 entitled “An Act Declaring the Filipino Sign Language (FSL) as the National Sign Language of the Filipino Deaf and the Official Sign Language of Government in all Transactions involving the Deaf, and Mandating its Use in Schools, Broadcast Media, and Workplaces”, the FSL has been mandated to be the official language of the Filipino deaf employed in the civil service and in all government workplaces. It further encourages all government offices to take reasonable measures to support the use of FSL among its deaf and hearing employees.
“By learning FSL, we honor the dignity of the deaf community, affirming their right to equal access to information and representation. Let us be champions of inclusion, role models in our respective fields, and leaders in making sure that Filipino Sign Language is used in different transactions in our communities”, Director Catbagan-Aplaten shared. By Nerizza Faye G. Villanueva-Trinidad
