BAGUIO CITY – The city’s Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office (PDAO), the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Clark International Airport Corporation (CIAC) successfully conducted a Symposium on Public Transport Policies for PWDs last Monday at the function room of the City Health Services Office (CHSO).
PDAO head Dr. Samuel Aquino said that the conduct of the symposium was timely making the city’s PWD sector fully aware of the ongoing programs, projects and initiatives of concerned government agencies and the private sector in making public transportation safer and accessible to them.
He lauded the DOTr and CIAC officials for engaging the city’s PWD sector in the symposium as it provided them with a clearer perspective on the various initiatives being undertaken to make the country’s public transportation friendly to all sectors that will pave the way for increased mobility among the people regardless of status in life.
For his part, CIAC president and chief executive officer Joseph Jojit Alcazar claimed that the Clark international airport is compliant to global aviation standards that include PWD-friendly facilities and services to ensure a comfortable, convenient, safe and hustle-free travel experience for all in-bound and out-bound travelers.
He assured members of the city’s PWD sector that the private operator of the airport continues to closely collaborate with the CIAC and the DOTr to make sure that its operations adhere to established standards for the benefit of all travelers patronizing the airport for their domestic and foreign travels.
The CIAC official rallied the PWDs to try to fly via the Clark international airport for them to experience world class services that had been in place for the convenience and comfort of travelers.
On the other hand, Arch. Alexis Gabriel Doroteo of the DOTr’s Road Transport and Infrastructure Sector said that the agency was able to put in place numerous PWD-friendly programs and projects in airports, roads, train stations and other public transport facilities for the convenience and comfort of the PWDs as enshrined in existing laws, rules and regulations.
He claimed that the DOTr programs and projects for the safety of PWDs had been implemented in the different parts of the country to guarantee the safe and accessible mobility of the PWD sector and ensure the compliance of public transportation to the prescribed standards.
CIAC investment and promotion officer Jen Bugarin-Tan informed the symposium attendees that the airport has visible signages, sufficient wheelchairs and other PWD aids, enough comfort rooms for all, including the members of the LGBTQ plus community, available trained staff to assist PWDs, among others, that travelers could avail when using the airport as their fly-out and fly-in venue.
She emphasized that the airport facilities are designed in compliance to international standards that is why it is able to cater to the travel requirements of all kinds of travelers, including the PWDs.
More than 50 PWDs, parents and guardians of PWDs and concerned sectors attended the said educational symposium and were elated to learn about the interventions being implemented by the concerned government agencies and the private sector to achieve a safer and accessible public transportation for everyone. By Dexter A. See
