The Palawan Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) has released a total of P525,000 as financial assistance to persons with disability (PWDs) amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of P591,000 was originally allocated to assist PWDs during the lockdown period. The remaining P66,000 was returned to the Provincial Treasurer’s Office.
According to PSWD officer Abigail Ablaña, they started giving P500 a month as social pension to around 700 indigent PWDs since 2019. She added that the office provided other forms of assistance such as giving out hearing aids, wheelchairs, and crutches.
“Last year we started our first-ever social pension for PWDs. We targeted initially 700 indigents registered with municipal LGUs (local government units),” said Ablaña. “We also partnered with the DOH (Department of Health) to provide wheelchairs when available.”
During the lockdown period, a total of P525,000 was given out as financial assistance to PWDs through
“We were able to distribute a total of P525,000 at P500 per month for each indigent PWD. This is our first program and we were also able to set up Palawan’s Persons with Disabilities Affairs Office (PDAO),” Ablaña added.
The PSWDO’s Listahanan registers nearly 6000-8000 PWDs in the province, majority of whom suffer from physical disabilities and round 5% suffer from mental and psychosocial disabilities, according to Ablaña. However, in a separate listing, Ablaña said that the actual number of PWDs in the province is around 12,000 individuals.
“Ang Listahanan nasa 6000-8000, pero ang na-register natin sa probinsya ay nasa 12,000 PWDs. Physical disabilities ang most common. Sa psychosocial disabilities, siguro nasa 5%,” said Ablaña.
The PSWDO is also proposing a project that will hand out learning materials to daycare-aged children so their parents may provide learning services while face-to-face classes are still prohibited.
“Part of our proposal for children ages 3-4 is we will purchase learning materials para kahit nasa bahay sila, ‘yong mga nanay can still provide learning opportunities. Iyon ay ang aming pino-propose ngayon,” said Ablaña.
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