By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Provincial Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) together with the other concerned government agencies will be holding accessibility audit on the three remaining towns this coming February.
Paolo Castillo, who heads the Provincial Disability Affairs Office (PDAO), said in an interview Monday, they started the accessibility audit last year with the goal of assisting the 18 local government units in the province to comply with Batas Pambansa 344 or the law that mandates institutions to install facilities and other devices for the mobility of disabled persons.
“During the accessibility audit, we look into the PDAO office,” he said.
“We also check if there is a PDAO council that takes care of the concerns of the PWDs,” Castillo added.
Castillo said that during their accessibility audit last year they were only able to cover 15 towns due to the distance of the municipalities and accessibility of their partners from the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Public Works and Highways.
“We will resume the accessibility audit on February 6 to 8 in the remaining towns of San Jose de Buenavista, Belison, and Bugasong,” he said.
He said that once they complete the accessibility audit, they will come up with a recommendation for the local government units for their adoption.
“So far, in our previous visits we have found out that some local government units do not have PDAO office or council formed yet,” he said.
Among the lacking facilities are the ramps and handrails for PWDs not only in the PDAO offices if there are, but also in the municipal hall and in other government offices.
Aside from conducting the accessibility audit, the PDAO also holds advocacy on the rights and privileges of PWDS.
At present, Antique has 8,592 PWDs registered with the PDAO.
