RCDA 2nd Quarter Meeting

Hi,

I attended the RCDA 2nd Quarter Meeting and gathered some really interesting tidbits, which I'm going to share to you all. Instead of writing an entirely new post, I will simply copy my PST on here :) Have a nice Tuesday Morning ya'all xx

POST TRAVEL REPORT

Activity: Regional Council for Disability Affairs 2^nd Quarter Meeting
DSWD RO III Government Center, San Fernando City, Pampanga

                The RCDA Meeting was called to order around 30 mins. Past 10:00 AM by the presiding officer Director Adelina S. Apostol, the Regional Director of DSWD RO III. Assisting in the facilitation of the meeting was Ms. Melanie M. Barnachea, PWD Foca Person, and Ms. Cynthia Barriga, NCDA Representative.

                I will only proceed to discuss details of the meeting that have relevance to the Province given that the regional council will be providing us a copy of the entire meeting’s minutes in the succeeding days.

·         Ms. Barriga shared to the council that the NCDA recommended Aurora Province for the Presidential Award for Best LGU wherein validation of the access audit may be conducted. She suggested that the province address some of the recommendations by the assessment committee, even if only those that will not entail significant expenses like the posting of signage indicating that the establishments are PWD friendly.

·         Ms. Barriga further reported that only 2 LGU Buildings in the entire Region III was assessed as compliant to the Accessibility Law.

·         In regard to the issuance of PWD IDs, only 6 of the 8 municipalities in Aurora were issuing ID. The two municipalities with no report of issuances are Dinalungan and Casiguran. Moreover, despite reports of issuances from the 6 municipalities, these are low.

·         None of the 8 municipalities in the province was able to register their PWDs online. I reported to the council that the MSWDOs complained about not being able to access the portal. Ms. Barriga said that issues such as this should be reported to them; otherwise they will not be able to address it.

·         DILG reported that their local offices reported a 100% establishment of PDAOs in all LGUs, municipalities and provinces. This claim was denied by the LCWDOs explaining that their DILGs asked for the names of their PWD Focal Officers, who are usually social workers, not PWDs as indicated by RA 10070.

·         There is a need to monitor the establishment of PDAOs in the LGUs. 4^th class provinces such as Aurora must only appoint PWD Focal Persons instead of establishing PDAO.

·         Details for the 33^rd NDPR Week Celebration

o   Theme: “Pagsasakatuparan ng karapatan ng mga Pilipinong may Kapansanan”

o   This year’s celebration will be chaired by DepEd

o   The rest of the officers are as follow

Vice Chair – DENR

Secretary – PIA

Sports Committee – DOLE/TESDA

Food Committee – CHED

Physical Arrangement – DILG

Program – DOST

Documentation - PIA

o    The regional culminating activity will be on July 22, 2011 at the Y. Guiao Gymnasium

o    Proposed Activities

§  Thanks Giving Mass

§  Sports Activities (Chess, basketball, and marathon)

§  Newborn Screening

§  Orientation re: Accessibility Law or the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons

§  Forum on the UN Convention on the Rights of PWDs

§  Seminar regarding access of PWDs to Education

§  Entrepreneurial Skills Training and Competition

§  Musical Festival for PWDs

§  Parents’ Forum on Rights of the Children

§  Media Guesting