Iloilo hailed for pro-PWD programs

• Source: http://www.panaynews.net/iloilo-hailed-for-pro-pwd-programs/
• Monday, October 9, 2017

By Erly Garcia (Capitol News/PN)

ILOILO – This province has won another prestigious award, this time in recognition of its programs and projects for persons with disabilities (PWDs).

The Philippine Foundation for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PFRD), Inc. has conferred on Iloilo province the 2017 Apolinario Mabini Award for the Local Government.

Lourdes Dela Llana Pimentel, chairperson of the 2017 Apolinario Mabini Awards, said the province “qualified with the standards of a local government Unit that has rendered exceptional services to the mass of citizens with disabilities within its jurisdiction in the last two years.”

PFRD is a non-government organization established in 1949 dedicated to the promotion of measures to prevent disability, protect and rehabilitate the disabled and equalize opportunities for disabled persons.

Apolinario Mabini (July 23, 1864 – May 13, 1903) was a Filipino revolutionary leader, educator, lawyer, and statesman who served first as a legal and constitutional adviser to the Revolutionary Government, and then as the first Prime Minister of the Philippines upon the establishment of the First Philippine Republic.

Mabini performed all his revolutionary and governmental activities despite having lost the use of both his legs to polio shortly before the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The awarding ceremony for Iloilo province has yet to be scheduled by the organization but it will be definitely held in Manila, according to Dela Llana.

The Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) headed by Dr. Neneth Pador is in the forefront of the implementation of programs in pursuit of the administration’s vision to make Iloilo a non-handicapping and PWD-friendly province.

In 2013, the province launched a scholarship program for PWDs where 10 poor but bright PWDs are admitted every year.

Also, the province has partnered with the Latter Day Saints Charities Foundation for the distribution of 600 wheelchairs and 300 assistive devices to qualified beneficiaries.

The two innovative programs became the basis for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Region VI to confer on Iloilo province the 2016 Gawad sa Makabagong Teknolohiyang Panlipunan.

Iloilo province is also one of the pioneer LGUs in the country to establish a dedicated Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) within the PSWDO.

PDAO, headed by Mario Abaygar, is tasked to address the needs of PWDs in the province.