La Comisión de Elecciones llevará a cabo el registro de electores especiales para personas con discapacidad a partir de hoy hasta el sábado en el Centro de eventos en el ala norte de SM Bacolod.
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The Commission on Elections will hold a special voters’ registration for persons with disabilities starting today to Saturday at the Event Centre at the North Wing of SM Bacolod.
The activity is in line with the 33rd National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week celebration from July 17-23, 2011 with the theme: “Making the Rights Real for Filipinos with Disabilities.”
Bacolod COMELEC Registrar Mavil Majaucon said the registration on July 18-19 will be from 10 a.m. to 9p.m., while on July 20-22, it will be at 10 a.m. to 5p.m. only.
Majarucon said, “Even if you are an old registered voter but you belong to a group that need assistance to accessibility, you still have to register since you have a separate supplemental data to fill-up.”
She said they are required to register because Congress has passed a House Bill that in the next election, or by 2013, there will be a special polling precinct that will be created for these persons.
Majarucon said their problem is how to determine if a voter needs assistance or not since they did not signify this in their old record. So they need to fill up a supplemental data so they will be able to annotate in the COMELEC data base what kind of assistance they need during election so that they can be put in a special precinct created for them.
Melchor Tumbos, president of the Alyansa ng may Kapansanan-Pinoy, said the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting will extend assistance during the special voters registration for people with disabilities to be held in coordination with AKAP-Pinoy.
He said Provincial COMELEC Supervisor Jesse Suarez has committed that they will also hold simultaneous registration for people with disabilities in the different cities and municipalities in Negros Occidental.
Tumbos said they are vouching for the implementation of local, national and international laws which are the source of their rights like the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons. They are also asking Mayor Evelio Leonardia to implement City Ordinance No.519, Series of 2010 or an Ordinance creating an office of persons with disabilities affairs, he said.
Their mission is to achieve an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for people with disabilities, he added.
May Altarejos, of Project C.A.R.E.S., said they have started an evaluation on establishments and offices to find out if their buildings have complied with B.P. 344 or the Accessibility Law. Initial results showed that 99 percent of these establishments have not complied with the requirements of the law.
On Thursday, all the results will be presented during a consultative forum at the DepEd Bacolod Social Hall so the public will be aware what establishments are compliant or not, she said.
The consultative forum on transport and mobility “accessibility safety” and “injury prevention” for people with disabilities which starts at 2:30 p.m. is open to all stakeholders and safety practitioners.
The weeklong 33rd National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week started yesterday with a mass at 10 a.m. at the San Sebastian Cathedral.
Other activities include flag ceremony at 7:30 a.m. today at the Government Center followed by jewelry making at 8:30 a.m. at the Department of Labor and Employment, and an angel walk at 1 p.m. at SM-Bacolod.
The opening program and photo exhibit will be held at 3 p.m. today at SM, Event Centre, while an accessibility check and bone marrow screening for women will be held at SM Event Centre stating 1 p.m. tomorrow.
A PWD cultural presentation will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at the SM Event Centre, and cataract and eye screening for people with disabilities with project C.A.R.E.S. at Lacson-Villanueva Law Office, 8th Street.
The paralympics 2011 will be held on Friday at the University of St. La Salle, while a floral offering for the 144th birth anniversary of Apolinario Mabini will be held at Mabini Elementary School at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.