CALAMBA CITY, Laguna (PIA) – The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) stressed the importance of having an accurate census of Persons With Disability (PWD) to effectively guide the government in formulating programs and initiatives for the sector. 

Lawyer Walter Alava, NCDA regional programs coordinator, said one of the problems they face is the slow uploading of data into the Philippine Registry for Persons With Disabilities (PRPWD), which is managed by the Department of Health (DOH). 

Enacted through Republic Act 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons, the PRPWD is a national database on the current status, needs, and circumstances of PWDs in the country, serving as the basis of a national health program for them. 

As of March 11, the NCDA has reported that there are 261,310 Persons With Disability (PWD) of which only 221,501 are registered in the PRPWD. 

Alava noted that the provinces of Cavite and Rizal have reported disparities within their NCDA and PRPWD registries. 

Despite the highest number of registered PWDs, the NCDA has logged 76,024 PWDs in Cavite Province, while only 46,452 are registered in the PRPWD. Rizal Province is also facing the same scenario as the NCDA recorded 52,264 PWDs to the PRPWD data of only 43,027. 

On the other hand, the provinces of Laguna (66,859 registered PWDs), Batangas (42,456), and Quezon (22,707) maintained the same number of registered PWDs in the NCDA monitoring tool and the PRWPD. 

To bridge the gap on statistical discrepancy, the NCDA said that they are donating computer sets to local government units to fasten their input to the database.

“That is why in the Deed of Donation, we have stipulated that these computers will be used only for uploading to the PRPWD. So I would like to remind the Persons With Disability Affairs Offices to use external drivers in saving unrelated heavy data,” he said.

In Calabarzon, the NCDA reported that 296 PWDs are employed by local government units, while 4,765 are enrolled in formal schooling. 

Local government units in the region have also provided medical assistance to 11,455 PWDs, while 1,312 have received assistive devices. Around 444 PWDs have availed of rehabilitation and therapy services, while 5,336 have received social protection services from the government. 

NCDA believes that the more accurate the data is, more PWDs can also avail the services of the government.

“It can be noted that the PRPWD has not yet reached its saturation stage because there are also more local government units who are uploading their data. This data will be balanced once we have uploaded all the data, Alava explained.” (PB/PIA-4A)