• CHERYL G. CRUZ
Mayor Alfredo Benitez said the Feb. 29 deadline for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Bacolod City to secure new identification cards with QR code was moved to April 30.
The new deadline will ensure that PWDs who secure QR-coded IDs are already validated.
Benitez said his earlier order to recall all PWD IDs by Feb. 29 was just to eliminate fake and unregistered PWDs.
“(But) we decided that it’s better to have enough time not just to replace the existing IDs” with QR-coded ones but to also make sure that the PWDs, who received these new cards, have already been validated, he explained Feb. 26.
Benitez earlier said that there are about 12,000 PWDs in Bacolod, as per records from the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD). He added that he had been receiving reports on the indiscriminate issuance and use of PWD IDs, hence his Feb. 5 recall order.
The processing and distribution of PWD IDs with QR code started Feb. 12 until the end of this month.
The April deadline is not just a replacement of existing IDs, but with validation of legitimate PWDs in Bacolod, the mayor stressed.
He said businesses mandated to give discounts and other services to PWDs can still call the DSSD hotline at 468-6269 for validation if unsure of the ID bearer, while the transition to the QR-coded cards is ongoing.
The Bacolod Integrated Federation of PWD Associations (BIFPA) Inc. earlier requested for a deadline extension.
BIFPA president Napoleon Saron said “we feel it is inhumane to require all of us to secure right away a new PWD ID card with a QR code within 17 days (Feb. 12 to 29) after which our existing unexpired PWD IDs will be invalid and we will be stripped of our rights and privileges inscribed in Republic Act 7277, or the Magna Carta of PWDs”.
Saron asked for intervention from the Sangguniang Panlungsod, in behalf of the 40 PWD barangay associations of Bacolod.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, in an earlier SP session, said the mall-based Bacolod express services centers, specifically at SM City Bacolod and the Ayala Malls Capitol Central could only each process 50 PWD ID renewals a day, hence the request for deadline extension. | CGC
