Thank you.

Thank you so much Chairperson Lovely Romulo for your introduction and thank you for consenting to be the chairperson of the Council for the Welfare of Persons with Disabilities. Please sit down.

Sister Valeriana Baertz, thank you very much for what you have done over the last 35 years. And we’re so happy that we have two women here who are such leaders in the care of persons with disabilities. This is not of course to belittle the role of the gentlemen.

So, I would like to also thank our awardees, Mr. Gonzalez for your many, many years of service as the head of the Tahanan ng Walang Hagdanan; (applause) and our best wishes to a very well-known leader of the community of persons with disabilities now president and CEO of TWH, Mr. Manuel Agcaoili, congratulations and good luck to you! (applause) Undersecretary Alice Bala, representing the DSWD; I would like to greet also Bishop Gabby Reyes; and of course to our awardees led by the two great pillars of the Tahanan and also the outstanding products of Tahanan ng Walang Hagdanan; to all the partners, donors, sponsors of Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, congratulations for 35 years of fruitful service! (applause)

Indeed, Tahanang Walang Hagdanan has lived up to its name as a tahanan -- a home that gives shelter, comfort and care to persons with disabilities, and that it has continued to this date. Thirty five years is a long time despite some rough times sometimes within its walls testifies to all of you and your strong faith in the human spirit and the will to persevere in your cause.

Tahanang Walang Hagdanan celebrates its 35th anniversary in the middle of the Philippine decade for persons with disabilities which is 2003 to 2012. We proclaimed this in keeping with our country’s commitment to the U.N. Convention of the rights of persons with disabilities. And in tandem with this proclamation, we also have Republic Act 9442, which amended the Magna Carta for disabled persons. This was put in place to grant more privileges and incentives to the differently-abled and to make sure that Philippine society will regard persons with disabilities with due respect. We have also put together the national plan of action for this Philippine decade of persons with disabilities.

And as a result of the work that you’re all doing together, I am very happy to see that more PWDs because of laws, policies and advocacies more PWDs now enjoy discounts in various establishments and service sectors, from drugstores to public transport. I’m happy to learn that more LGUs have complied with the law to install PWD-friendly sidewalks, that more buildings have constructed ramps and more public utility vehicles have reserved seats for PWDs as well as the elderly.

And among our recipients of the awards today, we can see that ICT-related businesses like call centers, transcriptions, web content and design, and other services are areas where the differently-abled can feel equal to non-PWDs. We urge outsourcing and offshoring firms to consider hiring more of them.

And we’d like to thank Joey Concepcion of ‘Go Negosyo’ because he also has the program to highlight the achievements of the entrepreneurs with disabilities --disabilities some were physical but very abled as far as organizing and running a business is concerned. And our awardees had been able to show that.

We have been encouraging businesses to hire disabled but qualified workers. I myself when I was vice-president, I took in a number of PWDs in my staff and when I became president, they moved with me to Malacanang. And we’re very happy of the good work that they do.

This year, so that we can have more and more of persons with disabilities to be able to have good jobs and even persons without disabilities, we have allocated four billion pesos for vocational training, especially 350 million pesos for call centers and other BPO for near hires. And I hope that Tahanang Walang Hagdanan can avail of the scholarships being provided by TESDA for this purpose. In fact, Tahanang Walang Hagdanan I hope is or should be one of the accredited training institutions for the scholarships of the TESDA. And if it’s not that way yet, I’ll ask alice bala to make sure that that is done. (applause)

I think that’s the best way to celebrate the 35th year for Tahanang Walang Hagdanan to explore with the DSWD and TESDA the possibility of more scholarships and work training grants.

Persons with disabilities, yes, have a fair chance of competing with non-disabled in entrepreneurial activities, and we have seen that from one of our awardees. And the DSWD also has its own microfinance but DSWD can also link up the persons with disabilities with microfinance institutions. These are for those who want to start and with very, very small businesses.

Our plan of action makes special mention of women with disabilities because women with disabilities being female and disabled have a double discrimination.

Pero tignan natin naman ang nangyari ngayon halos lahat ng ating mga awardees ay kababaihan. Kapansin-pansin ang mga babae sa pinaparangalan natin ngayon. At angkop na angkop ito dahil sinisimulaan natin ang pagdiriwang ng Araw ng Kababaihan na mangyayari sa pag-umpisa ng Marso, ikawalo ng Marso ang Women’s Day. Kaya for a whole month... For a whole month before and the month of March we’re celebrating women. And today, we celebrate women with disabilities and women who work for persons with disabilities. So, we thank you and congratulations! (applause)

So, siyempre pagdating ng araw ng kababaihan ay maraming selebrasyon, maraming pagdiriwang. So Alice, siguro dapat ang DSWD sa pagdiriwang ng araw ng kababaihan bigyan ng espesyal na lugar sa pagdiriwang ang mga babaeng nakakamit ng parangal itong araw na ito because you are really truly (applause) such worthy role models to emulate.

Puspusan ang pagkilos ng pamahalaan upang mapabuti ang kalagayan ng mga may kapansanan maging mga mahihirap. Kasi hindi masasabing umuunlad ang bansa hangga’t hindi natin mai-angat ang kalagayan ng mga maralita at yung may ibang mga disadvantages gaya ng mga kapansanan.

And just as Tahanang Walang Hagdanan has helped the differently-abled in its care and allowed them to develop into productive citizens, as we see from our awardees, government will continue to invest in the Filipino. Government will continue to nurture people’s talents that’s why we’re spending for the first time almost 200 billion pesos in human capital to give every citizen a better chance to live a purposeful life. And we can afford to do this now, offer scholarships to Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, because our economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in more than 30 years.

Seven years ago, no one thought we could get more revenues to afford these things because no one thought we could cut down on tax cheats. No one thought we could strengthen the peso to be able to import your raw materials at lower cost. No one thought we could move the stock market and make the top 16 corporations so rich that their foundations can afford to support beautiful projects like Tahanang Walang Hagdanan. No one thought we could bring our budget close to balance or lower our national debt so that instead of spending on debt service, we’re spending on training. And no one thought we could raise employment, but we have.

We have created seven million jobs in seven years. And thanks to Tahanan, some of these jobs are being enjoyed by persons with disabilities.

And we hope that in this 35th year there can be even more because of more expanded care in the home that we call Tahanan ng Walang Hagdanan.

And just like the residents of Tahanan are courageous and hopeful, our Filipino people in general are hardworking and determined to carve a better future. And so, on this occasion of a jubilee anniversary, 35th anniversary, let us all face tomorrow confidently, as we saw in our video presentation, let us all be winners.

Maraming salamat, maligayang anibersaryo muli sa inyong lahat! (applause)

Thank you.