Amendments to 43-year-old Accessibility Law sought

IT IS high time the 1982 Accessibility Law is amended or overhauled to respond to the needs of sectors apart from persons with disabilities (PWDs), a lawmaker said on Monday.

“The Accessibility Law is long overdue for amendments. It has been 43 years since the Accessibility Law was enacted as Batas Pambansa (BP) Bilang 344 in July 1982,” Party-list Rep. Rodolfo M. Ordanes said in a statement.

Mr. Ordanes said the law needs to be expanded to include provisions mandating buildings to be accessible to “senior citizens, people with special needs, and members of the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual) community.”

Signed into law by late former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr., BP 344 mandated Philippine buildings to have facilities that would make them accessible to PWDs, such as ramps, dropped curbs, and handrails.

“Other provisions that need updating can also be revised. New provisions can also be added. Another approach is to overhaul BP 344 entirely to align it with the new ways laws are written today,” he said.

Mr. Ordanes recommended that as the proposal runs its course in Congress, the concerned government agencies could amend its implementing rules and regulations.

“I believe there is room to add the disabilities of older seniors and people with special needs,” he said. “Perhaps, even LGBTQIA concerns on access to comfort rooms and lavatories can be incorporated into the IRR (Implementing Rules and Regulations),” he added, noting the law itself does not have a definition of terms. The Public Works and Transportation departments, in coordination with the National Council on Disability Affairs, are the law’s implementing agencies.

“BP 344’s implementing agencies can also add to their company other agencies that did not yet exist back in 1982,” said Mr. Ordanes, referring to the National Commission of Senior Citizen and the Human Settlements department.

“Under administrative law, these changes can be done without having to amend BP 344,” he added. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio