ILOILO City – Western Visayas has the most number of employed persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the government workforce, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) said.
Based on the Inventory of Government Human Resource for PWDs in December 2017, Western Visayas had a total of 1, 662 employed PWDs. This was 22.15 percent of the total 7, 503 employed PWDs in the country.
Alicia dela Rosa-Bala, chairperson of the CSC, was impressed with the region’s performance. She graced the recent regional congress here of human resource management practitioners in Western Visayas.
The congress revolved on “upholding equal opportunities towards a more inclusive public sector human resource.”
Western Visayas topping the list of regions in the number of employed PWDs was “good news”, Bala said.
“There is this initiative of really pushing for the employment of PWDs and not discriminating them,” Bala said.
Although Bala was only provided with the inventory, she said the factors behind the high employment of PWDs in the region might be due to “PWD-friendly” agencies.
“We only included this in our personnel development service form. We included a portion that said ‘Do you belong to PWD’. The very first step when they do apply, we should know already how many are those in the category,” she said.
Meanwhile, Atty. Rodolfo Encajonadao, CSC regional director, said their office thought of ways to make the government service more inclusive for PWDs.
The regional office in 2018 has come up with a selection plan model, which upholds equal opportunities not only for PWDs but also for members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community, he said.
“We ensure the inclusion of those with disabilities and sexual orientation. This also is in compliance with the provisions of the law,” he said.
Bala said Western Visayas “is leading the way” in the compliance of the Magna Carta for PWD.
Section 5 of the said law stipulates that “no person with disability shall be denied access to opportunities for suitable employment. A qualified employee with a disability shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a qualified able bodied-person.”
The same law further states that “at least one percent of all positions in the government agencies, offices or corporations shall be reserved for persons with disability.”
Bala noted that sometimes, “there are policies in some agencies that might discriminate the entries of some interested parties to enter public service.”
She reiterated that disabilities, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, among others, should not become a barrier for one to enter the public sector. (PNA)
