The new Vocational Sheltered Workshop Center for Persons with Disability located in the Home for the Blind compound in Barangay Mansilingan, Bacolod City. (Photo courtesy of Bacolod City PIO)
BACOLOD CITY -- The city of Bacolod has opened its own Vocational Sheltered Workshop Center for Persons with Disability (PWDs) in partnership with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The PHP3-million facility, located in the Home for the Blind compound at Barangay Mansilingan, was unveiled on Wednesday during the blessing and inauguration rites attended by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, who represented Mayor Evelio Leonardia, and other city officials.
Pacita Tero, head of the City Department of Social Services and Development, said the center was constructed through funding provided by the DSWD.
“The construction of the building was initiated as a Bottom-Up Budgeting project. Our PWDs proposed a training center through the DSWD,” Tero said.
The facility includes a training room and other features that will be used for skills training and capability building activities of PWDs in the city.
In Bacolod, there are more than 8,000 PWDs who are members of some 40 associations.
Also present during the opening rites were Fr. Dimitri Gatia, who led the blessing of the center, Councilor Ana Marie Palermo, and Mansilingan village chief Rodolfo Pico.
The DSWD, as mandated under Republic Act 10524 or an “Act Expanding the Positions Reserved for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs),” aims to improve its facilities that provide livelihood and skills training to PWDs to enhance their employability.
These facilities provide programs and services such as social, medical and psychological services, livelihood and vocational skills training, job placement, sheltered employment, and capability building activities, which are geared towards socio-economic independence and productivity enhancement of PWDs.
RA 10524, which amends RA 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities, also seeks to increase their access to employment opportunities by encouraging government and private agencies and corporations to hire more PWDs. (PNA)
