Nationwide Observance of a Decade of Disabled Persons, 1981-1991

December 17, 1981

PROCLAMATION NO. 2148

PROCLAIMING THE NATIONWIDE OBSERVANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES OF A DECADE OF DISABLED PERSONS FROM 1981-1991

WHEREAS, the government is exerting significant efforts to insure the protection of the rights of disabled persons, provide services for their needs, and insure their participation and involvement in the rehabilitation process;

WHEREAS, the President has created a national coordinating body to direct, coordinate and integrate all programs and services pertinent to the welfare and well-being of the Filipino disabled; acd

WHEREAS, by virtue of Proclamation No. 1996, series of 1980, the Philippines observed nationwide and participated in the International Year of Disabled Persons, as declared by the United Nations General Assembly on 16 December 1976;

WHEREAS, by virtue of said Proclamation and Executive Order No. 616, the President has directed the National Commission Concerning Disabled Persons, in its capacity as a national coordinating body on the disabled, to serve as lead agency, prepare the National Plan of Action for the IYDP and direct the programs and activities of concerned agencies during the Year;

WHEREAS, the activities carried out during the IYDP should have a pragmatic orientation and accordingly should focus on primary health care, rehabilitation and prevention, in view of the importance of that type of activity from the social and human standpoint, particularly since methods and means exist which would enable society to bring about a considerable reduction in the number of disabled persons and the seriousness of their disabilities;

WHEREAS, the World Symposium of Rehabilitation Experts Concerned with Disabled Persons, in its meeting sponsored by the United Nations on October 12-23, 1981, recommended the launching of the Decade of Disabled Persons by UN member states to ensure the follow-up of the IYDP programme and to stress the positive results of long-term strategies for disabled persons.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby proclaim the nationwide observance of a "Decade of Disabled Persons".

All Heads of Ministries, Chiefs of Bureaus, Offices, Agencies and Instrumentalities of the National Government, including officials of local governments, are hereby instructed directed and ordered to gear their plans, programs and activities for disabled persons towards the attainment of the objectives, policies, strategies and plans for the Decade embodied in the IYDP National Plan of Action and the Five-Year Plan for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation.

The National Commission Concerning Disabled Persons is hereby directed to give the Five-Year Plan for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation the widest possible dissemination to the private and public sectors and to coordinate projects, as well as implement with integrated network and systems, the rights and responsibilities of the disabled under the Philippine laws on disability.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Republic of the Philippines to be affixed.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 17th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-One.

Published in the Official Gazette, Vol. 77 No. 51, 6732-17 Supp., on December 21, 1981.