Two years after the Philippine Ratification on the United Nations (UN) Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was signed, Filipinos with disabilities still aspire for equality, with hopes that public edifices, transports and facilities become more accessible to them.

At the commemoration of the 2nd anniversary of the UNCRPD ratification, persons with disabilities (PWDs) were clamoring anew over their rights and privileges not being provided given the UNCRPD and other laws that came into force even decades back.

“The ratification of the UNCRPD is marked as the most significant milestone in the historic struggle of Filipinos with Disabilities for emancipation from their second class citizenship status in the Philippines,’’ Lauro Purcil Jr., board of governor of Katipunan ng Maykapansanan sa Pilipinas Inc. (KAMPI) said.

“Within the two-year period, instead of ‘progressive realization,’ Filipinos with Disabilities witnessed a deliberate ‘reprogression’ against their right for full, meaningful and equal participation in political and electoral exercise as provided in Article 29 of the International Treaty and Republic Act (RA) 7941, The Partylist Law of 1997,’’ he said in a statement.

Purcil was specifically referring to the recent move by the Commission on Election (Comelec) to disqualify with finality the Disabled Pinoy Party (DPP), which was supposed to legally represent the sector.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larazabal earlier said that he was simply following orders from the Second Division of Comelec to reduce the number of participating groups from 154 to 120, thus the disqualification of the DPP.

The Comelec has increased the party-list participation from 120 to 187.

Purcil said the decision by the electoral body to disqualify DPP with finality was in violation of the Convention. In the election years of 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007, he said that the Comelec has accredited several Party-lists.

In addition to Article 29 of the UNCRPD and RA 7941, Purcil said there were also laws that entered into enforcement within the two-year ratification period of UNCRPD that received similar negative discriminating treatment.

He cited RA 9442, which provided 20 percent discounts to PWDs in purchasing medicines, but which is allegedly being openly violated by one of the largest drug chains and its collaborators.

"The sector had fought for more than a decade for this law to be enacted in 2006. RA 9442 is simply intended to “equalize” benefits of Filipinos with Disabilities provided decades ago to the senior citizens,'' he said.

A former member and adviser to the Philippine Delegation to the UN International Conferences that formulated UNCRPD, Purcil lamented government’s failure to ensure respect of the Convention that took years to be deliberated.

He called for national and international support for the sure respect and implementation of UNCRPD, stressing it should not suffer the same fate as that of the 27-year-old Batas Pambansa 344, the Accessibility Law and other laws for the sector in the Philippines.

The KAMPI official also bewailed the continuing defiant to the requirements of the Accessibility Law, which seeks to provide the greater majority of Filipinos with disabilities access to basic education, employment, health and rehabilitation services and many more right-based opportunities.