Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Nineteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. __4307

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE LAARNI LAVIN ROQUE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The 1987 Philippine Constitution in Section 13 of Article {1 mandates that:

"The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building
and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual,
and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and
nationalism and encourage their involvement in public and civic affairs."

According to the latest Department of Education (DepEd) report, 50% of the
population, or roughly 55 million Filipinos, are children and youth (0-24 yrs.) The SPED
Division of the Department of Education estimates that 13% of the children and youth
population in the country, or around 7.15 million, have special needs; 2% are gifted
while 10% are those with disabilities.

Children and youth with special needs (CYSNs) continue to experience barriers
to access basic social services. This is compounded by poverty, lack of data, weak
governance and discriminatory attitudes related to disability in general. They are less
likely to attend school, access medical services, or have their voices heard in society.
Their disabilities also place them at a higher risk of physical abuse and discrimination,
and often exclude them from receiving proper nutrition or humanitarian assistance in
emergencies.

It is high time that State pay close attention and address the needs of our
CYSNs, as well as take the necessary steps to help to make them productive citizens.

The State affirms and mandates the rehabilitation, self-development and
integration of CYSNs into mainstream society and recognizes the youth's value in
nation-building and thus seeks to promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual,
intellectual, and social well-being through the Magna Carta for Persons With
Disabilities and other related laws and programs. In 2008, the Philippines ratified the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as a re-
affirmation of government's mandate to promote the lights and uplift the living
conditions of the PWDs.


Despite their disabilities and impairments, children and youth with disabilities
itled to the same protection and promotion. Indeed, children and youth with
s have the capacity to become valuable members of society. This is,
however, possible only through much needed timely assistance and intervention of the
State through rehabilitation and other welfare services.

While there have been numerous moves to expand projects that assist PWDs,
whether through the installation of facilities and devices that give them more mobility
in public and other places or the entitlement of privileges, discounts and incentives,
little has been done by the government to offer services that directly address the
need for physical and social rehabilitation of CYSNs.

Poor families are unable to avail of special therapy sessions for CYSNs
because of their high cost and/or lack of nearby facilities. A CYSN needs two (2) to
three (3) treatment sessions a week with each session costing thousands of pesos.
This does not take into account other medical needs required for their full
rehabilitation.

The importance of rehabilitation in fostering a CYSN’s capability to attain a
more meaningful, productive and satisfying life is a State policy. Many poor families
are still unable to avail of these services due to its high cost and lack of easily
accessible facilities. At present, only cities with funds can provide free rehabilitation
services through Simulation and Therapeutic Centers that cater specifically to CYSNs.

This bill seeks to establish the Bukidnon CYSN Rehabilitation Center located
in the city of Valencia, province of Bukidnon, under the direct supervision of the
Department of Health.

The establishment of Bukidnon CYSN Rehabilitation in Valencia City will not
only cater to the CYSNs of the 4" District of Bukidnon. It will also serve the CYSNs of
neighboring municipalities and nearby provinces, as well as the general population in
the area.

Given the above premises, the urgent passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

LAARI IN ROQUE
Re lative
4th Di§tfict,\Bukidnon


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Nineteenth Congress
First Regular Session

Housé BILL No. _ 4397

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE LAARNI LAVIN ROQUE

AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A REHABILITATION CENTER FOR CHILD AND YOUTH WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS IN THE CITY OF VALENCIA, PROVINCE OF BUKIDNON TO BE
KNOWN AS BUKIDNON CHILDREN AND YOUTH WITH SPECIAL NEEDS (CYSN)
REHABILITATION CENTER, AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SEC. 1. Declaration of Policy. — The State promotes and protect the youth's
physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being in recognition of their vital
role in nation-building. The State also recognizes that children and youth with special
needs, despite their disabilities and impairments, may contribute s to society but only
with the timely assistance and intervention of the State through rehabilitation and other
welfare services. The State recognizes that children and youth with special needs
have capacity to evolve and to attain a more meaningful, productive and satisfying life.
To this end, the State shall, as a policy, provide quality, affordable and geographically
accessible early rehabilitation services to children and youth with special needs in city
and municipal rehabilitation centers.

SEC. 2. Objectives. Pursuant to the above declaration of policies, the State adopt the
following objectives:

a.) Provide quality and comprehensive rehabilitation services to assist children
and youth with special needs (CYSNs) in maintaining and recovering their overall
living functions under an integrated system that provides services ranging from
medical to vocational training.

b.) Provide assessment as well as rehabilitation services to CYSNs as early as
possible to immediately address a disabled child's developmental, health and
‘support needs.


©.) Promote independence and social participation of CYSNs through early
intervention and rehabilitation that capacitates them to face social barriers.

SEC. 3. Definition. — For purposes of this Act, the following terms shall mean:

A Children with special needs (CSNs) refer to those persons eighteen (18)
years old and below who are the gifted or are fast learners; and those who are
disabled, impaired and handicapped and in need of special education as well as
services for rehabilitation. They differ from the average children in mental
characteristics, sensory abilities, neuro-muscular or physical characteristics,
social attributes, to such an extent that requires the use of modified school
practices or special education services to develop them to maximum capability.

They may be classified as follows:

1 Gifted children and fast leamers are those capable of superior
performance including those with demonstrated achievement or potential
ability in one or more of the following areas: general intellectual ability, specific
academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking ability, leadership ability,
ability in the performing arts and psychomotor ability, or those individuals who
consistently manifest the following cluster of traits: above average abilit
(including intelligence), high creativity (implies the developmental appreciation
of innovative ideas) and high task commitment (related to a high degree of
motivation) and those who by reason thereof, require services or activities not
ordinarily provided by the school;

2. Children with mental retardation intellectual disability are those who
have substantial limitation in present functioning characterized by significant
sub-average intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with the related
limitations in two or more of the applicable adaptive skill areas;
communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-
direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work;

3. Children with visual impairment are those who are blind or having a low
vision. Persons are blind if they have a visual capacity of 20/200 or less ina
better eye after maximum correction. The low vision persons retain a relatively
low degree of vision and can read only enlarged print or regular print under
special conditions;

4. Children with hearing impairment are those who are deaf of hard-of-
hearing. The deaf persons are one whose hearing are non-functional for
ordinary purpose in life. The hard-of-hearing have a defective sense of hearing
that is functional without a hearing aid;

5. — Children with behavior problems are those who cannot adjust to the
socially accepted norms or behavior and, consequently disrupt their academic
progress, in the learning efforts of their classmates and interpersonal relations;


6. — Children with orthopedic/physical handicap are those whose impairment
permanently or temporarily interferes with the normal functions of the joints,
muscles or limbs;

7. Children with special health problems are those who have health
conditions that tend to keep children out-of-school or those with chronic and/or
debilitating illnesses such as cardiac (heart) diseases, asthma, diabetes,
tuberculosis and other respiratory ailments, carcinoma, epilepsy, malnutrition
and others;

8. — Children with leaming disabilities are those whose although normal in
sensory, emotional and intellectual abilities exhibit disorders in perception,
listening, thinking, reading, writing, spelling or arithmetic. They have such
condition as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,
dyslexia and developmental aphasia;

9. — Children with speech defects are those whose speech differs from the
average so far as to draw unfavorable attention to the manner of speaking
rather than to the thought conveyed, which include communication disorders
such as stuttering impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice
impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance;

10. Children with autism are those with developmental disabilities, the onset
of which occurs before 30 months of age which is marked by disturbance in
development, language and relationship with persons, activities and objects
and which may coexist with intellectual disability and epilepsy. Children
afflicted with this disorder have perceptual cognitive communication and social
difficulties which change over time;

11. Children with multi-handicaps are those with more than one disability
such as the deaf-blind or those diagnosed with autism and intellectual
disability.

12. Children with Specific learning Disability - A disorder in one or more of
the basic physiological processes involved in understanding or in using
language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in the imperfect ability
to listen/ think/speak/read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. Such
term includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal
brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

43. Children with Traumatic Brain Injury - An acquired injury to the brain
caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional
disability or psychosocial impairment or both, and that adversely affects a
child's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head
injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition,
language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem
solving, sensory, perceptual and motor abilities, psychosocial behavior
physical functions, information processing, and speech. The term does not


apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries
induced by birth trauma.

B. —_ Youth with special needs (YSNs) refer to those persons between fifteen
(15) years old to thirty (30) years old with the same characteristics are CSNs,
except those mentally gifted or fast learners. Provided, that, those persons who
have mental retardation or autism or other chronic intellectual disabilities, shall
be considered a YSN regardless of age.

C. Rehabilitation - refers to an integrated approach to physical, psycho-
social, cultural, spiritual, educational and vocational measures that create
conditions for the individual to attain the highest possible level of functionality
ability;

D. _ Early Intervention - refers to assessment, diagnosis and treatment of a
CYSN in the early stages of his or her development;

E. Indigent — a person who has not visible means of income, or whose
income is insufficient for the subsistence of his family, as identified by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) based on a specific
criteria set for this purpose.

SEC. 4. Staff Complement- The Bukidnon CYSN Rehabilitation Center shall
have the following staff complement:

a.) At least one (1) Physician, preferably a Psychiatrist or Developmental
Pediatrician, who shall assess and diagnose a CYSN;

b.) At least one (1) Physical Therapist, who will be or is trained in occupational
therapy;

c.) At least one (1) Special Education Teacher;
d.) Social Workers and Barangay Health Workers;
SEC. 5. Functions. - The Rehabilitation Center shall carry out the following functions:
a. Physical Rehabilitation — The Rehabilitation Center shall render regular
physical and/or occupational therapy sessions to CYSNs for the improvement of their

physical condition, mobility and cognitive skills.

b. Social Rehabilitation — The Rehabilitation Center shall provide regular
counselling and social enhancement activities.

c. Psycho-social Component — The Rehabilitation Center shall provide self-
development training opportunities such as personality development, career
development, job and internship coaching and orientation for potential employers.


d. Training for Parents, Guardians and Carers - The Rehabilitation Center
shall provide training for parents, guardians and carers of CYSNs and other volunteers
‘on how to properly take care of CYSNs, including basic exercises for these children
and youth that may be done their own homes to ensure continued therapy.

e. Information and Resource Center — The Rehabilitation Center shall also
serve as information centers for the rights and incentives accorded to CYSNs.
Disability-related documents, materials and data shall be made available in accessible
formats.

SEC. 6. Referral Fees. — The Rehabilitation Center shall offer its services for free to
indigent CYSNs. CYSNs who do not qualify as indigent can avail of the services for a
minimal fee, based on the fees prescribed by the DOH in the implementing rules and
regulations of this Act. Fees collected shall accrue as revenue of the Host LGU and
shall be utilized only for the operation and maintenance of the Rehabilitation Centers
and Satellite Centers within the Host LGU's territorial jurisdiction, and salary of staff
complement.

SEC. 7. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The DOH, in coordination with the
DSWD, the National Council on Disability Affairs, and in consultation with non-
government organizations advocating the rights CYSNs, shall promulgate the
necessary implementing rules and regulations within sixty (60) days after this Act takes
effect.

SEC. 8. Appropriations. - The Secretary of Health shall immediately include in the
Department's program the implementation of this Act, the funding of which shall be
included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

SEC. 9. Separability Clause. — Should any provision of this Act be declared invalid or
unconstitutional, the validity or constitutionality of the other provisions shall not be
affected thereby.

SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, letters of instructions, resolutions,
orders, ordinances, or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act, are hereby repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SEC. 11. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation

Approved,