Thank you, Mr. President. 

The Philippines has just successfully completed its  constructive dialogue with the Committee on CRPD in September 2018 and we note with appreciation the Committees’ Concluding Observations on our accomplishments from 2014 to 2016. 

These Concluding Observations guided our plans to implement the CRPD. Once challenge noted in the observation is that the dearth of data on disability. This prompted the Philippine Government to establish an inter-agency committee to plan for the national disability data collection as basis for developing program packages relevant to the specific needs of persons with disabilities. 

 The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) passed a board resolution urging all government agencies to establish a disability inter-bureau technical working group to steer convergence of their departments’ programs and services for persons with disabilities. The establishment of a national disability data collection is a top priority wherein each agency will submit to NCDA relevant disaggregated data on disability as well as on gender, disability, ethnicity and age and shall be made available to the public.  

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has recently reported the results of the Model Disability Survey (MDS), making the Philippines the second country to implement such MDS using the Washing Group Sets of Questionnaires. The survey revealed an increase in the percentage of persons with disabilities  to the general population – from 1.57 percent in 2010 census to an estimate of 12 percent under the current status.   

To ensure the inclusion of persons with mental and psycho-social disabilities, we have passed the National Mental Health Act which will lead in the public awareness programs highlighting the participation of organization of children, women and persons with intellectual disabilities and emphasizing a rights-based approach. We are holding an  Accessibility Summit this July 2019 during the Persons with Disability week with a focus on the rights of persons with disabilities to education, health, employment and assistive technology and devices. The summit will also discuss accessibility of the physical environment, full participation and independent living of persons with disabilities. 

Finally, in closing the Philippine Government is currently formulating Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the implementation of recent laws signed by President Duterte to promote the rights of persons with disabilities. These laws include the act to provide mandatory universal health care and coverage in national health insurance entitling persons with disabilities free rehabilitation services and assistive devices, the act to the such declare the Filipino sign language as the national sign language of the Filipino deaf and the official sign language of government in all transactions involving the deaf, the act to consider persons with cancer and rare diseases as persons wih disabilities for purpose of perferntial access to goods and services, and the act establish a national mental health policy on persons with mental and psycho social disabilities. We are also drafting our rules for our accession to the Marrakesh Treaty.         

Mr. Chair, We assure you of our support and out commitment to implement CRPD, achieve the SDGs and advance the rights of persons with disabilities. Thank you. 

Thank you and good day! Mabuhay!