Two committees chaired by Senator Imee Marcos are working on additional benefits for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and the possibility of foreign investments in cooperatives.
During the organizational meeting conducted on Tuesday by the Committee on Social Justice, Welfare, and Rural Development, Marcos accommodated the three bills filed by Senators Ramon Revilla, Jr., Risa Hontiveros, and Lito Lapid seeking to provide a social pension for indigent PWD.
Marcos said a technical working group (TWG) will find sources of funds for the proposed pension.
“I think those that have significant portions of their budget that are dedicated to the PWD could be relevant,” she said during the meeting, citing the Social Welfare and Development, Health, and Education departments, National Council on Disability Affairs, and even non-governmental organizations.
She also suggested tapping the Agriculture, Labor and Employment, and Information and Communications Technology departments to assist in formulating programs for PWD.
According to the Department of Health data, there are around 670,000 registered PWD in the country.
To accommodate more registrants, government agencies vowed to fix the technical issues in uploading the lists to the database.
Meanwhile, the Committee on Cooperatives discussed with different agencies the bill that seeks to open up cooperatives to foreign investments.
Marcos said she wants the private sector to make more investments in rural areas.
“In the effort to encourage private investment in agriculture and agricultural communities, one of the things that was suggested was to open up cooperatives to foreign investment. Kahit (Even just a) very limited approach just to delete coops in the negative list for foreign investment,” Marcos explained.
She said the intent of the bill is to bring technology and know-how from foreigners to the rural areas.
“Alam naman natin na talagang matagal nang pinag-uusapan na kailangang i-modernize [ang mga rural area]. Hindi yan mamo-modernize hangga’t hindi tayo natututo ng bago sa agrikultura (We all know that we have been discussing the need to modernize [the rural areas]. It will not be modernized until we learn new [technology for] agriculture),” Marcos added. (PNA)
