Senatorial aspirant Salvador Panelo is mulling the passage of a law that mandates the government to provide free special education and therapy sessions for children with special needs.
Panelo also said he wants to obligate the government to establish care facilities for special children throughout the country.
This came after he lamented that even though Republic Act No. 7277 or "Magna Carta for Disabled Persons" was passed in 1992, its provisions have yet to be fully implemented.
"Thirty years have passed and we have yet to see the fruits of the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons," said Panelo, who said in a recent SMNI debate that his advocacy for children with special needs is motivated through his own personal experience.
According to Panelo, who used to be a father to a person with down syndrome, "it is high time our lawmakers look into the government’s shortcomings with regards to this law, and introduce amendments, allocate proper funding for it, or introduce new laws."
"Providing free therapy and special education will help alleviate the plight of special children and their families," he said/
"These will also help in making these special children be more self-reliant, as much as their faculties would allow. The establishment of care facilities, on the other hand, solves the problem of parents on who will take care of the kids if the parents pass away ahead of them," he added.