City dad calls on Senate to prioritize passage of Filipino sign language act

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government is urging the Senate to prioritize the passage of proposed Senate Bill No. 2118 known as “The Filipino Sign Language Act of 2014.”

Councilor Alvin Dizon stated in his proposed resolution that mainstreaming the Filipino Sign Language (FSL) will help the government address the problems of the deaf community.

“The proposed bill aims to make government and society to be more inclusive to the persons with disabilities such as deaf people by breaking down barriers of discrimination and giving equal access to opportunity for all Filipino,” he said.

“Empower the deaf community to be more participative in decision-making processes so they may claim their rights and freedom provided to them by our laws,” Dizon added.

Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV, who filed the bill, said there are people who do not naturally understand the situation of the Filipino deaf community.

“Many deaf individuals are left without proper communication or access to information,” Aquino said.

“In order to build a safer and more inclusive society for the Filipino Deaf community, government, civil society, academe, and the private sector must work together to give Deaf individuals access to communication, information, and tools that are necessary to lead productive lives,” he added.

Section 4 of the proposed Senate bill states that the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority  and other national and local government agencies involved in the education of the deaf are tasked to use FSL as the medium of instruction in deaf education.

It stated that “the FSL shall also be taught a separate subject in the curriculum for deaf learners.

The reading and writing of Filipino, as the national spoken language, other Philippine languages, and English shall also be taught.”

Under the proposed bill, the Professional Regulation Commission is directed to take procedures that would consider the conditions and abilities of the deaf education graduates. —/ATO (FREEMAN)