By RALPH ANGELO TY
THE Elsie Gaches Village (EGV) in Muntinlupa is the country’s only comprehensive residential facility for people with mental and learning disabilities. But it only accepts patients who are homeless or without families.
But even with the policy in place, the facility operated by the Department of Social Welfare and Development is underfunded and stretched beyond its capacity.
The privately run Birthright Educators Foundation and the Learning Center also cater to children with learning and mental disabilities. Tuition proceeds alone aren’t enough to keep operations going, so the two institutions have had to rely on help from the private sector. Their wish: That government would provide greater support for special education.
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The author is a senior journalism student at the University of the Philippines-Diliman. He submitted this story for the journalism seminar class “Reporting on Persons with Disabilities” under VERA Files trustee Yvonne T. Chua.