[metaslider id=32442] Text and photos by KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING VOICES echoed across the Senate conference room as senators and representatives of various persons with disabilities organizations across the nation discussed the creation of PWD Affairs Offices (PDAOs) at the local government level in 2008. Charito “Chato” Manglapus, then president of Cerebral Palsied Association of the Philippines
By LEILANIE ADRIANO PASUQUIN, Ilocos Norte—A woman born with cerebral palsy became her family’s main inspiration, motivating her siblings to become medical professionals, and prompting their mother to embark on a ground-breaking dragon fruit farm that has become a model plantation emulated throughout the country.
By YOLANDA SOTELO FUERTES, MARIO IGNACIO IV AND ARTHA KIRA PAREDES
FIFTY-seven-year-old Charito Corazon Manglapus, who has cerebral palsy and moves around in a wheelchair, knows how difficult it is for persons with disability (PWDs) to exercise the right to suffrage. She herself voted for the first time only in the 2010 elections. She is now among those leading the campaign to get PWDs to register and vote in next year's elections .