Will PWDs thrive under a BBM Presidency?

I started this blog because COVID-19 got me thinking about the lifelong learning and employment opportunities of persons with disabilities (PWDs). I’m cautiously optimistic about what the future holds for Filipino PWDs. One of the reasons for my outlook is Pres. Ferdinand (“Bongbong”) Marcos, Jr. 's (BBM) openness to pro-market policies, especially the expansion of foreign ownership. The easing of foreign investment restrictions will GRADUALLY open more job opportunities for PWDs and their families. While this might be felt more after BBM steps down, the increase in foreign direct investments (FDI) can pave the way for a new era of prosperity that trickles down to marginalized sectors. I'm saying this even if I voted for Panfilo Lacson to be president.

Aside from employment, foreign businesses can also provide work-based learning experiences that can transition youth with disabilities to the marketplace. Hopefully, this will compel inclusive schools to alter their curricula to meet Industry 4.0’s job demands. Foreign capitalists might even be able to locally produce the assistive technologies that will promote independence among Filipino PWDs.

It’s also good that BBM promoted unity, individual rights, and the freedom of expression in his inaugural address. These are the cure to a fatal ailment of Philippine society: its “heritage of smallness”, a term coined by the late National Artist Nick Joaquin.

Social Cancer

In his book, Culture and History, Joaquin wrote that Filipinos are averse to aspiring for greater things. He said that we resist venturing into new, more challenging endeavors. Moreover, we’re always dividing ourselves into cliques instead of seeing ourselves as one nation working towards a common vision.

For me, this exclusiveness prevents us from achieving bigger dreams. We make decisions based on what will bring short-term benefits to our families and local ethnic groups at the expense of what’s good for the Philippines as a whole. Recently, too many Filipino intellectuals have also been attempting to divide this country further into political tribes. They’ve been canceling fellow Filipinos for not adhering to their extreme leftist views.

Educated Fools

There are many narrow-minded yet influential intellectuals in health and in education, the sectors that are supposed to care the most for PWDs. If they will be allowed to normalize cancel culture, they will withhold career opportunities from fellow professionals for thinking differently. Such a move will lessen the PWDs’ access to medical care and special education. These intellectuals’ preoccupation with woke causes will also divert their sectors’ efforts away from developing better services to forcing their political agenda on everyone.

Worst of all, many of them have been shunning their patients and students. During the election campaign, certain healthcare workers said that they’ll refuse to provide services to patients with unacceptable political choices. Some confessed to distancing themselves from their patients’ families due to disagreements over voting preferences. There were also reports that teachers coerced their students to attend rallies and write papers that favored academia’s preferred political candidates.

I can attest that a lot of Filipino intellectuals have always had a tyrannical streak way before the 2022 elections. I can tell you stories of how they sabotaged (or tried to sabotage) my projects, falsely accused me of being unethical, shamed me, gossiped about me, snarled at me at almost every turn, and ostracized me because they’ve caricatured me as evil or stupid for having different beliefs.

These happened to me even in my former church at a time when I most needed support. Acceptance and encouragement could have greatly helped me excel in managing PWDs. Instead, certain church elders banned me from the ministry because they hate my Biblically sound unpopular opinions.

On the other hand, getting disfellowshipped was super cool! That cultic church had become corny anyway. Haha!

Foreign capitalists won’t be able to compete with licensed professionals in providing direct care to PWDs despite the easing of investment restrictions. The good news is that they can still compel Filipinos to strive together towards achieving the vision of producing better goods and services for PWDs. They can fund studies that will develop assessment tools and interventions. They can sponsor conferences that promote evidence-based medical and educational approaches. Doing so can divert Filipino disability workers’ efforts away from faux intellectual studies that force toxic ideologies upon people. Moreover, meritocratic foreign investors can put woke companies out of business by focusing on offering high-quality products.

(Photo by John Matthew Flores)