The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) has asked the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to investigate the alleged sexual harassment of a deaf woman by a bus conductor in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, and file charges against those found responsible.
NCDA Executive Director Glenda Relova said Wednesday that the council was awaiting the DOTr’s response to its request for an immediate and impartial investigation into the incident.
The alleged harassment happened around 4 a.m. on Nov. 1 while the woman and her minor child were traveling to church. The woman later posted her account and a video of the incident on Facebook to seek action against the bus conductor.
The NCDA’s regional program coordinator is coordinating with social welfare officials and the persons with disability affairs offices of Bohol and Tagbilaran City to help facilitate possible psychosocial and legal assistance for the victim, Relova said.
She also addressed online comments mocking the grammar in the woman’s social media post, emphasizing that Filipino Sign Language (FSL) is part of the deaf community’s culture and identity.
“Hindi ’yun topic. Ang topic ay ’yung sinapit niya (That is beside the point. The issue is what happened to her),” Relova said.
She stressed that the woman had the right to share her experience and seek legal remedies.
Relova also encouraged families of deaf people to learn FSL to improve communication with their relatives, noting the difficulties that arise when only one family member knows how to sign.
“Who would that person talk to if they were the only one who knew how to sign and nobody else in the family knew it?” she said.
Beyond the investigation, the NCDA is pushing for disability sensitivity training for bus operators and other frontline transportation personnel.
Relova said the council had coordinated with maritime and civil aviation authorities following discussions on the training, but efforts to engage bus operators had yet to gain traction.
The NCDA offers a self-paced online course on disability sensitivity for transportation workers. Its board has set a five-year target for personnel from all 16 member government agencies to complete the training.
Meanwhile, Relova raised concerns over the proliferation of fake persons with disability (PWD) identification cards, saying the practice has led some establishments to question legitimate cardholders, particularly those with nonapparent disabilities.
1PWD Party-list first nominee John Darnell Castro said the 20 percent discount granted to PWDs helps them meet recurring expenses, including the cost of maintenance medicines. He urged the public to stop using fake IDs, saying legitimate cardholders bear the consequences.
Relova clarified that the figure of 8.5 million cited in discussions about PWD ID misuse came from a Senate inquiry in December 2024.
At the time, about 1.9 million PWDs were registered, while a separate historical estimate placed the number of fake IDs at between 6 million and 6.5 million.
The inquiry also cited an estimated P88.2 billion in foregone tax revenues in 2023, including losses associated with the 12 percent value-added tax exemption.
To address the problem, the NCDA began developing a unified PWD ID system in January 2025. The system requires cardholders to register in a new database, with each ID assigned a unique identification number and QR code that establishments can scan to verify its authenticity.
Local disability affairs offices may hold an application and refer the accompanying disability certificate to the NCDA for verification if they have doubts about its authenticity.
The system has been piloted in five municipalities, while personnel from 1,350 cities and municipalities have undergone training, Relova said.
“Kita po ng sistema kung sino ’yung nag-encode. Kita din po ng sistema kung sino po ’yung nag-approve (The system shows who entered the information and who approved the application),” she said.
The system also records the personnel responsible for printing an ID when it is issued on-site by a local government.
Under Administrative Order No. 001, series of 2026, establishments must continue accepting existing PWD IDs alongside the new cards during a three-year transition period.
Relova said the NCDA board would announce when the old IDs would be phased out.
📷 NCDA
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