First ever PWD Center in BARMM launched

COTABATO CITY — The first center dedicated to persons with disabilities (PWDs) has opened in the Bangsamoro region to provide social rehabilitation and capacity-building interventions needed for them to become competitively productive.

The PWD Center in Cotabato City was originally the Center for the Handicapped of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-12 (DSWD-12). It was which was turned over to the Bangsamoro government after the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was set up in 2019.

Offices of all line agencies under region 12 were relocated to Koronadal City in South Cotabato province after Cotabato City was named regional center of BARMM.

Raissa H. Jajurie, social services minister of BARMM, told reporters on Monday that the PWD center is run by experts from their ministry, led by Social Welfare Officer III Bryan T. Abdullah.

The facility was opened to PWD clients last week after five months of extensive rehabilitation and engineering works, costing P14.4 million.

Ms. Jajurie said the newly rehabilitated two-story PWD Center has rooms for vocational and social rehabilitation workshops. It also has rooms for computer literacy, cooking and massage therapy training sessions.

“We want to make sure that this facility shall be a model for other centers we plan to establish for other vulnerable sectors in the Bangsamoro region,” Ms. Jajurie said.  —John Felix M. Unson