DOH database shows no record of a 5-year-old’s PWD ID in Rizal

The Persons With Disability (PWD) ID of a 5-year-old in Cainta, Rizal was allegedly tagged “Record Not Found” by the Health Department’s online database, according to the "Kapuso Action Man" report of Emil Sumangil on "24 Oras."

While dining outside last December, the family of the 5-year-old was shocked when their son’s ID did not appear at the Department of Health’s Philippine Registry for Persons with Disability despite having the ID since 2021.

“Nagulat kami dahil madalas naman kami kumain doon, siguro mga 5 times na. Pero nitong December 2024, hindi na-honor. Hindi raw valid,” said Dino Versoza, the father of the PWD.

(We were shocked, because we often dined there, maybe 5 times already. But this December, they didn’t honor it. They said it wasn’t valid.)

“’Yung nangyari sa kidney niya is 70% na yung damage. Ang validation naman kasi ng PWD na ito is up to next year pa, 2026. Malaking bagay sa amin, lalo na siyempre sa tulad niya… May maintenance siya na gamot, 20% siyempre, malaking bagay para sa amin,” he added.

(What happened was his kidney was 70% damaged. The validation of this PWD ID is up to next year, 2026. This is a big help to us, especially for someone like him… He has maintenance medicine, 20% is of course a big deal to us.)

The Valenzuela City Persons with Disability Affairs Office-in-Charge Snooky Cortez said the PWD ID of Dino’s son was confirmed to be legitimate, but was still not registered by the Philippine Registry for Persons with Disability.

She added that details of PWD cards issued during the pandemic were still being encoded, and that PWD ID holders whose records did not show up would have to coordinate with the offices that issued their cards.

“I would like to inform the public na mayroon po tayong website naman sa National Council of Disability Affairs (NCDA), and you can go there and search. May template naman siya, so makikita po kung anong dapat nakalagay sa ating mga PWD IDs. 'Pag nakita nila na medyo kakaiba doon sa template na 'yun, so 'yun po yung time na pwede sila mag-verify,” said the NCDA Regional Program Coordinator Atty. Walter Jason Alava.

(I would like to inform the public that we have a website for the National Council of Disability Affairs (NCDA), and you can go there and search. There’s a template there, so you can see what should be in our PWD IDs. If you see that something seems different with the template, that is the time you can verify.)

The Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) are the only offices allowed to register PWD cardholders under the Health Department’s registry. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/BAP, GMA Integrated News