EDITORIAL – Neglect of the elderly and PWDs

This one could be heroic but late. Nevertheless, for what it’s worth, we are fully behind it.
It’s a bill pending in Congress that will penalize the criminal neglect of the elderly and persons with disabilities (PWDs).
This means, hundreds of neglected elderly and disabled persons will never be abandoned and will get enough care once this is passed. The bill’s author is Rep. Alfredo D. Vargas III (5th District, Quezon City) who filed House Bill 6460, to be known as the “Care for the Elderly and the Disabled Act,” which seeks to ensure that no one will be abandoned among vulnerable elderly persons and persons with disability.
According to the measure, those who shall be found guilty of criminal neglect of the elderly and PWDs will face a jail term of not less than one year but not exceeding five years and a fine not less than PHP10,000 but not exceeding PHP100, 000.
The bill is premised on the constitutional provision that the State values the dignity of every person and guarantees full respect for human rights so it is unjust to abandon and neglect elderly persons and persons with disability.
Under the bill, a person is guilty of criminal neglect of a vulnerable elderly person or a person with a disability when he or she is a caregiver and knowingly acts in a manner likely to cause the vulnerable elderly person or the person with a disability’s life to be endangered, health to be injured, or pre-existing physical or mental condition to deteriorate.
The measure defines a “person with a disability” as someone who is suffering from restriction of different abilities, as a result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment, to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being, while a “vulnerable elderly person” refers to any resident of the Philippines at least sixty (60) years old who is suffering from a disease or infirmity associated with advanced age.