LGU ISSUES PURCHASE BOOKLETS TO GoDAP MEMBERS

In response to persons with disability's clamor for benefits and privileges that the "Magna Carta for Disable Persons, R.A. 7277, and other related laws provide, the LGU Gerona has issued some 248 purchase booklets to Gerona Office for the Different Abled Persons (GoDAP) members, its local coordinator reported.

"Fifty-three percent or 248 PWDs received purchase booklets since GoDAP started issuing them on June 24,” GoDAP Coordinator Joel San Pascual said.

Pascual said he wants to thank Mayor Dennis Norman Go for expediting the release of the booklets and for the local executive’s continued support to PWDs efforts.

The purchase booklet is a requirement in the joint DTI-DA Administrative Order No. 2, series 2008, where a purchase booklet “should be presented to the retailer every time a purchase of basic and prime necessities is made.”

Under RA 7277, a PWD is entitled to a special discount of five percent of the retail price of basic necessities and prime commodities. The amount of purchase, however, must not exceed 1,300 per calendar week.

Basic necessities refer to rice, bread, canned fish, pork, coffee, and other commodities while prime commodities include fresh fruits, noodles, onions, dairy products, school supplies, and other merchandise.

Pascual said that GoDAP members are happy because they can now get discounts from local establishments and drugstores in Gerona and in other municipalities using the booklets.

“Dito sa mga drugstores sa Gerona walang problema dahil nagbibigay sila ng five percent discount sa branded medicine at 20 percent naman sa mga generics,” he said.

The number of booklets released per barangay are as follows: Cardona, 24; Villa Paz, 21; Sta Lucia, 20; San Jose, 20; San Agustin, 17; Magaspac, 17; New Salem, 14; Santiago, 11; Parsolingan, 11; Padapada, 11; Tangcaran, 10; Sembrano, 9; Poblacion, 9; Danzo, 8; Sulipa, 7; Dicolor, 6; Mabini, 6; Salapungan, 6; San Bartolome, 6; Oloybuaya, 3; Bularit, 2; Quezon, 2; Rizal, 2; Luna, 1; Parsolingan, 1; and Tagumbao,1.