MANILA, Philippines – Establishments cannot deny discounts or privileges to those with person with disabilities (PWD) cards regardless of whether their IDs are found in the national registry, the Department of Justice said in a legal opinion.

In the five-page opinion signed by Undersecretary Raul Vasquez, the DOJ said not granting PWDs their discounts violates provisions of Republic Act No. 10754 or An Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability and its implementing rules and regulations. The DOJ also emphasized that the law does not require PWD cards to be verified for cardholders to be granted their benefits.

“Such denial and withholding of PWD benefits and privileges by reason of unverified PWD ID card constitutes a violation of the rights of PWDs to avail of the said benefits and privileges,” the legal opinion read.

This comes after National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) officer-in-charge deputy executive director Dandy Victa asked if establishments can deny PWD card holders of their discount privileges if their cards cannot immediately be verified. He also sought to clarify if this denial would violate the rights of PWDs.

Under RA 10754, cardholders are granted a 12% value-added tax (VAT) exemption and a 20% discount on certain goods and services, including restaurant purchases and transportation costs.

There has recently been a rise in fake PWD cards, prompting establishments such as restaurants to be stricter when it comes to verifying the authenticity of PWD cards.

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In a Senate ways and means committee hearing last December 2024, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said there could be around 8.5 million “illegitimate” PWDs in the country. This is above the official 1.89 million total registered PWDs, according to data from the NCDA.

Establishments are currently verifying the authenticity of PWD cards through the Philippine Registry for Persons with Disabilities managed by the Department of Health.

However, the DOJ pointed out that the registry is not yet complete with the information of all registered PWDs in the country. Local government units are in charge of updating the national registry, which is still done manually.

“As such, denial or withholding of PWD benefits and privileges due to unverified PWD ID cards or when the verification results to ‘no records found’ in the registry would undoubtedly defeat the purpose of the law,” the DOJ’s legal opinion read. – Rappler.com

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