THE Metro Manila Development Authority is set to hire deaf and mute individuals to man the monitors of closed-circuit television cameras installed on major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region.
“Basically we would strengthen the capability of our Metro Base. As you know, Metro Base is responsible for monitoring traffic, real time in our metropolis. We thought it best to bring our [persons with disability] brothers [and sisters] and help us in something where they can be of help, their strength being they have better ocular faculties,” said MMDA officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos.
On Monday, the MMDA signed an agreement with the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde in connection with the employment program of the agency for the deaf and mute persons.
Orbos said the project, one of the initiatives of the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic, is anchored on studies showing people with hearing disabilities have heightened senses of sight.
“There are studies which indicate that when a person loses one of the bodily senses, the other senses are more sensitive or heightened. Their visual acuity is sharper,” he said.
Orbos said the agency wants to engage persons with hearing impairment to show their worth in the workforce as well as to complement the current personnel at the Metro Base, the agency’s monitoring center.
“They will undergo training. We might employ a flagging system for them to alert Metro Base team leaders if they see something on cam that needs immediate attention on the ground,” he pointed out.
Orbos added these individuals would also be valuable in monitoring traffic incidents on the road or traffic violations committed by motorists.
Under the agreement, the College of St. Benilde, an educational institution that runs the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies, shall provide MMDA the agreed number of qualified graduates for employment.
The school shall assist the agency in the orientation and integration of the deaf. Further, the school shall assign a project coordinator who will conduct monitoring and provide feedback on the effectiveness of the project.
The employment for deaf-mute individuals and other persons with disability is also in compliance with Republic Act 10524, a law enacted three years ago for government agencies and government-owned corporations to reserve one percent of their workforce for disabled persons.
In June 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Republic Act 10524 (An Act Expanding the Positions Reserved for Persons with Disability), which amended the 1992 Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities.
The order makes it mandatory for government agencies and government-owned corporations to reserve one percent of their workforce for disabled persons.
Section 5 of the Magna Carta state that “No persons with disability shall be denied access to opportunities for suitable employment;” and that “a qualified employee with disability shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a qualified able bodied person.”
The new law also encourages private companies with more than 100 employees to hire disabled persons and set aside at least one percent of their workforce for them.
