00:00The committee is now investigating the spread of fake PWD cards that are being allocated and sold online.
00:11Aside from the millions of pesos that the government is losing,
00:15it is also affecting the income of the establishments that are being victimized.
00:21Ma'am Gonzalez is on the case.
00:24Establishments are not getting a small discount using the person with disability card.
00:30But businessmen are saying that it is being abused because of people who just pretend to have a disability.
00:38It is not uncommon for us to have a table of 10 people, everyone will have a PWD card.
00:44It's very regularly seen, 100% PWD card usage.
00:50We've had cases where husband and wife have the same serial number with their PWD card and they claim it's a conjugal disability.
00:58There are also cases of pilots who have a PWD card due to eye problems.
01:03We've had pilots who would give PWD cards for visual disability. In other words, they are legally blind pilots.
01:10The issue is being investigated by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
01:14Even its chairman, Senator Wynne Gatchalian, knows that the use of PWD card in the LGU is questionable.
01:23I have experience, to be honest about it. I have friends who drink but have PWD ID.
01:29According to Gatchalian, in 2023 alone, the government is losing P88 billion.
01:35The P88 billion is in the form of taxes because they don't pay the P80, lesser income tax because the businesses are filing deductibility.
01:47So P88 billion is for gone. It's being lost by the government.
01:52In terms of discounts being given by establishments, it's P166 billion being given by establishments.
02:03The most affected here are the restaurants.
02:06I fail to see the significance of why a person with disability is allowed to claim a 20 percent discount for a P25,000 bottle of whiskey or a P6,000 steak.
02:18This inevitably will force us to raise prices and when we raise prices, the effect will be to harm the persons with disabilities themselves.
02:28The Department of Finance also said that prices will increase because of what's happening.
02:34If the system is abused with these discounts, then the only way to recoup those losses is by putting a higher price.
02:43According to the research of Gatchalian's office, more than P8.5 million are using PWD cards in the country.
02:50In Valenzuela City, City Hall was the last to sell a PWD card.
02:56In other words, someone is selling fake PWD IDs.
03:00Yes.
03:01But their claim, they thought it's true.
03:04It's true. Because the person who offered, they know that it's related to City Hall.
03:12PWD cards are sold from P500 to P2,500.
03:17In Quezon City, they are sold online.
03:21Through the help of our PDAO officers, we inquired with them as to their PWD ID and we entrapped them upon delivering the fake ID.
03:35Supermarkets are also being attacked where PWDs have a 5 percent discount because it's hard to check if the PWD card is real.
03:44Establishments are asking to make the card look one by one so that it can be easily found by people.
03:51It's also hoped that there will be a digital registry so that it can be checked in real time if a PWD card is real.
03:57For GMA Integrated News, Mav Gonzalez, Natutok, 24 Hours.
Comments