Publish the law on TRI for learners with disabilities

Senator Win Gatchalian (Senate Office of Public Relations and Information)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian could not hide his disappointment after learning on Tuesday that the non-implementation of the Services for Learners with Disabilities Act is due to the failure of the Department of Education (DepEd) to immediately publish the rules for applying the measure. and regulations (IRR).

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, expressed concern during the chamber’s hearing on the implementation of RA 11650, also known as the Act Establishing a Policy of Inclusion and services for learners with disabilities in support of inclusive education.

“It is quite disappointing that it took two years to develop the TRI and after the TRI was developed, six months later, there is still no publication. In other words, some provisions of the law cannot be implemented because the IRR will spell out the details,” he told DepEd officials.

Leila Areola, director IV of the DepEd’s Bureau of Learning Delivery, said they were told that the IRR was to be released on December 2, 2024.

This did not sit well with Gatchalian, who argued that even if the TRI were released now, it would still be 30 days before it took effect.

Article continues after this ad

“What I’m saying is that by the time we fully implement this law, it’s going to be almost five years,” he said.

Article continues after this ad

“Because it took us two years to write the law, it took you two years to write the TRI, and then another six months to publish it and fully implement it. So it’s been almost four and a half to five years; this should not be the case, that is why we are enacting this law because we find it important and necessary but it is up to the ministry to make it operational. But it’s purely a bureaucratic process, I don’t think it’s going to be complicated to publish it,” he added.

Gatchalian then urged DepEd officials to coordinate with Education Secretary Sonny Angara, “release the TRI already and push to implement those elements of the law that can be implemented.”

“Because we owe it to the parents of learners with disabilities, we owe it to the groups who participated. Of course, we owe it to our learners with disabilities – that’s the whole point of enacting this law,” he said.

READ: Zero budget for special education in 2023 makes SPED law “meaningless”