You know that blue sign that looks like a wheelchair in parking lots?

Yep, that’s a sign that the parking slot is for the disabled, better known as Persons With Disability or PWD’s. Their location is usually the most convenient because they have the hardest time getting access. In fact, right near these signs will be access ramps for PWD’s.

Sadly, most people drivers will ignore this sign and just go park in it anyway. Excuses vary when inconsiderate drivers take over these slot. Some will say no one is parked anyway, others will argue they should not be driving if they are disabled, and one I saw actually pretended to be disabled, walking with a limp while near his car and the getting upright at a distance.

Well, Senator Leila de Lima just filed Senate Bill 1622 or an “act mandating the provision of exclusive parking space for handicapped persons and penalizing the unauthorized use thereof.”

“Without clear penalties for the unauthorized use and obstruction of such designated spaces, social media is abound with posts of drivers who brazenly and wantonly disregard disabled parking spaces. Examples of these are non-handicapped drivers occupying the space provided for the disabled and people blatantly obstructing access ramps for disabled, wheelchair-bound persons despite the obvious International Symbol of Access.” – SB 1622

De Lima’s bill will make it mandatory for establishments to provide one (1) PWD parking slot for every 25 parking space. As is the practice already, the spaces will be prominently marked and strict enforcement will be mandated.

The penalties for failure to provide for the features of the bill when it becomes law is as follows:

• A fine of P10,000-P40,000 for illegally parking in a PWD slot without a PWD sign.

• A fine of P10,000-P40,000 for lending a PWD sign. His PWD parking privileges will also be revoked.

• A fine of P10,000-P40,000 for obstructing access to a PWD parking slot. The drivers license of the offending driver will also be suspended for six (6) months.

• A fine of P40,000-P200,000 for falsifying or fraudulently obtaining a PWD sign. He shall also be imprisoned for up to six months

• A fine of P200,000 for any establishments who fail to provide the required PWD parking slots.

And a PWD is described as “those who have impaired mobility, those who are ambulant-disabled, those who are wheelchair-bound, those who have a condition rendering them similarly disabled as certified by a physician, or those with any ailment that prohibits them from being able to walk a distance of 200ft without stopping to rest.”

The Implementing Rules and Regulation for this act shall be the responsibility of the Department of Transportation.

Quite a creative and timely bill for a Senator incarcerated inside a police camp detention center. She probably saw from her cell that guards normally do nothing or the most illogical things and realized they can be given satisfying duties like telling a wothead driver to leave a PWD slot or give up P10,000-P40,000 in fines.