Press Release
December 11, 2020

De Lima slams Plantation Bay owner, pushes anew for creation of multi-sectoral agency for developmental disabilities

Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has slammed the owner of the Plantation Bay resort in Cebu for shaming a mother of a child with autism and issuing a non-apology after the latter's complaint went viral.

De Lima, both a parent and a grandparent to children born with autism, said she hopes the incident would remind her colleagues of the urgency of passing measures that could improve the living conditions of persons with autism and raise awareness about their conditions.

"Talagang nakadidismaya at nakakagalit ang mga insidenteng ito ng diskriminasyon laban sa may autism at sa kanilang pamilya. Pagpapakita lamang ito sa kawalan pa rin ng sapat at hustong kaalaman ng marami ukol sa autism, at sa pangangailangan ng batas na tunay na mangangalaga at magtataguyod sa karapatan ng mga kababayan nating may ganitong kondisyon," she said.

"Hindi sapat ang awa o simpatya sa may autism at sa kanilang pamilya. Ang kailangan ay malalim na pang-unawa at pagtanggap sa kanilang sitwasyon at kalagayang pangkalusugan, suporta at pangangalaga ng Estado sa kanilang kapakanan," she added.

Recently, a certain Mai Pages narrated her "discriminating" experience at Plantation Bay Resort and Spa on travel site TripAdvisor, sharing that the resort staff reprimanded her for her child's noise despite explaining that her son had special needs.

In a now-deleted response on TripAdvisor, resort owner Manny Gonzalez said that "uncontrolled shouting is not a symptom of autism." He later posted an apology letter for his response on Plantation Bay's Facebook account after receiving backlash from netizens for his initial statement.

However, Gonzalez also emphasized in his supposed apology letter that the resort was just trying to apply its strict policy on keeping the noise level down in the resort's public area.

This 18th Congress, De Lima filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 855 seeking to create an inter-agency and multi-sectoral agency to develop and implement a National Development Disability Program tasked to promote awareness, education and information about issues on development disabilities, such as autism, and set up network of support groups for their families.

"I am calling on my colleagues again to support SB No. 855 and help ensure its successful and immediate passage into law so we could avoid these incidents from happening again while also empowering persons with developmental disabilities," she said.

"It is challenging for persons with autism and other developmental abilities to live a safe life free from any form of discrimination, that's why we should do our part in increasing awareness and understanding about these conditions to encourage the society to help them become healthy, happy and productive members of the community," she added.

Under SB No. 855, it is also mandated to produce a databank and information and monitoring system (IMS) on the demographic, socio-economic and incidence, type and prevalence of persons with developmental disabilities in the country.

De Lima, whose eldest son, Israel de Lima Bohol, was born with nonverbal autism, said children with special needs have the right to live a happy and safe life free from any judgment and abuse despite the challenges they were born in.

"Autism may manifest differently in every children but one thing is for sure - they are all a gift from God who have this ability to see the world in a spectrum of colors only they can appreciate. They deserve to be loved, respected and understood," she said.

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