Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez issued an executive order on Monday, February 5, recalling all Bacolod City government issued PWD (persons with disabilities) identification cards to weed out those that are fake or issued to undeserving individuals.
There are about 12,000 PWD cards that have been issued in Bacolod City and the city government will determine if all of the holders are qualified, he said.
Effective immediately the old PWD cards will not be valid, he said.
The city government is setting up a special window for the issuance of temporary PWD documents with QR codes, Benitez said.
A 24/7 hotline will also be set up by the city government for business establishments to validate the authenticity of PWD cards, he said.
The old PWD cards will be replaced with new ones with QR cards that business establishments can scan to determine their authenticity, he added.
“I am hearing horror stories about PWD cards,” Benitez said.
He said those who will be issued PWD cards for poor eyesight will only be those with problems that cannot be rectified with eyeglasses.
There is no recall of senior citizen cards that will also have QR cards, he said.*