deaf patients, or individuals who have family members who are deaf. As part of their
corporate social responsibility, private health facilities are encouraged to provide access
to health services to all deaf patients and their family members.
Section 9. Filipino Sign Language in All Other Public Transactions, Services, and
Facilities. – All national agencies including government-owned or –controlled
corporations (GOCCs), and local government units (LGUs) are hereby directed to use
FSL as the medium of official communication in all public transactions involving the
deaf. Qualified FSL interpreters and accessible materials shall be provided whenever
necessary or requested during fora, conferences, meetings, cultural events, sports
competitions, community affairs, and activities conducted by government agencies and
GOCCs.
Section 10. Filipinos Sign Language in Media. – The FSL shall be the language of
broadcast media interpreting. To guarantee access to information and freedom of
expression of the Filipino deaf, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP),
and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) shall, within
one (1) year from the effective date of this Act, require FSL interpreter insets, compliant
with accessibility standards for television, in news and public affairs programs.
Subsequently, the MTRCB shall take steps to promote progressive use of FSL in all
other broadcasts and programming, especially in educational television programs
designed for children, in conjunction with the National Council for Chidlren’s Television
and the DepEd.
The KBP and the MTRCB, the deaf community, and other stakeholders are tasked to
create a national system of standards, procedures and accreditation for broadcast
media interpreting in FSL.
All videos published online, including those on social media, shall also conform to
Philippine web accessibility standards.
Section 11. Promotion of Filipino Sign Language. – The DepEd, CHED, UP, KWF,
Linguistic Society of the Philippines, and other national agencies and LGUs shall, in
consultation with professional organizations with expertise and experience in language
policy and planning and the deaf community, take appropriate steps to propagate sign
language competency among hearing people, by offering FSL as an elective subject in
the regular or mainstream curriculum, particularly of SUCs.
In coordination with the KWF, SUCs, led by the UP, are directed to undertake
continuing research for the development, propagation, and preservation of FSL and its
cultural society.
Section 12. Instructional Materials for Schools and Child Development Centers. – The
DepEd Instructional Materials and Council Secretariat shall, in coordination with the
Bureau of Learning Resources and the Bureau of Learning Delivery, as well as the
ECCD Council, develop guidelines for the selection, production, procurement, and
distribution of print and video materials in FSL to all public schools, day care centers,
and national child development centers. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all procurement
contracts shall be reserved for deaf people’s organizations, including regional or
provincial enterprises and cooperatives run by the deaf and recognized by the LGUs.
Section 13. Implementing Rules and Regulations. – The KWF, in coordination with the
Secretary of Education, the Chairperson of the CHED, the Director General of the
TESDA, the Chairperson of the PRC, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the
Secretary of Justice, and the heads of other relevant agencies, and in consultation with
the representatives of the deaf community, teachers with knowledge and experience
with the use of FSL in deaf education, the academe, interpreters, and other persons
concerned, shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective
implementation of this Act within one hundred eighty (180) days after its effective date.
These rules and regulations shall be published in accessible formats in the respective
websites of the concerned agencies and through other means necessary.
Section 14. Strict Monitoring and Implementation of this Act. – The monitoring and
implementation of this Act shall be strictly upheld. For this purpose, an Inter-Agency
Council is hereby created which shall consist of one (1) representative each from the
CHR, the CWC, the PCW, the KWF and the FSL organizations or institutions. The InterAgency Council shall make an annual report on the monitoring and implementation of
this Act and the copy of which shall be submitted to both Houses of Congress and
published in accessible formats in their respective websites and through other means
necessary to serve the purpose of effective dissemination. Failure to comply with any of
the provisions of this Act shall be a matter that can be referred to the Civil Service