ADAM Bolante, a communication student paralyzed from neck to foot, longs for the day when security guards at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. (BGPOP) Building will no longer need to unlock the main door each time he arrives for class.
Bolante has been using a wheelchair since 2016 after being diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition that inflames the spinal cord and may lead to partial to complete paralysis, according to the US-based Cleveland Clinic.
The main door of the BGPOP Building, which faces the UST Open Field, is usually unlocked for events at the ground-floor lobby, second-floor ballroom, or fourth-floor function rooms. Meanwhile, the side entrance near the P. Noval Court serves as the main entry point for students and staff.
The only ramp accessible to wheelchair users is located near the oft-locked main entrance, which forces students like Bolante to wait for assistance before being able to enter the building.
“[A] guard or a person still has to go to the doors para lang mabuksan, so naghihintay ako doon,” the Artlets student told the Varsitarian. “I understand kung ba’t naka-lock ‘yon, pero gusto ko sana makapunta in and out na medyo mabilis.”
Wheelchair users like Bolante must be lifted due to a foot-tall gutter at the side door entrance and a staircase that separates the lounge area from the lobby. At the lounge, students tap their IDs for verification, sit on benches to wait for friends, eat lunch, or hang out.
“Napaka-restrictive niya,” Carmen Zubiaga, a person with disability (PWD) advocate who ran for the Senate in 2022, told the Varsitarian when she looked at the photos of BGPOP’s entry points. “Hindi siya conducive para sa mga naka-manual na wheelchair kasi masyadong matarik ‘yong entrance.”
Zubiaga, a former executive director of the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), said UST, like other establishments, has decent facilities for PWDs that can be improved over time.
“Before, nakapunta na ako sa UST; medyo hindi pa siya gano’n ka-accessible like I have seen now,” she said. “So far, maganda na siya ngayon and I can say na students with disabilities can survive.”
Zubiaga stressed that PWD-friendly facilities foster inclusivity.
“Accessibility to the physical environment is the gatekeeper for independence and mobility for PWDs,” she said. “For those who are using wheelchairs and other assistive devices, it makes them feel more independent and provides a feeling of belongingness and importance, having their needs addressed.”
Public facilities in the Philippines must be compliant with Batas Pambansa Blg. 344, or “An Act to Enhance the Mobility of Disabled Persons by Requiring Certain Buildings, Institutions, Establishments and Other Public Utilities and Other Devices,” signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in February 1983.
On July 8, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Transportation, and the NCDA approved revisions to the 41-year-old law’s implementing rules and regulations, imposing standard measurements for ramps, flooring, signage, and stairs.
Based on the tracker on the NCDA website, a total of 1,790,820 Filipinos were registered as PWDs as of September. UST has no formal record of the number of PWDs enrolled in its programs.
To understand how UST can make its facilities more PWD-friendly, the Varsitarian conducted an informal accessibility audit at eight edifices where foot traffic is high, enlisting the help of select architects and engineers teaching at the University. UST was not informed of the walkthroughs in advance.
UST’s challenges
In an interview with the Varsitarian, Facilities Management Office (FMO) Director Fr. Dexter Austria, O.P. said newer buildings in UST’s Sampaloc and General Santos campuses are PWD-friendly. However, retrofitting older structures poses challenges due to some constraints, such as space.
“Wala naman tayong nagiging problem sa budget with regard to that,” he said. “Ang mas challenging kung magiging feasible siya, especially sa mga restroom natin, kasi once i-move mo ‘yong isa, iiksi nang iiksi ‘yong iba. ‘Di naman lumalaki ‘yong space natin dito sa UST.”
The Main Building opened its doors to the public in July 1927, five decades before Batas Pambansa 344 was enacted.
College of Architecture faculty member Kristoffer Aquino noted that historical structures are understandably non-compliant with PWD laws.
“This is an old institution, an old structure. It’s expected that it won’t be able to meet all the minimum requirements for PWDs,” Aquino, an architect who owns the freelance studio KDA Design + Architecture, told the Varsitarian. “But of course, at least there’s an attempt, like having the elevator lifts in place, but it’s still limited. Not all can access the rooms or spaces.”
The Main Building is one of nine edifices inside UST built before the passage of the PWD law. The others are:
- Central Seminary (1932)
- UST Hospital (1945; UST Hospital Clinical Division opened in 1965)
- UST Health Service (1946)
- Fr. Roque Ruaño Building (1950)
- St. Martin de Porres Building (1952)
- St. Raymund de Peñafort Building (1955)
- Albertus Magnus Building (1969)
- Benavides Building (1978)
Like the Main Building, the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building and the Central Seminary Building offer “bare minimum” facilities for PWDs, such as ramps, due to their age.
“Definitely, there is still room for improvement,” he said. “I still think it’s best we go beyond what is prescribed by the law if you know well our stakeholders [and] all their needs.”
Signages
Wayfinding in the Main Building, which the National Museum declared a “National Cultural Treasure” in January 2010, presents a challenge for Thomasians with visual disabilities, the architect said.
“It would be better if there were Braille signs,” Aquino said. “The keyword here is wayfinding to guide [the blind] out. [There should be] different tactile pavings, so if I’m a blind person, it’s easy for me to navigate even in this big space.”
The law requires tactile paving to be available in stairways, elevators, ramps, open spaces, and toilets, among others.
Developed by the Japanese in 1965, tactile paving consists of surface indicators built on floorings using truncated domes arranged in a grid pattern.
It is categorized into warning blocks (for hazards), positional blocks (for direction changes), and directional blocks (for safe paths).
Buildings must also be equipped with audio and visual signages in line with the International Symbol of Access. These signages, along with facilities like information counters and security screening equipment, should have Braille inscriptions.
When Oscar Conrad De Jesus, an engineer at the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development, reviewed the master design of the BGPOP building as a civil engineering student, he wondered how PWD facilities would fit in.
“Noong nakita namin ‘yong plans, you would actually think in what way nga ba papasok ‘yong mga PWDs?” he told the Varsitarian. “Halimbawa, mayroon tayong ramp for those who are physically impaired. But what about those who are visually impaired? Mga deaf or mute?”
Completed in 2014, the 12-story BGPOP houses administrative offices and academic units such as the Office for Alumni Relations, the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, and the Departments of Journalism and Communication.
Experts noted that while its wide hallways are helpful for PWDs, the absence of tactile pavings and handrails, particularly on the first-floor lobby, prevents visually impaired students from easily navigating the facilities.
“Sa lobby, sobrang vast ng area to the point na kung visually impaired ka, mawawala ka diyan agad,” De Jesus, an instructor at the Faculty of Engineering, said.
Moreover, none of the five elevator buttons have Braille signs, leaving PWDs unsure of which floor they are on.
Ramps
The ramp located in front of the student-athlete entrance at the Carpark is so “steep” that it puts PWDs at risk of losing their balance, according to De Jesus.
“Masyado siyang steep, tapos hindi ka makakakapit,” he said, adding that the ramp seems like it was forced into the design.
The unreliability of the ramp poses a danger to Thomasians with mobility restrictions.
“Puwedeng ma-out of balance ka, mahilo ka, at matumba. Hindi siya conducive for wheelchair use,” Carl Remington Ty, the principal architect of RMTY Designs and a faculty member at the College of Architecture, told the Varsitarian.
Ramps, according to Batas Pambansa 344, must have a minimum width of 1,200 mm. with a gradient not steeper than 1:20 (the most ideal, according to Zubiaga, is between 1:12 and 1:15). Handrails should be installed on both sides of the ramp but “shall not be installed beyond the width of any crossing so as not to obstruct pedestrian traffic.”
Another problematic ramp is at the Miguel de Benavides Library, where, according to Aquino, wheelchair users would struggle.
“The end of this ramp is a bit loose because it’s protruding too much,” the architect said. “This has anti-slip, but still, this is too steep. Those of us without disability can feel the steepness compared with the other PWD ramps.”
Restrooms
Another issue that experts have is the inaccessibility of some comfort rooms. During the walkthrough, certain restrooms designated for PWDs were open, while others were closed. Without any support staff nearby, these closed restrooms could be rendered useless.
Batas Pambansa 344 requires toilets to “permit effortless and obstruction-free movement for a wheelchair, enabling the occupant to enter a toilet cubicle or stand-alone toilet, close the door, and transfer to the water closet from either a frontal or lateral transfer.”
The law also requires a PWD restroom to have a minimum area of 1,800 mm by 1,800 mm. Faucets, bidets, shower valves, diverters, and flush valves must be accessible to the user while seated.
Additionally, toilet seats, bidets, and shower or bathtub seats should match the height of a wheelchair seat, as outlined in a design manual by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.
At the Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Building, home to the College of Information and Computing Sciences and the Senior High School, some PWD restrooms lack signages.
“Minimalist designs are not, at all times, applicable,” De Jesus said. “Not unless I have a cognitive ability to determine that, ‘Oh, this is a CR for male or for female.’ But what if you have a mental disability like Down syndrome or cerebral palsy? Those with delayed thinking processes cannot definitely say that it’s a CR.”
PWDs in the St. Raymund de Peñafort Building, which houses the Faculty of Arts and Letters and the College of Commerce and Business Administration, also face difficulties using the comfort rooms due to their narrow spaces.
Other issues
Upon entering the lobby of the Frassati Building, Ty was unsettled by the flickering lights that greeted him.
“Masakit ito; nakakahilo ‘yan,” the architect observed, pointing to the blades of a giant ceiling fan interacting with the lights.
De Jesus warned that these flickering lights distress PWDs with neurological disorders.
“It will cause seizures for those who have epilepsy,” he said. “Those who are mentally impaired, if they have trauma with falling objects, it doesn’t lessen the anxiety that it will go down anytime.”
The PWD law only stipulates that lighting should be equal to “avoid extreme differences in bright levels,” adding that sufficient brightness is necessary to avoid creating shadows and glares.
According to BrainFacts.org, those with photosensitive epilepsy are triggered by irregular brightness patterns, leading to hyper-synchronous discharges in the brain.
The Department of Health classifies epilepsy as a psychosocial disability, alongside bipolar disorder, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Schizophrenia is also categorized as a mental disability.
Other neurological conditions are also recognized in the Philippines as learning disabilities, including dysgraphia (difficulty in translating thoughts into written form), dyslexia (difficulty in reading), and developmental dysphasia (unexplained speech impediment).
De Jesus pointed out that Batas Pambansa 344 doesn’t adequately safeguard individuals with mental illnesses.
“Constrained siya sa physical impairment or disability,” he said. “Hindi niya naco-cover ‘yong essence ng disability in an internal perspective. What was missing is ‘yong lack of awareness sa mental disability.” With reports from Hannah Joyce V. Andaya and Eduardo G. Fajermo Jr.
This is the first of the Varsitarian’s two-part special report looking into the accessibility of the UST campus for persons with disability. Read the second part here.
