Restaurant owners in the Philippines have sought government intervention over fake persons with disabilities (PWD) identification cards, tax collection problems, and burdensome regulations, bringing their concerns directly to Ombudsman Boying Remulla during a consultation on Nov. 3.
Representatives of around 1,000 restaurant business owners met with Remulla at the Office of the Ombudsman headquarters in Quezon City to discuss recurring problems affecting their operations and dealings with government agencies.
Among their concerns was the proliferation of fraudulent PWD cards. Philippine law requires restaurants to provide qualified persons with disabilities a 20% discount and value-added tax exemption on eligible purchases.
Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida earlier described as “very alarming” reports of nearly six million potentially fraudulent PWD ID users, citing a discrepancy between 8.5 million estimated card users and 2.8 million registered PWDs.
Vida also warned that an illegitimate discount on a ₱1,200 restaurant bill could cost the establishment ₱120 in income and the government approximately ₱50 in taxes.
In an Oct. 15 statement, the National Council on Disability Affairs warned that widespread fraud undermines legitimate PWD rights, weakens public trust, and causes economic losses. To address fraudulent identification, NCDA has been rolling out a unified PWD ID system with centralized digital verification.
Remulla called for a comprehensive record of the complaints to determine which government agencies and procedures require intervention.
“Let’s make a compendium of the problems that we are facing,” he said during the dialogue.
The consultation formed part of an ongoing study on creating an Investment Ombudsman, a proposed mechanism intended to protect businesses from irregular government practices and address bureaucratic obstacles that discourage investment.
The initiative aims to identify regulatory bottlenecks and government procedures that create opportunities for corruption, with the goal of improving the business environment.
