LOCAL HEALTH, WELFARE AND DISABILITY LEGAL SYSTEMS Legislations concerning the welfare of the Filipino disabled started

in 1917 wit h the Revised Administrative Code and continued until 1926 with the Workmen s Compen sation Act. Both acted upon compensation benefits during the period of disabilit y. However, the rehabilitation was still a minor concern of the Philippine gover nment and most rehabilitation services were undertaken private agencies and volu nteer groups. With the establishment of the first OT school in the Philippines in 1962, the go vernment enacted RA 5680, An Act Creating he Board of Examiners for Physical and Occupational Therapist to ensure regulation. During the decade of the 80 s views on disability in the local context made a turn-a round as influenced by international support and recognition of the disabled per son, and local acknowledgement of occupational potentials of disabled persons. B P 344, the Accessibility Law, was approved in 1983, setting minimum requirement and standards to make buildings, and facilities and utilities for public use acc essible to disabled persons. As the profession moved closer to the 21st century, the Philippine Government sa w the social implications disability, thus RA 7277 (Magna Carta for Disabled Per sons) was enacted, providing for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-r eliance of disabled persons and their integration into the mainstream of society and for other purposes. In response to the dynamics of human occupation models, pioneer Filipino occupat ional therapists saw the need to concurrently update the local laws that govern the education and practice of occupational therapy in the Philippines. Several a ttempts were made over the past three decades, until in 2003, when the Philippin e House of Representative approved the submission of House Bill 1302, also known as the Philippine Occupational Therapy Law of 2003. With a senator sponsor, the bill was again introduced in the senate this year. Occupational Therapy in the Philippines is still subdued and faces challenges in professional identity and asserting itself as a legitimate profession, outside the clinical world. Autonomy and identity should be sought by the profession, an d the first step towards that is through the support of local legislations. The University of Santo Tomas-College of Rehabilitation Sciences aligns itself with this construct and actively participates in legislative endeavors aimed towards the development, protection and respect of the profession. The university sat as panelist in the revision of the local minimum educational competency for B.S. o ccupational therapy curriculum by the Commission of Higher Education and has ada pted this at the beginning of the academic year. Alumni and faculty members of t he university take a proactive role in supporting the Occupational Therapy of th e Philippines, doing research that could precipitate legislative changes and in the lobbying for the enactment of the Occupational Therapy Law. References: Fourteenth Congress of the Philippines. An Act Regulating the Registration, Lice nsure and Practice of Occupational Therapy. (Senate S. 2136) Bondoc, S (2005), Occupational Therapy in the Philippines: From Founding Years to the Present. Philippine Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1, 9-22. Sison, E. and Trinidad, O. (1995). The History and Development of Occupational Therapy in the Philippines, Undergraduate Thesis.