In nurturing the popular Mama Lou Restaurant to its current growth, founding couple David and Crystal Sison employed a great deal of creativity and hard work, which has resulted in the restaurant’s expansion to 27 branches.

The enterprise continues to flourish and it has now diversified through the opening of two Filipino restaurants and a microbrewery bar in Silang, Cavite.

The Italian-inspired Mama Lou’s was conceived through what Crystal recalled was an inspired idea from her mom, to convert their old house in Aguirre in Parañaque into a restaurant.

“To remain relevant amid fierce competition, we maintain the values and culture of the store, injecting it with a dose of hospitality,” David said when he guested at Daily Tribune’s online Straight Talk program.

David said social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook had to make sure that their viewers should “truly experience what they saw in social media.”

The quick growth of the company is being sidetracked, however, by the proliferation of fake PWD (persons with disability) identification cards.

PWDs and senior citizens are entitled to a 20 percent discount on restaurant bills which the Sisons said has become a source of a racket, causing Mama Lous and other dining places to suffer huge losses.

“The discount privilege is enjoyed by 65 percent of senior citizens and 35 percent of PWDs,” David pointed out referring to those who avail of the privilege in eating out at restaurants.

PWDs lately have taken a 49 percent chunk of discounted bills while that of senior citizens reached 56 percent.

“The shift is alarming,” he said, as he surmised that the misuse of PWD IDs has become prevalent.

“There’s a gap in the system,” David pointed out. He particularly mentioned the differing format of the discount IDs based on the issuing local government units (LGUs), which also have different ways of bestowing the privilege.

The spurious use of the IDs, the Sison couple explained, deprives legitimate PWDs of assistance.

“How do we fix the system?” David asked. “How do we support and help the legitimate PWDs?” he added.

The Sisons are calling for the government to strengthen their monitoring and hold those responsible for the fake PWD IDs accountable.

“We (restaurateurs) shoulder the 20 percent while the government loses revenues from the missed 12 percent value-added tax (VAT),” David explained, pointing out that the losses may run into billions of pesos each year.

“We also wanted to correct the misconception that the discounts are being subsidized by the government,” Crystal added.

Gov’t urges vigilance

The head of the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), an attached agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development

(DSWD), individuals or groups facilitating the sale and use of PWD cards violates Republic Act (RA) 10754, also known as “An Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability.”

“We are calling on the public. We all know that the proliferation of fake IDs has placed the burden on us, as well as on the legitimate members of the disabled. So, we are appealing to the public, if you know anyone who manufactures and uses fake IDs, please report them to the National Council on Disability Affairs,” NCDA Executive Director Glenda Relova said.

Relova said the public may report incidents involving the sale of fake persons with disability IDs to the NCDA through their email, council@ncda.gov.ph, or through their social media pages.

Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PDAO) under their LGUs or any law enforcement agencies can also receive such information.

A permanent solution that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is crafting a unified ID system for PWDs.

The scheme will be pilot-tested from January to June and will be rolled out across the country in July, Relova said.

The NCDA is an attached agency of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“We had a roundtable discussion where we developed a framework for the DSWD to issue a unified ID system. We are just waiting for the terms of reference to be finalized so we can work out the different phases of the ID release,” Relova said.

She added that members of the NCDA Governing Board, chaired by the DSWD, came up with recommendations to address the concerns regarding the abuse of the availment of statutory discounts and privileges for PWDs as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 10754, also known as An Act Expanding the Benefits and Privileges of Persons with Disability.

The creation of a unified ID system for persons with disabilities will be managed by the DSWD and the NCDA, in collaboration with LGUs, through their respective Persons with Disability Affairs Offices (PDAO).

Relova said that during their initial discussion, the application, verification, and approval process will still be under the PDAO. The DSWD, on the other hand, will be the central authority that will issue the unified ID.

The unified ID system will feature both a physical ID, and a digital ID with the biometric data of the PWD to prevent fraud.

The physical ID will be an RFID (radio frequency identification) -enabled PVC card with high-security features intended for offline use.

Meanwhile, the digital ID will be accessible via a mobile app or web portal, with features such as QR codes for quick verification.

Relova said the unified ID system will employ a web-based portal that can be used for real-time updating and local-level ID verification linked to the Philippine Registry for Persons with Disability.