Philippine Web Accessibility Group

The Philippine Web Accessibility Group promised to assist the government in coming up of a unified web template which would have a common look-and-feel features and complies with existing memorandum circulars and directives.

In a seminar called for by Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) and National Computer Center-Information and Communications Technology Office (NCC-ICTO) last December 14 at the NCC Work Hall, their web development team introduces sample templates including descriptions and interface requirements of homepage, inner page and content area placeholders sections to the attendees mostly from various government agencies. This develops as the Philippines positioned itself by interconnecting all government agencies, government owned and controlled corporations, local government units and state colleges and universities. Both ASTI and NCC-ICTO are under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). The goal is to be able to share resources and data for efficient and effective public service.

PWAG President Jojo Esposa Jr., proposed some suggestions which include the use of accessible PDF files on all government documents as well as not discounting the distinct personality and individuality of each agency or LGU websites. He also committed PWAG to assist in the development of the web templates incorporating its accessibility and usability.

This initiative started when on June 23, 2011 an Executive Order 47 was issued, ordering ICTO to spearhead the program. After a series of consultations between ICTO, ASTI and partner government agencies, the iGovPhil Project was launched in June 2012. The goal, as stated in the EO, is to establish and use relevant mechanisms for interactive, interconnected and inter-operable government applications.

According to their official website, “Among the benefits of an interconnected government is the elimination of long queues in government offices that deal directly with the citizens. Imagine, for example, the crowds that form at the National Statistics Office, the Land Transportation Office or the Department of Foreign Affairs. The long lines will be eliminated as well as traffic congestion outside the government offices if people will do the transactions through their computers at home, office, Internet cafes or even malls.”

This will be possible if government agencies link up and share information and resources. And this is where iGovPhil comes in. It sets up the hardware, software, applications and everything that is needed to make the scheme work.

Among the team's objectives is to strictly implement the Joint NCDA-NCC Memorandum Circular of 2010 institutionalizing accessibility of Persons With Disabilities on all government websites. Other existing laws include the non-inclusion of Philippine flag, government seal and the transparency seal. To know more about their other projects, visit their official website at i.gov.ph or download their general web template guide presentation.

The presentation files used during web accessibility workshops/seminars conducted by PWAG President Jojo Esposa can now be freely downloaded in this official website. Here are the links:

• What is Web Accessibility? – All about Information and Communications Technology related issues of Persons With Disabilities
• Skip to Content – Technical explanation on how to make a “Skip to Content” link
• How to Write a Good Alt Text – Explanation and samples of putting ALT text on images and photos
• ARAW Awards 2012 – Brief explanation on PWAG's history and Criteria in Recommending ARAW Awardees

You may also view other useful information shared by PWAG members inside the Resources page.

The Philippine Web Accessibility Group requested the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan to allocate funds for the monitoring and evaluation of accessibility compliance of key government websites during a consultation and orientation forum held last November 7, 2012 at UPAA Bahay ng Alumni, Diliman, Quezon City.

PWAG President Jojo Esposa was one of those organizations invited from the Persons With Disabilities group to present their achievements and challenges in performing their objectives. PWD groups also gave overviews about their statistics, situations and possible ODA collaboration.

Among those who presented include the Resources for the Blind, PAVIC, Deaf-Blind Community, Philippine Blind Union and UNESCAP. Government agencies who attended the event were from the Department of Science and Technology, National Computer Center, Department of Education, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the National Council on Disability Affairs.

PWAG requests funding assistance for the following:

1. Continuous training of web designers and evaluation of all government websites;
2. Continuous assistance in development of accessible websites;
3. Continuous monitoring of evaluated websites;
4. Monitoring of downtime of key government websites

For ODA’s part, Mr. Hiroshi Kawamura, Leader of ODA Needs Research Mission challenged the PWD sector to come up with a joint proposal which can be submitted to them for further study. The approved proposals will then be provided with financial grant and support. ODA is currently targeting on four countries, namely; India, Brazil, Thailand and the Philippines. The ODA group are scheduled to return to the Philippines in January to accept those proposals.

Aside from Kawamura, the Digital Access for Information System (DAISY) was again presented as well as the Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) Screen Reader Open Source Software was demonstrated.

ODA is part of Japan’s International Cooperation under their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They provide financial, technology know-how and expertise to various developing countries. Visit their official website at http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/index.html. You may also download the presentation here.

The United Nations through the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communications Technology (G3ICT) recognized the Philippine initiative as one of their identified best practices as highlighted in their White Paper research called “Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective,” (Revised Edition 2012).

The paper was researched and edited by Nirmita Narasimhan of Centre for Internet & Society, India, in collaboration with accessibility and disability policy experts from around the world. The paper seeks to identify some of the initiatives and best practices which have been adopted by 14 countries and the European Union as a first step towards policy formulation for countries.

The paper highlighted the activities and initiatives made by PWAG. Here are excerpts included in their research:

The Philippines is making progress towards developing a policy and enacting legislation for web accessibility. The Philippine Web Accessibility Group (PWAG)40 is tasked with overseeing and implementing relevant programs on accessible ICT. PWAG together with concerned government agencies has begun formulating an official set of Philippine Web Accessibility Design Recommendations based on a distinctly Philippine web accessibility regime rather than adopting the WCAG. The PWAG aims to develop standards that it feels are calibrated to the country’s needs and capabilities. The Philippines has signed and ratified the UNCRPD but not signed the Optional Protocol.

The Philippine Web Accessibility Group (PWAG):

Originally founded as a government-affiliated ad hoc working group in 2006, the Philippine Web Accessibility Group (PWAG) is now formalized and government-supervised through the Department of Social Welfare and Development-National Council on Disability Affairs (DSWD-NCDA) and the National Computer Center-Commission on Information and Communications Technology (NCC-CICT). The PWAG is now tasked with overseeing and implementing relevant programs on accessible ICT in the Philippines. It fosters dialogue among activists, web designers, academics, the government and other relevant actors in the field; evaluates websites for accessibility; and together with concerned government agencies (NCDA and NCC-CICT) has begun formulating an official set of Philippine Web Accessibility Design Recommendations. Accessibility in the Philippines context has to be viewed in light of the fact that the dominant ICTs used are cell phones and short-message systems (SMS). Only a small fraction of the population is using computers, and almost nobody uses or can afford screen readers. The Philippines standards are being formulated based on this situation, and given the high cost of website remediation, the PWAG recommends adopting accessible designs primarily in conjunction with website design, redesign, or update.

The United Nations Economic and Social Affairs is actively campaigning for the promotion of web accessibility especially all the UN websites. It has also released a Global Audit on Web Accessibility this 2012 through NOMENSA. The Philippines is also among those that are included in the survey. You may also view the complete white paper here.

You may download the complete Web Accessibility Policy Making: An International Perspective (Revised Edition 2012) white paper jointly researched by G3ict, The Centre for Internet & Society and The Hans Foundation in this link in PDF format.

As part of this year’s celebration of White Cane Safety Week, a half-day web accessibility forum was held anew last August 2 at Occupational Safety and Health Center Training Room in Quezon City.

Julius Charles Serrano, a web accessibility advocate and PWAG representative gave his insights on user experience in accessing government websites. He also explained some accessibility barriers met by a Person With Disability in getting content from websites.

For his part, MCCID Training Director and Philippine Web Accessibility Group President Jojo Esposa elaborated on the topic by introducing ICT as well as discussing international and local laws/circulars pertaining to equal access to the web. NCDA Chief Nelia De Jesus challenged the participants to do their share by adhering to the call of making their sites accessible to everyone.

Sponsored by the National Council on Disability Affairs-White Cane Safety Week Organizers and the National Computer Center, this forum was participated in by web developers and representatives from various national government units as well as key stakeholders.

At the Web Accessibility Forum launched by the NCDA SubCommittee on ICT last July 20, 2010, National Computer Center Information Technology Officer Angelita Nicolas announced the issuance of an NCDA-NCC Joint Circular No.1 Series of 2010, enjoining all government instrumentalities concerned, to implement accessible website design using the technical guidelines recommended by the Web Design Accessibility Recommendation (WDAR) Checkpoints of the PWAG.

DOTC Architect Morales represents Sub-Committee on ICT in awarding NCC IT Officer Angelita Nicolas for sharing NCC initiatives on disability and facilitating issuance of NCDA-NCC Joint Circular on Web Accessiblity Compliance
PWAG or the Philippine Web Accessibility Group, is a non-profit advocacy group of Filipino web designers organized by the Council after its web accessibility workshop series from 2004-to 2007. Tasked by NCDA to monitor compliance by participating GO/NGOs through an NCDA Board Resolution, PWAG reported that only 11 GOs complied, compared to triple number in NGOs, which greatly concerns the sector.

To address this low compliance, the SubCommittee on ICT chaired by he Department of Transportation and Communications pooled resources to hold the forum for NCDA member agencies, in time for the NDPR Week. MCCID Training Director and Philippine Web Accessibility Group Current President Jojo Esposa Jr., was one of the main lecturers. He expounded on the Accessible Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and how important it is to everyone especially those who are with physical impairments. He enumerated some access barriers experienced by PWDs when they open government sites. He also introduced a few tips on how to make websites accessible.

For his part, ATRIEV Executive Director Antonio Llanes together with Project Director Rene Orense demonstrated some assistive devices used by visually impaired and those with low vision. These includes screen readers and screen magnifier softwares.

To ensure full compliance in his Department, being a member of the SubCommittee, DOTC Representative Architect Rizal Morales would soon have a similar forum exclusively for all his Department bureaus.

Inspirational messages from NCC Managing Director Juliana Sudario, Philippine DAISY Network President Lauro Purcil, DOTC Architect Rizal Morales and NCDA OIC Matt Lee, Jr. jointly urged the participants to adopt web accessibility to create digital opportunities for all, including PWDs, from the potential offered by ICTs for development.

Third year batch 2010 students of MCCID attended the first Web Accessibility Forum conducted by the National Council on Disability Affairs Sub-committee on Information and Communications Technology held last July 20 at Philvolcs Auditorium in UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City.

Aside from NCDA, other cooperating agencies include the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) – National Computer Center (NCC), the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). NCDA member agencies like DOH, DSWD, Philippine Information Agency, DOST and DFA also participated.

The highlight of the forum is the announcement of the official signing of NCC-NCDA Joint Circular No. 1 requiring all websites of government line agencies including their attached, regional and state universities and colleges to redesign their websites in order to pass the web accessibility design standards set by Manila ICT Design Recommendations through the Philippine Web Accessibility Group. NCC IT Officer Angelita Nicolas gave the announcement. She also informed the participants about future workshops and seminars that will be held.

Aside from MCCID, other Persons With Disabilities Non-Government Organizations also attended the forum. These includes ATRIEV, Philippine Network of Daisy Consortium and Philippine Deaf Federation (PFD). PFD President Raquel Estiller-Corpuz requested all government agencies to open their doors to PWDs especially those who don’t have funds to connect to the internet to offer their services free.

The forum’s objective is to make the participants understand the concepts of web accessibility towards a “disability-inclusive” Philippines where information accessibility for persons with disabilities is based on human rights principles. It also aims to encourages the attendees especially the government sector to make their websites compliant to web accessibility standards under the Manila ICT Design Recommendations and/or the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The activity coincides with the country’s annual celebration of the 32nd National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week (July 17-23). This year’s theme is “Sa Istrukturang Accessible, Lahat ay Able“. DPWH is this year’s lead agency.

See full text of the Joint Circular here.

This year’s “Disabled Friendly Website Awards” were held last July 10 at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) as part of the very first Philippine Web Design Conference spearheaded by the newly formed Philippine Web Designers Organization (PWDO).

The Philippine Web Accessibility Group through its president and MCCID Training Director Jojo Esposa and the National Council on Disability Affairs presented the plaques of appreciation to the following recipients:

1. www.philcecnet.ph – Official Philippine E-center Community Portal of the National Computer Center represented by Ms. Eloisa San Mateo (Government)
2. www.blinding-light.com – Personal Website of Ms.Miko Reznor (Anna Monica Esguerra)
3. www.lilianefoundationphil.org – Official Website of Liliane Foundation Philippines represented by Sis. Agnetia Naval, National Coordinator (Non-government Organization)
4. webstandards.raquedan.com – Web Standards Website of Regnard Raquedan (Personal Website)

They all received a plaque of appreciation courtesy of the NCDA. Incidentally, the official website of Liliane Foundation Philippines was designed by an MCCID alumnus Kerwin Tamanu. He also currently works in that organization.