PWD head elected as Philippine Blind Union prexy

CITY Social Welfare and Development Office (CSWDO) Persons with Disabilities Unit head Teddy Kahil was elected president of the Philippine Blind Union (PBU), Inc. during the organization’s annual general assembly in Manila.

PBU is the only national federation of the blinds that is a member of the World Blind Union (WBU) and has been in existence for a decade now.

Kahil, dubbed as the ‘Helen Keller’ of Zamboanga City, has expressed gratitude for the trust and confidence given to him by PBU members to lead the visually impaired sector in the country.

“My profound gratitude to the visually impaired persons representing their organizations all over the country for giving me the trust and confidence to lead the Blind Filipinos,” Kahil said.

The newly-elected PBU president considers the responsibility to be a tough one as it is national in scope.

Nonetheless, he said he is motivated to perform his mandated duties with the support of the Chairman Emeritus Captain Oscar Taleon, former Commissioner and PBU Chairman-elect Michael Barredo as well as the members of the Union’s national directorate.

“I feel so honored and privileged to be the first completely blind person from Mindanao to assume the national leadership of the Union,” Kahil stressed.

He likewise expressed gratitude to the visually impaired leaders from the country’s 17 regions for electing him as Council Member for Blind Filipinos of PWDs Council under the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) during a gathering held October 17-19 at the Holiday Inn in Manila.

“Let us be united for the social and economic advancement of our sector,” he said.

Kahil finished his Master Degree in Social Work in 2009 at the Western Mindanao State University (WMSU).

The PBU’s 2012 annual assembly was recently held at the Bayview Hotel in Manila.

Elected along with Kahil was retired Police Gen. Elesio de la Paz, as PBU Executive Vice President and Michael Barredo was elected first nominee of the Pilipinos with Disabilities Inc. (PWDI) which recently got approval from the Commission one Elections (Comlec) to participate in the 2013 elections for party-list movement.

Barredo described Kahil as a “new face in an old organization” of PBU and with whom he can express and share feelings as they belong to the same the ‘world of darkness.’ (Bong Garcia)