The Camarines Norte Provincial Social Welfare Development Office (CN PSWDO) headed by Ms. Cynthia R. Dela Cruz, along with Camarines Norte Persons with Disability Affairs Office (CN PDAO) headed by Dr. Rex A. Bernardo, under the Provincial Government of Camarines Norte (PG-CN) by the leadership of its Governor, Hon. Ricarte R. Padilla, and its Vice Governor, Hon. Joseph V. Ascutia, spearheaded the 2Day Basic Filipino Sign Language Training last October 5&6, 2023, Thursday and Friday, from 8:00AM to 3:00PM held at Road House Inn, Café, and Grill, Basud, Camarines Norte.

The conduct of this event is in compliance with the Section 7 of Republic Act 11106–an act declaring the Filipino sign language as the national sign language of the Filipino deaf and the official sign language of government in all transactions involving the deaf, and mandating its use in schools, broadcast media, and workplaces; it is otherwise known as the Filipino Sign Language Law, which mandates all government offices to take reasonable measures to encourage the use of FSL, including the conduct of awareness and training among its employees and constituents.

The preliminaries of the first day training was managed by the staff of Camarines Norte Persons with Disability Affairs Office–Ms. Nerelyn Lopez-Padrigon and Mr. Jhovel Dy. Followed by the opening message from the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Officer of the province, Ms. Cynthia R. Dela Cruz. Program overview was delivered by the Camarines Norte PDAO Office Sign Language Interpreter and host, Ms. Nerelyn Padrigon. The hosts then introduced the Resource Person and a deaf advocate—Ms. Johna Guirela together with her narrator/translator, Ms. Shayna Jocelyn Nivales, both from Naga, Camarines Sur. Ms. Johna shared her life experiences as a Deaf Person with Disability. She said that all the hardships she had molded her to be an active supporter of the sector thus supporting the programs in promoting their rights. She signed how grateful she is with this initiative especially with the provincial government’s partnership with the LGU’s and other selected SpEd teachers. These participants were chosen so that they could assist Deaf clients on their requests whenever they go to different offices in our provincial government. Ms. Guirela then started the training program with teaching the hand signals of Filipino alphabet and numbers. The whole training progresses until the participants learn the hand signals of the different vocabulary words then afterwards used it in Filipino Sin Language (FSL) greetings. The basic Filipino Sign Language conversation among the training participants serves as their practical test on the first day of the training. Ms. Guirela gave a group activity homework to be presented on the next day where they will learn a song and present it using the FSL

The second day of the training continues. The participants of the training were called to perform their FSL Song Presentations where Ms. Guirela strictly observed the clear hand signs and emotions of each group performance. Aside from the group presentation, oral and group practical demonstrations were also used by the resource person to measure the commitment/ effectiveness of the training in catering the “Deaf client’s” needs. Certificates were given at t he end of the training.

The training is an avenue for the public servants to extend their hands in understanding and serving our deaf clients in CamNorte. Truly, this training was one of the stepping stone in achieving a more inclusive province where no one is left behind.