New bill for house helps filed

MANILA, Philippines – A bill has been filed in the House of Representatives pegging the salary of maids at no less than P3,500 for those employed in Metro Manila, P3,000 for those in chartered cities and first-class municipalities, and P2,000 in other lower-class municipalities.

They would also be entitled to 13th-month pay equivalent to a month’s salary.
House Bill 1816, or the Magna Carta of Household Helpers, according to its author, DIWA partylist Representative Emmeline Aglipay, would increase the protection for household helps, which “has been grossly insufficient.”

Aglipay said house helpers “cater to many of our most basic needs and care not only for our own well-being, but that of our children. . . . No other vocation so embodies the virtue of service as that of the household helper….”

Under the bill, the upped compensation would be on top of the free lodging, food and medical attendance.

Household helpers should also be covered by the Social Security System and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, according to the bill.

Their normal working hours should not exceed 10 hours a day, exclusive of breaks of one hour each for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They should also entitled to one day of rest every week.

All household helpers who have rendered one year of service would be entitled to an annual 14-day vacation leave with pay.

Female helpers who have rendered an aggregate length of service of two years or more would be entitled to maternity leave in accordance with the provisions of the Social Security Act. Male helpers would be entitled to seven-day paternity leave.

Employers, according to the bill, should also give house helps who are 18 years old or above the opportunity to pursue education, provided they shoulder the cost. -Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, INQUIRER.net