Survey: Less than half of households heads aware of helpers’ rights

Domestic helper rights groups renewed their call for the passage of a law pending in Congress for nearly a decade that would provide for the rights, benefits, privileges and protection of household helpers.

Several bills have been filed in Congress over the years, one of the latest of them authored by Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in the present 13th Congress.

In a recent nationwide survey on the proposed legislation to ensure the rights and privileges of household helpers, respected pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported that awareness among household heads of the existence of the bill was at a low 49 percent nationwide.

Awareness was highest in Metro Manila at 68 percent, followed by the Visayas at 52 percent; the rest of Luzon, 49 percent; and the lowest in Mindanao, 34 percent.

Eighty-seven percent of the respondents, including those who heard about the bill for the first time, expressed support for the measure, with 69 percent saying they would strongly support its passage.

Based on the survey, the SWS estimated the number of household helpers at 584,000 nationwide, of which 332,000 are stay-in and 252,000 are stay-out.

Metro Manila accounts for 215,000 of the estimate; 117,000 for the rest of Luzon; 122,000 in Visayas; and 130,000 in Mindanao.

As part of their efforts to guarantee the rights of household workers, domestic helpers rights groups, together with the national government, will hold a first-ever National Domestic Workers Summit on Sept. 21 to 23.

Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, president of the Visayan Forum Foundation Inc. said that around 200 household helpers are expected to attend the summit from the country and overseas.

She explained that the summit is intended to be a forum for the household helpers to air their experiences, concerns and other issues related to their work before the concerned government agencies.

Oebanda said they are in the process of collecting one million signatures to urge President Arroyo to certify as urgent the "Kasambahay Bill," or the magna carta for household helpers.

She said that they expect Mrs. Arroyo to issue a high-level statement at the end of the summit in support of the promotion of the rights of household helpers.

On the part of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Jose Brillantes said the government recognizes the hazards and risks faced by all household helpers, particularly those working overseas.

"Clearly, there is a need to provide protection and to improve and assert the rights of our domestic workers," Brillantes said.

He pointed out that the DFA is joined in the endeavor by the Department of Labor and Employment, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Women in Development Foundation, SUMAPI, ACHIEVE, Center for Overseas Workers, Villa Maria Social Development Center Religious of Mary Immaculate and the International Labor Organization.

There are an estimated eight million Filipinos migrant workers overseas, a significant portion of whom work as household helpers.

Filipino migrant workers have been credited with keeping the economy afloat with the money they send to families back home.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported their remittances had already reached $5.8 billion in the first seven months of this year and according to the National Economic and Development Authority, the total remittances are expected to reach $12 billion for the entire year.

In 2004, remittances hit a record $8.54 billion, making up a tenth of the Philippine economy.