Brion wants maids to undergo training

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has recommended reforms in the deployment of domestic helpers abroad to ensure better compensation and protection for them.

Brion said applicants for domestic helper posts should undergo training to upgrade their skills so they can obtain better compensation packages from their employers.

Besides this, he said, household helpers should also go through an orientation course on the culture and language of their host country and the protective mechanisms at their job sites that will be sponsored by the Overseas Worker’s Welfare Administration (OWWA).

Brion proposed that domestic helpers bound for ovearseas posts undergo skills assessment by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to check their expertise. TESDA will then issue a certificate of competency to qualified applicants.

OWWA, on the other hand, will issue also a certificate to those who underwent their orientation seminars.

Brion said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) should not process the employment contracts of domestic helpers who do not have TESDA and OWWA certification.

He also wants the employers hiring Filipino domestic helpers to be obliged to shoulder the cost of deploying these domestic helpers and to increase their minimum salary to "a level commensurate to their acquired competencies."

"The ‘no-placement-fee policy’ will be deliberated by the POEA governing board, specifically in the recruitment of domestic helpers instead of the ‘one-month salary placement fee.’ No salary deduction onsite shall be allowed for any payment of service or placement fee," he said.

With highly trained household workers, Brion said, the Philippines could demand higher service fees from prospective employers.

He is set to propose to the POEA governing board that the minimum wage of domestic helpers in Hong Kong be used as a benchmark for trained and highly-prepared Filipino domestic helpers.

"These policy reforms will minimize departure of inexperienced, ill-trained and undocumented workers who are most prone to abuses by both recruiters and employers," Brion said. — Sheila Crisostomo