Pass 100-day maternity leave, Senate, House urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate and House of Representatives were urged yesterday to pass the bill on the proposed 100-day maternity leave, which proponents have been pushing for since 2010.

Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers said Congress “should ensure women workers and employees in the public and private sectors sufficient maternal protection through a longer paid maternity leave.”

Tinio and Castro are authors of a bill on the extended maternity leave, which remains pending in the House.

“The 100-day maternity leave bill had gone through long and adequate study by both the Senate and the House in past Congresses, which included the inputs of all concerned sectors, especially women workers and employees who will benefit from the law,” they said.

The lawmakers said the approval of the measure “has been long overdue.”  

“Further delaying its passage is a disservice to toiling Filipino women. Eighty percent of teachers are women. In our public consultations, teachers often ask about the status of the extension of the maternity leave,” they said.

They added that extending the maternity break would allow mothers to breast-feed their babies longer.

Tinio and Castro pointed out that the current 60-day leave is below the international standard of 98 days set under an International Labor Organization convention.

“Several studies had shown that adequate maternity leave benefits the nursing mother and the newborn, and will even contribute to the maintenance of a healthy workforce in the long run,” they stressed.

The House tackled the extended maternity leave bill before Congress went on a 12-day recess last week.

Sponsoring the measure, Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of party-list Bagong Henerasyon said an employers’ group, the Social Security System and Government Service Insurance System support the proposed law.