MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 22, 2013) – With the signing of the controversial Reproductive Health Law, Cagayan Rep. Jack Enrile said he hopes that President Aquino would sign the Kasambahay Bill which was first certified as urgent during the 2011 State of the Nation Address and has been approved in the Bicameral Conference Committee last year.
“Like what he did to the RH, I believe that the President will live up to his promise and provide the needed protection for our almost 2 million household workers by signing this much-awaited legislation,” Enrile, son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, said.
“This would definitely have a significant impact to all should the Chief Executive expedites its signing than letting the 30-day prescription period lapse.” he added
As the principal author who championed the cause of domestic workers as early as 1998 during his first term as congressman, Enrile said that presidential support extended to the controversial RH bill will surely fast-track the signing of Batas Kasambahay and promptly deliver a host of benefits to a long-neglected sector of the country’s labor force.
Under the final bicameral version ratified by members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Kasambahay Bill now mandates fair wages and social protection for domestic workers around the country.
A minimum wage is set at no less than P2,500 a month for the National Capital Region; P2,000 a month for those employed in chartered cities and first class municipalities; and P1,500 a month for those employed in other municipalities.
Likewise, employers are required to prepare an employment contract in a language that is understood by the domestic workers who are mostly underaged and underschooled. They should also be provided with adequate protection such as SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-Ibig.
Enrile, who is running for senator in the May polls under the United Nationalist Alliance, said that the Kasambahay Bill is a landmark legislation that conforms to the general provisions of the International Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, an international labor initiative that embraces the cause of domestic workers worldwide and affords them with a host of legal remedies and protection against abuses.
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