Cornucopia
Mara D. Cepeda
mcepeda@theguidon.com
When I was younger, I had a yaya whose role in my life went beyond that of a domestic worker. Ate Nites let me ride the tricycle for the first time back in nursery, bought me my first pet and defended me whenever I made mistakes. She was my kalaro, my childhood partner-in-crime and she was considered part of the family.
While Ate Nites was rewarded well while still working for my family, many of the other domestic workers in the Philippines do not get proper compensation. Reports of kasambahays abused or dismissed without due reason have filled the country’s headlines for years.
Domestic workers are the people who do the tedious jobs most of us refuse to do: Cleaning the house, attending to the children, cooking, gardening and doing the laundry. They help us turn our houses into homes and yet they get meager reward for it.
This is why I support the passage into law of Republic Act No. 10361, more popularly known as the “Domestic Workers Act” or the “Batas Kasambahay.”
Officially implemented last June 4, the law entitles all domestic workers to comprehensive benefits that include the following: Minimum wage payable in cash, 13th month pay and coverage for different insurance programs.
The Batas Kasambahay aims to protect domestic workers by requiring the establishment of an employment contract between the employer and the kasambahay. It also entitles the kasambahays to paid leaves and protects them against abuse and maltreatment.
Through the Batas Kasambahay, access to better and much more humane working conditions will be given to others like Ate Nites.
While the law is a cause for joy for many of the ates, manangs and even kuyas out there, critics have argued that perhaps the law may be counterproductive.
According to non-supporters, the Batas Kasambahay may strain relations between employers and the kasambahays, what with many still uninformed of the provisions and even of the existence of the law.
Critics also say that unemployment rate among domestic workers will increase. Only a fraction of the 2.5 million kasambahay beneficiaries will actually benefit from the law; the rest will either be laid off or not hired at all due to the added costs of their employment.
While it cannot be a solution for everything, the Batas Kasambahay is a law that will finally give domestic workers the immediate constitutional rights they have long deserved.
This will only mean, therefore, that the Philippine government must find a way to properly implement it. The problem of an uninformed public can easily be cured if citizens know the provisions of the Batas Kasambahay.
A proper information dissemination program at the barangay level can be a starting solution to the ignorance of both employers and domestic workers alike with regard to the law.
With the Batas Kasambahay, I believe the Philippines has made the first of a series of steps that must be made to comprehensively protect the rights of domestic workers.
The war is far from over, but for now we can comfort ourselves with the thought that at least for today, the battle has been won.
