In 2007, the daily pay of a typical minimum-wage earner was 283.57 pesos. In that same year, a report from the International Labor Organization (ILO) revealed the daily wage of the average kasambahay: 89 pesos.

If that statistic isn’t disturbing enough, consider the other findings of the ILO study: There are usually no written contracts between the kasambahay and the owner to speak of. Wage payments are often delayed and insufficient. The typical working schedule lasts 14 hours, and no days off are given.

Moreover, verbal abuse is common, usually from female employers. There have been cases of sexual abuse, usually by the male employer. Physical and verbal abuse from the children of the household have also been recorded.

Before the passage of the so-called Kasambahay Law this year, there have apparently been 2.9 million house helpers in the Philippines who have had to grapple with the aforementioned realities without anything to safeguard their rights and welfare.

Marcos-era writ

However, the kasambahay’s right to dignified labor has actually been enshrined in our laws since the 1970s. During the Martial Law years, then-President Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 442, now more popularly known as the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Article 141 if the decree defines “domestic or household service” as “service in the employer’s home which is usually necessary or desirable for the maintenance and enjoyment thereof and includes ministering to the personal comfort and convenience of the members of the employer’s household, including services of family drivers.”

The law states that helpers are entitled to a written contract that will last for two years and is renewable, minimum wage, lodging, food and medical assistance provided by the household-client and not subtracted from the wage, domestic work of no more than 10 hours a day and four paid vacation days each month. Also, if the helper is below 18 years of age, he or she must be given an opportunity to complete at least an elementary education, to be shouldered by the household-client.

Yet, as the introduction of the article suggests, the actual conditions of helpers often do not correspond to what the law mandates, and the case of Bonita Baran highlights the case.

The story of Bonita Baran

When 17-year old Bonita of Virac, Catanduanes went to the nation’s capital to search for work, little did she know that her new job would become a harrowing hell. Hot iron was pressed to her face six different times from 2007 to 2012 while she served as a household helper to Mrs. Annaliza Marzan of Quezon City.

Although Mr. Reynold Marzan, Annaliza’s husband, did not abuse the maid, he remained indifferent to the plight of Bonita. “Bakit antagal mong mamatay (Why is it taking so long for you to die)?” Annaliza once said to Bonita while trying to choke her. “At saan mo itatapon ang katawan niyan ‘pag patay na? (And where will you dispose her body when she is dead?)” Reynold retorted.

All these ordeals were in exchange for the measly 700-peso monthly wage that Bonita received.

A new law for domestic workers

It was September 2012 and Baran, then 21, was able to escape her fate with the help of the Public Attorneys’ Office and the Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc. (VF), a non-government organization that extends help to abused domestic workers.

That same year, the Kasambahay Bill was being deliberated on in Congress. The case of Baran dramatized the plight of domestic household helpers in the country, ensuring the passage of the legislative bill. The following year, it became Republic Act No. 10361, or the “Domestic Workers Act of 2013.” President Benigno Aquino III signed it on January 18 and it was put into effect this June 4.

The law mandates higher minimum wages and 13th month pay. Employers must also provide non-wage benefits such as PhilHealth, Social Security System (SSS), and the home mutual development fund, Pagtutulungan sa Kinabukasan: Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno (Pag-IBIG). Daily and weekly rest periods must be provided. Also, house helpers are explicitly given the rights to privacy, outside communication, education and training, appropriate living conditions and membership to labor unions, among others.

Vice President for Social Development Atty. Jaime Hofileña emphasized the importance of these benefits being legally required across the board. “Maybe, in the past, some [household helpers] would receive the full SSS, Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth [but] now it’s mandated by law that employers should provide those.”

“Built-in difficulty” and other burdens

However, the law has faced criticism, particularly with regard to the loopholes that have been observed in its implementation.

Hofileña has cited compliance as a “built-in difficulty because [it is] in the household.” Indeed, with the substantial number of those affected by the law, monitoring compliance appears to be infeasible.

Another issue that has been raised is the burden the law imposes on middle class employers who are struggling to make ends meet. Many have pointed out that employers who work full-time have neither the time nor capacity to deal with accomplishing non-wage requirements or meeting the higher minimum wage requirement.

“While it serves to raise the viability of being a kasambahay, it might also discourage people of the lower middle class to hire employees because, with the new rules the law is planning to implement, it will become more expensive to take care of their kasambahay,” said English literature freshman Angel Yap.

Complaints have led the Department of Labor and Employment to call for the law’s amendment, particularly regarding the provision requiring back payments for social security.

The promise of dignified work

However, with the law still in its early stages of implementation, it appears that some time will be required for it to take full effect.

“Amendments would certainly be needed but not right away. Give it perhaps a year. And see what the experience is like during the first year of the law,” said Hofileña.

Ultimately, however, many agree that the law presents a substantial development in this specific sector of the workforce. With its mandated set of regulations, it gives a legal stronghold for the rights of a sector that is often overlooked.

As political science freshman Joaquin Jacinto puts it, the Kasambahay Law “finally gives these kasambahays a universally accepted and required set of rights, privileges, protection and, of course, assures proper compensation and more pay. It also acknowledges that being a kasambahay is just like any other job in that its practitioners need protection and guidelines.”