Philippines holds First-ever National Domestic Workers Summit
The country is in eager anticipation over the first-ever National Domestic Workers Summit to take place this September 21-23, 2005 at the Skyline Riverbend Hotel, Marikina City. More than 200 domestic workers employed both locally and overseas will convene with more than a hundred representatives from various government agencies, non-government organizations, faith-based groups, employer’s groups, worker’s groups and international institutions to discuss issues relevant to the sector.
The ground-breaking event aims to elevate the level of discussions on programs and policies for domestic workers at the national policy-making level. The pioneering initiative will provide a venue for domestic workers, their leaders and advocates, employers associations, government and other social partners to discuss and formulate a genuine National Agenda for Domestic Workers, bringing the issues of domestic workers to the fore. The Summit will also produce a Social Compact, a document subscribed in by key stakeholders, describing the process of constructive engagement between social partners and domestic workers towards mainstreaming of identified priority issues and concerns.
“It’s high time that we give the domestic work sector the respect, recognition and attention it so justly deserves. We owe this much to our domestic workers,” says Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, Convenor of the National Summit and President of Visayan Forum Foundation, an NGO that focuses on domestic work issues. Key government agencies, non-government organizations, faith-based groups, employer’s groups and worker’s groups have collaborated to turn the National Summit into a reality.
“The field of domestic work has become more important in the global economy today as members of the households, especially women, have increasingly joined the work force, amidst situations of increasing populations and aging societies,” states Werner Konrad Blenk, Director of the International Labor Organization - Sub-regional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific, the main sponsor of the event.
According to a recent ILO study on domestic workers, estimates of domestic workers in the country range from roughly 600,000 to 2.5 million. The Labor Force Survey suggests that there are about 1.5 million household helpers working in private households in the country, constituting 13.73% of total wage employment in the private sector. From 2000-2002, there were 67,694 newly hired domestic workers being employed outside of the Philippines according to the POEA.
Although there is no contention as to the importance and massiveness of the sector both here and abroad, there is still a dearth of policies and programs that effectively address the issues engulfing the domestic work sector. Until now, there is still no concrete law that deals with the welfare of domestic workers. “The Batas Kasambahay has been languishing in the Senate for almost a decade; how much longer should our domestic workers wait?” asks Ms. Oebanda. The Visayan Forum will present 1 million signatures of support for the Domestic Workers’ Bill during the National Summit.
According to the 3rd Quarter Social Weather Report for 2005 recently conducted the Social Weather Stations, 87% of Filipinos strongly agree that there should be a law addressing the domestic work sector. Forty-nine percent of the general public is aware of the proposed bills for domestic workers.
“Over the decades, the sector has fallen into an ever-widening legal, policy and economic fissure. The National Summit is the rope that pulls them out of it,” declares Ms. Oebanda. “This is just the first step. A lot more needs to be done. Staunch commitments generated at the National Summit must be followed with concrete action,” she adds. The domestic work sector has been included as among the priority targets of the Philippine National Plan of Action on Decent Work.
DFA Secretary Alberto Romulo will be delivering the keynote address for the opening program. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is also expected to deliver a message for the closing program.
