FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
27 April 2006
RP CELEBRATES 1ST OFFICIAL NATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS’ DAY
Seeking swift passage of the popular Batas Kasambahay, thousands of domestic workers and supporters will simultaneously celebrate across the country this Sunday afternoon April 30, armed with the first official declaration by Malacanang the Pambansang Araw ng Kasambahay or National Domestic Workers’ Day.
Despite facing nationwide protest actions on Labor Day, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Proclamation No. 1051 last Apr. 24 to set aside Apr. 30, as “a special day to honor and give recognition to the hidden, yet massive army of everyday workers, to generate greater awareness of the importance and contribution of domestic workers.”
A strong basis of the Proclamation No. 1051 is the National Statistics Office data citing the increase of domestic workers from 549,000 to 658,000 for the period 2004 to 2005.
The Quezon City local government and the Visayan Forum Foundation (VF) will spearhead the key march at the Quezon Memorial Circle this Sunday afternoon. Other local government offices with pending local ordinances for the registration of domestic workers are all set for the simultaneous Araw ng Kasambahay celebrations in the five major cities of Batangas, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Davao. These celebrations will feature similar marches, motorcades, broad media and advocacy campaigns and service fairs.
VF President Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, cites the importance of these events “for domestic workers to also vent their frustration over the long-delayed passage of the Magna Carta for Household Helpers or Batas Kasambahay.” The bill seeks to formalize the rights of domestic workers and set the parameters for their decent working conditions.
“Last year, a National Domestic Workers Summit was held, a National Domestic Workers Agenda was developed and 1 million signatures in support of Batas Kasambahay were collected and submitted. But no single step has been made to move this bill in the national legislature. Policy-makers can still fast-track this bill, it is never too late because the public and the international community have already waited for the past ten years,” Oebanda said.
QC Mayor Feliciano Belmonte notes that, “Quezon City’s pioneering effort to create a Kasambahay Program and pass a law promoting the welfare of domestic workers has inspired the other cities in the Philippines and other countries to comprehensively institutionalize efforts at the local levels.” For the second straight year, the Quezon City government—the first ever local government in the country to register domestics and institutionalize a Kasambahay program—is co-organizing this event.
Linda Wirth, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, added that "the 10-year old efforts of the multi-sector network of institutions led by the domestic workers must certainly conclude to the passage of the Kasambahay Bill. It is noteworthy that tripartite processes led by the government are aiming to speed up a consensus." The event’s main sponsor, ILO has been providing technical assistance to its social partners through its Domestic Worker Project and the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour.
A Service Fair at 3 p.m. for walk-in domestic workers will highlight the event in which government agencies such as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Social Security System (SSS), and private groups of lawyers and doctors will offer assistance to kasambahays.
The domestic workers will then assemble at 4:30 p.m. for the march called “Hakbang Bayan Alay sa Kasambahay” interspersed with street plays, which will be followed by a noise barrage using kasambahay tools and utensils and capped by candle-lighting ceremony at 6pm.
VF will also launch the first ever national search for Exemplary Employers or Gawad Employer, in partnership with the Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawang Pantahanan sa Pilipinas (SUMAPI), employers, church, business, trade unions, media, local government executives and government agencies.
For more information or interview with Ms. Cecille F. Oebanda, kasambahays and government officials who will attend the event, please contact:
Roland Pacis (0920-952-2776), Jannis Montañez (0917-373-2286), Mayet Culibao (0916-605-9347), or call the Visayan Forum Foundation office: 631-8101 local 7401 / 7421; Telefax: 634-0683.
