Iloilo City pushes for registration of 'kasambahays'
The Iloilo City Council approved the ordinance instituting the registration of domestic workers or "kasambahays" in the city's 180 barangays.
Councilor Jed Mabilog who authored the ordinance says, that City Ordinance 2006-073 aims to prevent the occurrence of child labor and protect the rights of domestic workers in the city. The ordinance requires all barangays in Iloilo City to conduct surveys and/or registration of domestic workers in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
"The City Government of Iloilo supports the Philippine Time Bound Programme (PTBP), which is now an integral part of the National Program Against Child Labor (NPACL), in pursuit of reducing the worst forms of child labor by 75 percent nationwide by 2015," Councilor Mabilog said.
Those covered in the registration program are maids, cooks, houseboys, family drivers, gardeners, caregivers and baby sitters, who provide daily service to a single, specific household either on a live-in or live out basis or those whose services are paid either in a weekly or in a monthly basis.
The City Council said the program will empower the domestic workers sector to participate in the community development and help determine the menu of services, health and social security coverage and education opportunities adoptable to the sector, particularly to child domestic workers.
The "kasambahay" registration program will also protect employers from syndicates and from persons with existing criminal records. It will also help break the invisibility and hiring of child domestic workers.
The Liga ng mga Barangay, the Sangguniang Kabataan, DSWD, and the City Public Employment Services Office (PESO) are tasked to formulate the Implementing Rules and Guidelines of the program, create a databank from the masterlists submitted by the Barangays, and provide technical support to the different barangays.
The program is in accordance with the Iloilo City government's promotion of gender and development and part of Iloilo City's drive to becoming a "gender-responsive" city.