Bishop urges govt to ratify domestic worker’s convention

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called on the Aquino administration to ratify urgently the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Domestic Workers Convention Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, chairman of the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action- Justice and Peace, said the country needs the measure that recognizes domestic workers’ rights and provides them the needed protection while working overseas. “The said ratification is both a response and an action to the changing needs of domestic workers, encouraging the installation of local and international standards,” Pabillo said. “Our government would furthermore inspire other countries to do the same.”“More importantly, the protection of the domestic workers would help ensure and enhance a more dignified work for many of our Filipinos,” he said.From the Basic Facts on Filipino Domestic Workers of the Visayan Forum Foundation, estimates of the number of domestic workers in the Philippines ranges from roughly 600,000 to 2.5 million. In 2008, nearly 54,000 Filipinos were deployed overseas as domestic workers, as new hires. Overseas domestic workers are among the top remitters in the past years. Female laborers and unskilled workers sent home 13 billion Philippino pesos in 2007, that has doubled from 2001 with nearly 6.5 billion pesos. “Since very many of our Filipino people especially women are engaged in domestic work as an occupation both here and abroad, we seek for the protection of their rights, [and] promotion of their safety [to] decrease their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation,” said Pabillo. “The protection from forced labor and trafficking is equally important. The government needs to safeguard the lives of Filipino domestic workers and their families. Domestic work has dignity and this should be recognized,” he said.