Working within the confines of their employers’ homes, at times behind high walls, kasambahays, especially children, are as good as invisible. So what can LGUs do to identify and locate them?

Innovative approaches on helping young domestic workers usually confined in their employers’ homes were brewed during the training. One solution offered was to sponsor a local ordinance for the registration of domestic helpers. The recommendation was eventually brought to life within the legislative halls of Quezon City, paving the way for what would become a landmark local legislation in the Philippines – the Quezon City Ordinance on the Mandatory Registration of Domestic Workers.

Model Ordinance After the training, Diaz and his team drafted an ordinance on kasambahay registration to be considered for local legislation. “There should be three readings before an ordinance is passed, but in this case, in the second reading, naging second and third reading,” Diaz explained of the

Photo from www.ajs.netmaid.com

Under the registration program, kasambahays
could avail of basic social services such as education, counseling, PhilHealth insurance coverage, arts
and recreational activities
and formal and vocational trainings.

What was the ordinance all about? The ordinance requires massive registration of domestic workers in Quezon City. Thus, it enjoins each barangay to designate a kasambahay desk officer who would take charge of the registrations of kasambahays and the execution of programs designed for the domestic workers at the barangay level. The kasambahay officer also operates the kasambahay hotline, where kasambahays in trouble can call for assistance, whether immediate rescue, counseling, physical assistance or, when needed, legal assistance.

Most  employers, however, are apprehensive of the registration program for fear that kasambahays might take advantage of them. But Diaz said, “We are emphasizing to the employers (of the kasambahays) that the objective of this (the registration) is (also) in their favor.” Employers can now put their worries to rest because, according to Diaz, “upon registration, the kasambahay is given an identification card signed by the mayor and she will be given a working permit. This will serve as clearance that kasambahays didn’t do anything wrong with their previous employer.”

On the part of the kasambahays, they can benefit from the registration since upon registration they will be given a form of identification which they can use in almost all their transactions in banks, post offices, etc. A sort of a “referral” system wherein their previous employment can be ascertained will also be provided. Under the registration program, kasambahays could avail of basic social services such as education, counseling, PhilHealth insurance coverage, arts and recreational activities and formal and vocational trainings. “Our ultimate objective is to help them in their livelihood when they stop being kasambahays,” Diaz explained.

Registered Kasambahays  Registration is just a foretaste of greater opportunities in store for the kasambahays. Once they are registered, it will be easy now for the local government to provide them with basic services and special programs that will enable them to enrich their lives, like organizing the kasambahays into a cooperative. Through the cooperative, which could be composed of about 80 percent of the registered domestic workers in Quezon City, microfinance for their kasambahay members’ own livelihood projects will soon be feasible.

Access to education, which is an important key toward self-empowerment, is another service that kasambahays will  enjoy if they register. “Our short term objective is to help the kasambahays finish their studies. Finish elementary, high school, or even college,” said Diaz. Kasambahays have limited access to formal education and this has prompted Diaz to establish the “Alternative Learning System,” which aims to provide education to domestic workers. The Alternative Learning System in its pilot barangay has provided education to some fifty kasambahay students. Diaz hopes to expand the program to three more barangays so that more kasambahays could avail of the training conducted by ILO-trained instructional managers.

Training courses for the kasambahays to learn trades other than housekeeping are also available. These include trainings on telephone courtesy and on the enhancement of the kasambahay’s ability to act as second parents in the house. “Often the second mother or father in the house is the kasambahay,” said Mr. Diaz. So it makes sense to make them good examples to their wards.

Good idea, indeed, but had there been any success stories? “Si Juliet from Quirino 2-8 – yun yung pilot area namin – she recently passed a test given by the Department of Education and now she is qualified to go to college. Naging Vice President siya ng SUMAPI (a major labor organization for household workers) for National Capital Region,” Mr. Diaz added. Juliet wants to further her studies so she applied for a scholarship under the Quezon City government. Aside from Juliet, three other kasambahays have also qualified for college level education just recently, according to Diaz.

A Man for the Kasambahays Indeed, kasambahays have found their man in Mr. Diaz. Kasambahays in Quezon City have this man to thank for the work he did and is doing to enrich their lives and give them more opportunities to get ahead. He hopes that other local governments follow the same initiative to improve the plight of the domestic workers anywhere in the Philippines.

Emphasizing the importance of registration efforts for a kasambahay program to really take off, Diaz said: “We need registration so that we will know what programs to focus on in a particular barangay. Without the registration, we do not know what to do. That’s the importance of the registration.” After all, superheroes cannot save the world without an alert at their base, and neither can ordinary mortals like Mr. Diaz.

A hero with his own battle cry, Diaz has these words to say, which seem like a credo for humanity: “Alam mo nakakataba ng puso. Just imagine, Juliet and her other kasambahay friends, walang tyansa sa mundo tapos biglang nagkatyansa. From birth, meron na akong kasambahay. Merong nag-alaga sa akin. It may not be my kasambahay, pero thankful ako na may nagagawa ako para sa kanila. How can the Philippines grow without the kasambahay? If we treat our kasambahays as human beings, may kapalit e. May reciprocation. If you treat them humanely, nandoon ang respect nila para sa iyo. We should treat them as human beings.