ILOILO City – Effective today the minimum monthly wage of domestic workers in Western Visayas is P4,000.
“We call on employers to comply with this new wage,” said Regional Director Cyril Ticao of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
This new wage is P500 higher than the previous minimum monthly wage for the kasambahay – P3,500.
As defined by Republic Act 10361 or the Domestic Workers Act (Batas Kasambahay), a domestic worker is “any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship such as, but not limited to, the following: general househelp, nursemaid or yaya, cook, gardener or laundry person but shall exclude any person who performs domestic work only occasionally or sporadically.”
The new minimum wage is applicable to all househelps regardless of the classification of the town or city where they are working, stressed Ticao.
No party petitioned for the wage increase. It was a DOLE Region 6 initiative, the director stressed.
The regional office deemed the P3,500 minimum monthly wage to have become too low now, he explained.
DOLE-6 discussed the wage hike with representatives from the labor sector and management.
“They agreed that an increase is already needed,” according to Ticao.
The last time domestic workers got a wage hike prior to this year was last December 2017 (for the P3,500 month minimum wage). (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
