is the subject of my Trade Tripper column in this Friday-Saturday issue of BusinessWorld:
Beth Day Romulo has this marvelous book Inside the Palace
(published by GP Putnam’s Sons, 1987), a colorful, witty insider’s look
in the goings-on in Malacañang during 1970s and up to the early ’80s.
But it also provides an interesting peek on how life was during that era
and of the people that lived it.
Thinking of the Kasambahay Bill (which provides greater rights
for household helpers), one particular passage of Ms. Day Romulo’s book
came to mind: "Servants [in the Philippines] consider their employers
‘masters,’ and the relationship is far more personal than that of
American or European help and their employers. Once the ‘master’ has
taken a maid or houseboy into his family, he is in effect responsible…
[for everything, ‘from heart attacks to broken hearts’] that no Western
employer would be expected to deal with."
And she insightfully goes on: "The relationship between servant and
master or mistress is not all roses… The little maids who flood into
Manila from their parents’ farms in the provinces are apt to be pleasant
and honest, but also untrained, inefficient, unmotivated -- and
clumsy."
And from that one can understand my problem with the almost inevitable
Kasambahay Law (presently House Bill No. 6081). I’ve always believed, to
paraphrase Cardinal Newman, that "we have rights precisely because we
have responsibilities." I do not see the merit of providing a group of
people with extra rights just because politicians want to feel good
about themselves or look good to the voters.
Why should household help, generally untrained as they are, a good
number of which work lazily or with a bad attitude, be rewarded an array
of rights while having done nothing yet to deserve them? Rewards are
given for good work done, never in the hope that they will do it. And
ordinarily in this country, maids that are found working well are
compensated generously anyway, even moving on to have businesses of
their own.
The Kasambahay Bill is actually an assault on that one sector of society
that needs to be protected and nurtured if this country is ever to
prosper: the middle-class. However, with proposals that household help
be given minimum wage (not even mandatorily required by the ILO
Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers), plus 13th month
pay, that they can’t (unlike confidential employees) be dismissed as
needed by the employer, easy access (but without need for
accountability) to dispute settlement, and so on just made it harder for
the middle class to maintain household help. Only the rich can now
afford to do so.
But the Kasambahay Bill also inordinately benefits the poor at the
expense of the middle-class. Let’s face it, a lot of these maids are
hired more out of charity by the employer (who most likely can do
without them) than for their qualifications. But, aside from the fact
that our culture demands that employers treat their household help as
members of the family, suddenly they now have to be paid and treated
like professionals as well. Now, that’s all obviously well and good. But
only if these servants act like professionals themselves and be held
accountable if they don’t.
But the Kasambahay Bill instead romanticizes household helps, thus
practically containing no (actually none at all) workable provision that
protects the interests of the middle class employer. Think of the
situation wherein the middle class employer has to advance the
transportation expenses of the maid, only to have that maid suddenly
disappear upon arriving in Manila. Or of that maid abruptly leaving
because she just got bored with her work or got rightfully reprimanded
or was summoned back to the provinces because her parents impulsively
got a sudden attack of sentimentality and missed her? What about the
untold number of appliances, utensils, gadgets that they break, clothes
ruined, cars scratched, food spoiled? What about those instances
reported in the newspapers of maids or houseboys robbing or killing
their employers?
What relief can a middle-class employer have? Hire lawyers and sue them?
For what? Damages that they have no money to pay for anyway? If they
disappear, will the police take the trouble to track them? Put them to
jail on what charge and for how long must a trial go on before one gets
justice?
I, for one, will consider to stop hiring any household help upon the
passage of the Kasambahay Bill. On principle. Because I simply do not
believe in the "paternalistic entitlement society" that our senators and
congressmen are espousing. To paraphrase from New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie, I do not agree when our politicians tell our people: "Do not
bother about wanting to work hard and acting with honor and integrity
and ingenuity because we’ll take care of you." True leaders never say
they will take care of people. True leaders work to have people learn
how to take care of themselves.
