House help or “kasambahay” employed in the National Capital Region will be getting an increase of P1,000 in their monthly minimum wage, Malacañang said Monday.
This was after the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board approved the raise as an immediate relief measure to aid househelp manage the rising cost of living in Metro Manila.
“From P2,500 [a month], kasambahay will soon be able to receive a minimum wage rate of P3,500,” Palace Spokesman Harry Roque said.
“Under the Wage Order, the wage hike is applicable to all domestic workers, whether on a live-in or live-out arrangement, including general house help, yaya [nanny], cook, gardener, laundry person, or any person who regularly performs domestic work in one household on an occupational basis,” Roque added.
Earlier this month, the regional board ordered the raise in the minimum wage for household service workers or HSW in the NCR for the first time since the passage of the Kasambahay Law—Republic Act 10361 or the Domestic Workers’ Act—in 2013.
“Upon the effectivity of this Wage Order, the new monthly minimum wage rate for domestic workers in the National Capital Region shall be P3,500,” RTWPB-NCR said.
The wages of the domestic workers shall be paid in cash at least once a month, the wage board added, with no deductions to be made other than those mandated by law.
RTWPB-NCR said the new wage rate was based on the result of their metro-wide stakeholder consultations and public hearing from Oct. 13 to Nov. 8. It initiated a motu propio review on the wage rate for HSWs in Metro Manila to help defray their rising cost of living.
The order will cover domestic workers but will exempt service providers, family drivers, children under foster family arrangement, and any person who performs work occasionally or sporadically and not occupationally.
The order was set to take effect within the month, or 15 days after it was published in a newspaper of general circulation on Dec. 1.
Once the new order takes effect, HSWs in Metro Manila would have the highest minimum wage rate in the country at P3,500.
Besides RTWPB-NCR, the regional wage boards in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, Bicol Region, and Central Visayas also raised the minimum wage of house help in their areas.
The monthly minimum wage of domestic helpers in the four regions now range from P2,500 to P3,000.