A BILL filed at the House of Representatives provides maternity cash benefits for women workers in the informal sector.
House Bill (HB) 2240, authored by Parañaque 2nd District Rep. Brian Raymund Yamsuan, covers women employed in the informal economy who are not members of the Social Security System (SSS), whether on a regular or voluntary basis.
They include freelancers, own-account workers, home-based workers and workers in unrecognized or unregulated employment relationships.
HB 2240, which is among the first batch of bills authored by Yamsuan in the 20th Congress, proposes “a one-time direct maternity cash benefit per delivery” to informal sector female workers “equivalent to the prevailing minimum wage rate in their region of residence multiplied by 22 days.”
“A big chunk of our informal workers who contribute to energizing our economy are women and many of them do not receive any benefits from the government. Our bill aims to change this unfair treatment of them,” said Yamsuan.
Yamsuan cited the bill’s significance in the wake of President Marcos’ commitment reaffirmed during his 4th State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) to expand opportunities for low-income Filipinos to set up small businesses.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said among the expected beneficiaries of this SONA commitment are women.
HB 2240 or the proposed Equal Maternity Protection Act aims to amend certain provisions of Republic Act 11210, or the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, in which eligibility is limited only to women who are SSS members and contributors.
Yamsuan said in the 2nd District of Parañaque alone where he has helped provide jobs and livelihood opportunities through his Bigay Negosyo and Dagdag Pangkabuhayan programs, majority of the beneficiaries were women.
Based on the latest data from Yamsuan’s office, 80 percent of the recipients of the Dagdag Pangkabuhayan program were females. Majority or around 72 percent of the Bigay Negosyo beneficiaries are aspiring women entrepreneurs.
“Working in the informal sector leaves women without any form of social benefits. They do not have health insurance, or vacation and sick leaves. They have to continue to work while nurturing themselves back to health and providing for their newborn infant and their family because they are deprived of the most fundamental social protection—maternity benefits,” Yamsuan said.
“More than alleviating the hardships and worries of working mothers-to-be, the provision of maternity protection has been linked to a number of positive outcomes for the mother, for her child, for the economy, and for communities and society at large,” he added.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is tasked under the measure to determine the requirements and eligibility of beneficiaries of the maternity cash grant.
Once the bill becomes law, a female worker in the informal economy who lives in Metro Manila where the prevailing minimum wage rate is P695 will receive P15,290 from the DSWD after giving birth.
Funds to implement the measure “shall be taken from revenues from excise taxes on sweetened beverages, alcohol, tobacco products, and vapor products and may be augmented under the General Appropriations Act.”
