Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on Saturday called on the Senate to pass the Freelance Protection bill that has been passed by the House of Representatives.
Villafuerte said there is an urgent need to pass the bill because “more and more 40-something and younger individuals are getting part-time jobs to make both ends meet.
The House-passed bill guarantees full protection to these unconventional workers against unfair labor practices amid the fast-growing global freelance economy, Villafuerte said.
“The steady climb in the number of millennials and Gen Z-ers who have taken on part-time jobs as extra income sources gives more reason for the Senate to pass a counterpart measure to a House-approved bill that guarantees full protection for these freelancers who are highly vulnerable to labor malpractices in the absence of job contracts from their employers,” Villafuerte, who is a co-author of House Bill 6718 titled “Freelance Workers’ Protection Act.”
“With the rapid growth of the global freelance economy and the consequent surge in demand for the so-called ‘gig workers’ not only in the Philippines but elsewhere in the world as well, it is imperative for us lawmakers to accord full job protection to Filipino freelancers,” Villafuerte said.
He expressed optimism that the Senate would tackle its version of the bill that will benefit some 1.5 million individuals with the resumption of the sessions of the 19th Congress.
The House-approved bill had consolidated several same-topic measures, including HB 615 authored by Pangasinan Rep. Christopher de Venecia; and HB 1087, which was introduced by Villafuerte with fellow CamSur Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata along with the Bicol Saro party-list group.
Villafuerte made his fresh appeal to senators following the release last year by business consulting firm Deloitte Philippines of a global survey showing that 71 percent of Filipino millennials and 65 percent of those belonging to Generation Z have acquired extra full-time jobs, from the previous year’s 61 percent and 64 percent, respectively, for additional sources of income.
He said such figures were higher than the global averages of 37 percent for millennials and 46 percent for Gen Z-ers.
Millennials are those born between the early 1980s and the mid 90s, while those belonging to Gen Z were born between 1995 and 2004.
