Only in the Philippines
In my ASEAN-wide talk series, including Labor law and HR lectures in Singapore, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Vietnam, I am always being asked to explain the rationale behind some of our Labor laws and social legislations. For instance, Singaporeans, Malaysians, Thais, Indonesians, and Vietnamese cannot understand the philosophy of our Anti-VAWC (Violence Against Women and Children) Law. Any Filipino female employee who is subjected to any form of physical, emotional, psychological, and even financial violence, is entitled to 10 days leave with pay. The employers, especially the foreigners would ask why the management should bear the burdens arising from some family discord or marital conflicts. What exacerbates this social legislation is that there is no limit as to how many times the same female employee can file for this leave citing different incidents of violence. And each time, she gets 10 days leave. Is this fair to the employers?
Another question is about the Magna Carta for Women. Under this law, any female worker, after serving a company for six months, if she undergoes any OB-GYN operation, including hysterectomy, ovariectomy, and mastectomy, is entitled to be granted by the employer two months leave with full pay based on gross compensation. Well, of course, there is nothing wrong with a government that wants to be compassionate for its female citizens. But why is such compassion being expressed at the expense of the employers? Why not include this as a part of the SSS entitlements, like the maternity benefits. But then again, the SSS may use this as a reason for increasing the rates of SSS membership dues and contributions.
I heard that Representative (and “comebacking” senator) Pia Cayetano has filed a bill increasing the number of days for maternity leave (from 60 days for normal delivery, and 72 days for delivery by caesarian section) to 120 days. What makes this even more burdensome is that the bill allegedly includes a “pasa leave” feature. When a female employee takes a 120-day leave, she can opt to use the 100 days for herself and pass on the 20 days to her husband, provided the latter also works in the same company, or in the same group of companies. Also, I am always being asked to explain about our law on thirteenth month pay. They would teasingly ask me where and how we added one more month to our annual calendar.
Our friends in ASEAN also have a lot of questions about our Solo Parents Law. They would also ask me to explain why we require a Lactation Room in every factory even if almost all workers are men. They would inquire why in the Philippines, it is the employers who have the burden of proof in illegal dismissal cases. They are wondering why workers are allowed to file cases against their employers even if the workers themselves have abandoned their jobs. They often put me to task why our country is making it very difficult for employers to outsource and why our labor policies are now anathematizing contractualization. Vietnam is a communist country but its government allows contractualization with so much flexibility to the businessmen.
I do not wish to sound being anti-labor. But today, the Philippines has retrogressed into being number six in the 10-member ASEAN group, lower than Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. We used to be number two. Today we are number 47 out of 138 countries lower than some African countries, according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index.
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