Re-elected Senator Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada vowed on Saturday to push through with his “Kasambahay” bill seeking to uplift the livelihood of domestic helpers by guaranteeing them decent working conditions and compensation.

Estrada refiled his Senate Bill 1662 last Thursday for the 15th Congress which opens on July 26.

The bill, Estrada said, was approved by the Senate on November 5, 2007 but its counterpart bill was not passed by the House of Representatives.

The bill, also called “Freedom Charter for the Household Workers,’’ was logged as Senate Bill No. 78 when it was refiled with the Senate Bills and Index Service.

“This time I will make sure that this sector of our labor force, often looked down on and feeling helpless, will be guaranteed decent working condition with the passage of this bill,” Estrada said.

After the government recently allowed the increase in the take home pay of workers, the amount of acceptable compensation for the domestic helpers was expected to be discussed in the committee levels of both legislative chambers.

Estrada was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development and of the Congressional Oversight Committee on Labor and Employment (COCLE) in the 14th Congress that ended last June 4.

Under the bill, “kasambahay” refers to “any person who renders for compensation to a homeowner or employer undertaking tasks ascribed as normal household chores within a specific household.”

The term includes maids, cooks, houseboys, family drivers, and yayas who provide daily service on a full-time, live-in or live-out basis.

The bill also prescribes a written employment contract between the employer and the “kasambahay” which shall state: period of employment, monthly compensation, annual salary increase, duties, and responsibilities, working hours and day-off schedule, and living quarters.

Employers will also be required to enrol house helpers to the Social Security System (SSS) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) as insurance plan holders.

Usual scenarios and grievances experienced by the kasambahay such as receiving salaries in form of promissory notes, withholding of wages, making deductions as reimbursement for loss or damage to household equipments, and being bound in continuous employment as payment for a loan will all be deemed illegal.

To prove that the applicants are physically fit for the job, the bill mandates that they would be asked to present medical certificate, barangay clearance and authenticated birth certificate as prerequisites for employment.

Estrada expressed confidence that the 15th Congress, despite the reconstitution of its members, would see the strong merits and noble intention of promoting the welfare of house helpers of the measure.

He emphasized that his colleagues in the 14th Congress have seen the merit of his bill when they joined him in having it passed.