Senator Joel Villanueva on Tuesday, August 24, said the Senate will hasten the approval of the bill that is expected to protect freelance workers against abuse and explotation.

Senate Bill No. 1810, or the proposed Freelance Protection Act, seeks to spell out the rights and benefits of workers in the freelance and gig economy. It currently awaiting second reading approval in the upper chamber.

The bill, Villanueva said, will provide a "mantle of protection" for some 1.5 million workers in the said industry, especially as their numbers have ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The chairman of the Senate labor committee said freelancers "are the most vulnerable from abuse and exploitation."

Part of the reason, he explained, is “the gaping hole in our laws that have yet to assign rights to “this new class of workers.”

He noted that existing labor laws were written before the advent of app-based food delivery and courier riders, home-based creative workers, and work-on-demand professionals came to being.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III had also admitted that there is no law extending labor protection to freelancers and self-employed professionals.

“Historically, laws always play catch-up with technology. In the case of freelancers, laws that protect them are way behind the curve,” Villanueva said in a statement.

There is a “huge vacuum to be filled on protection entitlements that these workers should receive", he added.

The proposed Freelancers Protection Act defines freelancer as a “person who renders a task, work or service through his or her freely chosen means and methods, free from any forms of economic dependence, control or supervision by the clients, regardless of whether they are paid by results, piece, task, hour, day, job or by the nature of the service required.”

The bill also enumerates the rights of freelance workers, namely:

• Just compensation and equal remuneration for work of equal value without manipulation or distinction of any kind;

• Safe and healthy working conditions;

• Self-organization and to collectively negotiate with the government, client and other entities for the promotion of their welfare and in advancement of their rights and interests;

• Protections against any form of discrimination, violence, sexual harassment, and abuse;

• Affordable and adequate financial services; and

• Social protection and social welfare benefits.

The measure also seeks to mandates payment for work done not later than 30 days from completion of tasks.

"We are also putting in ironclad guarantees against contract alterations, especially the arbitrary reduction of fees," Villanueva added.

While the Philippines is a hotspot for freelance work, with freelancers expected to form the majority of the labor force in 10 years, “the DOLE is at a loss of how to treat them,” Villanueva said.