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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Tulfo criticizes SSS, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth for low coverage of household helpers

Tulfo criticizes SSS, Pag-IBIG, and PhilHealth for low coverage of household helpers

Published Sep 21, 2023 08:27 am

Sen. Raffy Tulfo on Thursday, September 21, criticized the Social Security System (SSS), the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG for not doing enough to ensure that employers have enrolled their "kasambahays" and are paying their respective dues.

In a statement, he slammed the "very low" compliance of the three agencies for the house helper’s coverage.

He cited a 2019 joint survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), wherein they found that there are 1.4 million registered domestic workers.

Of these, only six percent or 84,190 household helpers were enrolled by their employers in SSS while only five percent or 74,858 were registered by same in PhilHealth. Worse, there were only 3.4 percent or 51, 579 house helps enrolled by their employers in Pag-IBIG.

Tulfo, Vice Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor, was upset due to the failure of barangays to implement the registration system for household helpers knowing that some employers are too busy to enroll their house help for said coverage or deliberately avoid doing so to avoid payments.

Notably, under the “Domestic Workers Act” or “Batas Kasambahay,” every employer shall register a house help under his/her employment in the barangay where his/her residence is located.

Under the law, the Punong Barangay shall be responsible for the registry of kasambahay within his/her jurisdiction.

Tulfo questioned why barangay officials managed to be very active on house-to-house campaigns during the election period but were unable to go door-to-door to survey households with kasambahays and ensure implementation of Batas Kasambahay.

Moreover, Tulfo also recommended removing the qualified theft punishment for kasambahays, which is being used by employers to pin down house helps seeking better treatment or complaining about work-related benefits.


In some cases, Tulfo said employers would get back at their kasambahays and avoid giving them proper treatment as mandated by the law by planting evidence pointing to a crime they did not commit, like stealing.

Employers would later report it to the police to send innocent and voiceless kasambahays or household helpers to jail.

Related Tags

Social Security System (SSS) Pag-IBIG Fund Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) SSS member Senator Raffy Tulfo
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