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DOLE chief on ‘yaya meal’: Legal, but treats kasambahay as 2nd-class citizens


While an exclusive resort's "yaya meal" is not a violation of labor laws as it is an option offered by a business establishment to its guests, it "sadly reflects a socio-cultural reality where some segment of our society still look down on kasambahay a grade lower than ordinary citizens," Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said Thursday.

Baldoz issued the statement after actress and beauty queen Maggie Wilson-Consunji criticized the existence of the "yaya meal" on the menu of the Balesin Island Club in Quezon Province.

In response to the ensuing online outrage, club CEO Mike Asperin issued his own statement, saying that the yaya's meal is only an option the resort offers its guests, and that the yaya can order from the same menu if her employer allows it.

"[W]e do not serve this meal if there is no instruction at all from the guest for a 'yaya meal' to be served to a 'yaya'," Asperin said.

Baldoz said that having a "yaya meal" as an option is among "acts which tend to downgrade [domestic staff's] socio-economic level and imply class segregation" which, "whether intentional or not, robs the kasambahay of their dignity as workers."

Baldoz appealed not just to business establishments but to employers to "refrain from acts or utterances that are disrespectful of the socio-economic status of kasambahay."

Read: What you should know about the Kasambahay Law

"We believe Filipinos should be the first to accord our kasambahay the respect they deserve pursuant to the time-honored truism, 'Charity begins at home,'" Baldoz said.

"Let us remember that treating kasambahay with dignity is not a privilege they should earn, but a right they deserve," she added.— BM, GMA News

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