Salceda seeks P2,000 monthly compensation for housewives in poor families

A monthly compensation of P2,000 for housewives and stay-at-home mothers in poor families has been proposed in the House of Representatives.

Albay Representative Joey Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, made the pitch in his House Bill 668, which grants the P2,000 monthly compensation to stay-at-home mothers who, regardless of civil status, perform the work at home of a full-time mother and do not have part-time or home-based work that is compensated, or any income-generating activity.

Salceda said that the work of the housewives or stay-at-home mothers—such as taking care of their children, walking them to school and assisting them in their school homework, managing very limited family budgets, doing grocery  shopping, planning the menu and cooking nutritious yet budget meals, and doing miscellaneous chores—should be properly compensated because the economy cannot be productive without their work.

"What if these stay-at-home mothers or housewives take out their services as child caretakers, as homemakers, cooks, and sometimes even as care providers for the elderly and the sick in the family? Would not husbands be less productive at work? Would not children be underperforming in school or worse, may even be juvenile delinquents and pose a threat to society? Clearly, the country's production processes will grind to a halt," Salceda, an economist, said in his explanatory note on the measure.

"The state must therefore recognize the work of stay-at-home women, mothers or housewives as valuable economic activity. It is time to appreciate their worth and contribution in nation-building. It is time to make payment for their housework and give them wages for the work they continue to bear out at home," he added.

The homemaker or housewife, Salceda said, deserves at least an amount equivalent to a minimum wage, considering that household work is also a full-time job. 

Salceda, however, said the coverage of the benefit is limited to those women from poor families who care for at least one child aged 12 or below "to prevent distortions in the labor market and due to fiscal constraints."

Under Salceda's proposal, the P2,000 monthly financial assistance will be subject to congressional review every three years, in consultation with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The measure also provides that at the onset of implementation, the government will make use of the DSWD National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) database to identify the initial set of beneficiaries.

After the first year of implementation, the DSWD, in coordination with the local Social Welfare and Development Office (LSWDO) of each local government unit, will set up mechanisms for annual updating of the NHTS-PR for determining other qualified beneficiaries under this Program.

In addition, the financial compensation will be released by the DSWD, with the support of the concerned local government units (LGUs), as the case may be, subject to the following conditions:

• the child or children is/are enrolled in public schools with at least 85 percent attendance;
• the child or children manifest responsible behavior in preparation for eventual independence from the full-time services of the mothers; and
• the family (father, mother and children) attends a quarterly barangay assembly aimed at empowering the family to become responsible members of their locality, and at reducing the time burden of unpaid care for women living in poverty.

The amount necessary to carry out the provisions of the proposal, Salceda said, will be sourced from the DSWD and LGUs in the General Appropriations Act for the year following its enactment into law and thereafter. — BM, GMA News