Corona Trial: Maid in the Philippines..

One quotable quote that struck me during the almost three hour opening statement cum direct testimony of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the impeachment trial is about household helpers or maids.

“Simpleng buhay at tahahan lamang. Hindi man kami gumagamit ng aircon sapagkat napakadali naming magkasakit sa lamig. Simpleng pagkain lamang ang kinakain namin sa bahay. Sa maniwala man kayo o hindi, kami po ay walang katulong sa bahay,” Corona said.

In essence, CJ Corona said that they were able to save money during the early years of their marriage by the fact that, among others,  they did not hire maids.
I asked my officemate: did i hear it right? The Corona family  has no maids?

I guess his statement will have a  badge of truth if the Corona family lived abroad. But realistically speaking, very seldom do you encounter a middle income family in the Philippines that has no maid in their household, moreso if you have growing children. What more in the case of Corona, as he said his financial status is a product of hard work. Moreover, he admitted that his wife came from a buena familia. So how can one believe in such statement that they did not hire any maid? Another question that came to my mind is: how much do they pay their maids that he cited them as a defense in the trial? Are  they receiving lucrative salaries that they become  significant  materials in the issue of the dollar bank accounts and SALN?  Under this premise,  I guess, they must be earning more than what i was earning during the early years of my legal practice.I am in  wrong profession, perhaps.

An article of the same tenor expounded further pointed inconsistency in Corona's testimony that  his family lives a simple life,  Corona’s reimbursements in the Supreme Court tell a different story. He dined in fancy restaurants and wore expensive Barong Tagalog, among others. Among the documents that the prosecution panel has  are the following:
 
* Corona's reimbursement of P15,362.37 for a meal at Century Tsukiji restaurant on June 20, 2010. The receipt was under the name “Renato/Cristina Corona.”

* Corona's reimbursement of P20,400 and P25,000 for Barong Tagalog purchased at Rustan’s store Design Exchange Corp.

* A reimbursement of P100,000 for the “purchase Christmas gifts of the Chief Justice”

Receipts of his reimbursements were part of the evidence that various commercial institutions submitted to the Senate impeachment court based on a request from the prosecution.

Article 3 of the impeachment complaint accuses Corona of “failing to meet and observe the stringent standards… that provides that “a member of the judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.”

“Respondent reportedly dipped his hands into public funds to finance personal expenses. Numerous personal expenses that have nothing to do with the discharge of his official functions, such as lavish lunches and dinners, personal travels and vacations, and fetes and parties, have reportedly been charged by the Respondent to judicial funds. In essence, Respondent has been reportedly using the judicial fund as his own personal expense account, charging to the Judiciary personal expenditures,” reads the complaint.

The prosecution did not present them as evidence anymore after presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile barred them from discussing peripheral allegations.

Legally speaking, the domestic worker  is the person, commonly under a livein employment arrangement with his/her employer, providing household services. He/she is traditionally referred to in many ways such as “katulong,” “chimay or chimoy,” “boy,” “tsuper,” “yaya,”
“maid,” “DH”, “domestic or household helper,” or “servant,” among others. The more humane reference to the domestic worker is “kasambahay” which literally means house companion and such
other references like “kuya,” “manang,” or “inday”.Many domestic workers are migrants from the provinces or poverty areas of the country.

The Labor Code defines the domestic worker in terms of the domestic or household service he/she is expected to render. This covers services in the employer’s home which is usually necessary or

desirable for the maintenance and enjoyment thereof and includes ministering to the personal comfort and convenience of the members of the employer’s household, including services of family drivers.The Labor Code has one chapter devoted to “Employment of Househelpers” that describes who the househelpers are, how they should be paid and treated during and even after their services are no longer needed. The chapter is made up of twelve articles or parts (from Article 141 to 152).

In 2011, the economic NGO  Ibon said Filipino domestic household workers in the Philippines and abroad contributed at least P167.4 billion in services and remittances to the economy . Ibon said there were 3.25 million domestic help employed in the country and abroad in 2011, Ibon said the value of services rendered by domestic household workers was estimated by multiplying their number by their P140.89 average daily basic pay, taken from the Labor Force Survey (LFS), by 365 days of the year.This resulted in an average daily basic pay worth P100.3 billion. This was used by Ibon as a proxy of the economic value of their services. The remittances from domestic household workers overseas was estimated by multiplying Ibon’s estimate of 1.3 million working abroad by an assumed remittance of $100 or P4,300 per month, for a total of P167.4 billion.

 In the Philippines, household workers receive only half of the minimum wage in the National Capital Region, while the rest of the country only pays them 45 percent of the minimum wage.According to the ILO in the Philippines, about half of domestic helpers work more than 10 hours a day.

In 2010 , the Senate approved on third and final reading the Senate version of the Kasambahay bill, which stipulates that employers need to pay their domestic helpers at least P2,500 if they are within Metro Manila; at least P2,000 if they are in first class municipalities; and at least P1,500 for those in third class municipalities.Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who heads the labor committee in the upper chamber, has earlier lambasted the House of Representatives for failing to act on the House version of the bill.

The Maid or househelper is in fact deeprooted in Philippine history under the term "alipin". With its nearest translation as "servant" or "slave," people belonging to this social class are not completely free, although they enjoyed some benefits to barangay land - they had rights to food, shelter and work. If situation calls for it, an alipin could lose his or her rank and rights, for instance, when he or she committed a heinous crime, but was not executed. A person became an alipin when he or she was captured from the war, punished for a crime, unable to pay debts, bought as a slave or born illegitimately. The class also include those born and raise by parents of the alipin class, especially those who have parents who died with unpaid debts.

There are two types of alipin - the namamahay and the sagigilid (or saguiguilid).

• Aliping Namamahay, translated as "householder," refers to an alipin who enjoyed rights and privileges to land, had his or her own house that are usually within the domain or territory of his or her master. In a sense, people belonging in this subclass were actually free, however their status was not permanent. A person became a namamahay when he or she is demoted from a higher rank, or promoted from being a sagigilid. He or she paid tribute or buwis which depends on his or her arrangement from the master. When the master's children are to be married, the namamahay was obliged to offer gifts.

• Aliping Sagigilid, translated as "hearth slave", refers to those alipin not enjoying rights and privileges. Purchased slaves and those captured from wars belong to this subclass. A sagigilid was highly dependent with his or her master, since had to provide him or her with food and shelter. The master had control over the sagigilid that he can easily sell his slave to another master. When this slave married, the master need not to support his or her family, and he or she will rise to being a namamahay. A sagigilid could buy his freedom in gold - for 30 golds, he or she can be freed from his or her master; and for 90 pesos, he or she can be promoted to timawa class.

There are some websites that have employed "marketing" strategies for the Filipino maids. "There are many advantages of hiring a maid from a Filipino Maid Agency. Filipinos are known all over the word for being hard-working and trustworthy employees. They also have the natural ability to maintain a good working environment and they get along well with other nationalities. Among their many traits, Filipino maids are also known for being clean, orderly and respectful. They take pride on their honest disposition and loyalty to their employers. Their patience is unmatched making them an ideal household member.A Filipino maid can be trusted with anything and knows how to draw the line between being a household employee and a dependable carer to all the members of the family. More than that, she is willing to take the extra mile by doing extra tasks in the home that are beyond her duties. If her duty is just to clean the house or do the laundry, she can go as far as tending the garden as well, looking after the kids or even running some errands."

Is the maid  capable of being a world leader? Some do think so." Should the domestic maid be the one to rule the world, tidiness and orderliness shall dominate humanity.This can be one rule where no house, streets and establishments would be dirty. The maid values cleanliness after all and it is something that takes effort, so a punishment should be given to all violators. The most important values would be hard work, honesty and love for God and family. It does not take to be a maid to have all of these but maids are inclined to have good values despite less attention. If they can have it their way and create their own rules, it may still be a wonderful clean and stress-free world. "