Ate Faith, a contractual worker, told me that she has been with an agency for 14 years and is not aware whether or not she will receive retirement pay other than what she is entitled to under the Philippine Social Security System (SSS) when she retires. For her annual five-day vacation leave entitlement, she is given the cash equivalent after each year of service; but throughout the year the agency adheres to a policy of no-work-no-pay policy with time keeping which reduces her take-home pay. She receives her 13th-month pay while all government mandated deductions such as SSS, HDMF, and Philhealth are taken out of her monthly pay. She mentioned having been hospitalized at once and managed to get a subsidy from Philhealth; nonetheless, she had to shell out a huge amount. If there are other benefits that she can get from her agency, Ate Faith is not aware or has no recollection of any that has been explained to her or if there is anything stated in her employment contract.
Millions of contractual workers are in the same boat as Ate Faith, a boat bereft of a few things that would help them cope better with daily life and assure them of at least augmentation funds as they age beyond retirement. These millions have long been hoping that someone will come to their rescue and as fate would have it, came the promise of President Duterte. With his 100th day in office approaching, the President’s army are probably gathering facts to report on the progress of making this a reality soon enough.
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