Pinoy maids in Singapore get $50 salary raise —report

Filipino domestic helpers in Singapore are set to receive a SGD$50 increase in their monthly salary starting January, the Straits Times reported Thursday.
Minimum wage for Filipino domestic helpers in Singapore was originally set by the Philippine government at $400.
Singaporean agencies agreed to increase the wages to SGD$500 following an agreement between the Association of Employment Agencies Singapore (AEAS) and the Philippine Embassy three years ago.
Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz told GMA News Online through a text message that the increase to SGD$550 brought wages of Filipino maids closer to the Philippine minimum wage of $400.
 
"I think (SGD$550) is almost equal to $400. If that is so, the Singapore market will be compliant for Filipino DH minimum salary," Baldoz said.
 
"There is no minimum wage for domestic helpers. It is our Philippine minimum wage of $400 that we follow," she added.
 
The agreement was reached to avoid exchange rate fluctuations, the report said.
AEAS president K. Jayaprema told The Straits Times that the increase in salary — the first for Filipino maids in three years — was "a natural progression" over time and was partly influenced by the stronger US dollar.
Jayaprema noted that some caregivers were already being paid above SGD$600 for having better qualifications.
An earlier report by The Straits Times quoted Philippine Labor Attache Vicente Cabe as saying that a new cap has been placed on the number of Filipino maids coming to Singapore.
"The plan is to bring down the total number of Filipino domestic workers in Singapore by about 20 per cent in the next two years," Cabe said.
Estimates by the Philippine Embassy state that 70,000 of 227,100 domestic helpers in Singapore are Filipinos. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more