PH Welcomes Qatar's New Employment Law

30 August 2017 - The Philippines welcomed Qatar's enactment of a new employment law that Manila says would provide better protection to the more than 50,000 Filipino household service workers in the Gulf state.

"We thank and commend the government of Qatar for enacting this progressive legislation," Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said.

"This will certainly lead to the recognition, promotion, and protection of the rights of Filipino and other migrant household service workers in Qatar," Secretary Cayetano added.

According to Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola, the coverage of Qatar's new "Domestic Employment Law" has been expanded to now also cover household service workers and provides them with some degree of legal protections.

Undersecretary Arriola said that under the new law, household service workers are now to work for only 10 hours per day, six days a week and are entitled to annual vacations, paid sick leaves and guaranteed breaks for meals and worship.

"This is certainly a cause for celebration as this new law would benefit more than 50,000 Filipino household service workers who did not enjoy these benefits before," Undersecretary Arriola said.

Ambassador to Doha Alan Timbayan said there are approximately 246,000 overseas Filipino workers in Qatar, making the Philippines the third county origin of migrant workers in the country. END