Marileth D. Tungcalan was eager to return to Riyadh after her recent vacation. The 48-year-old former security guard of a local supermarket chain, who later became a domestic worker in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), was excited to see how the children of her employer had fared since the last time she met them months ago.
She grew fond of them, having helped take care of them since they were little, and sometimes disciplining them with the little Arabic she had learned from the Arabic-English dictionary she bought before being deployed to Riyadh.
‘I miss the children. I want to see them grow into teenagers,’ Marileth said in Filipino.
The youngest, she said, would always ask for a pasalubong or gifts when she returned. She would sometimes bring them a ballpen with unique designs or local delicacies.
‘This time, I will be bringing them kakanin [rice cakes],’ she said.
She woke up early, traveling from Rizal to join the hundreds of overseas Filipino workers (OFW), who were lining up at the ground floor of the Department of Migrant Office (DMW) in Mandaluyong City daily to get their overseas employment certificate-the exit clearance that will allow them to work abroad on 2 October 2025. She was already scheduled to leave for Saudi Arabia on Monday.
While she went through regular pre-deployment procedures, Marileth may soon be among the Filipino domestic workers who will be covered by the government’s initiative to update a landmark policy that has helped protect their welfare and ensure their proper working conditions in the last two decades.
Major reform
However, Marileth was still unaware of the Department of Migrant Workers’ (DMW) Advisory No. 25, which is set to take effect this year as part of the government’s efforts to update the Household Service Workers’ (HSW) Policy Reform Package.
Created in 2006 by the agency, which preceded DMW, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the said Reform Package was a result of the government’s efforts to ‘professionalize’ domestic workers following the mass repatriation of Filipino HSWs from Lebanon, when the Middle East country was hit by civil unrest in that year.
It contained provisions, which became the hallmark of Philippine migration policy for domestic workers including raising their monthly minimum wage to US$400 (P23,176.80), setting their minimum age to 23 years old, exempting them from paying placement fee, as well as requiring applicants to attend a pre-departure seminar and get a Domestic Work National Certificate (NC) II from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
The government deemed the policy necessary because it considered domestic workers among the most vulnerable, since most of them are women, as well as the nature of their job.
It helped the Philippines cement its global reputation as a model of migration policies, which is recognized by the International Labor Organization and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Based on its latest data, DMW revealed that domestic cleaners and helpers made up the majority, or 91,774, of the 1.57 million workers deployed from January to August this year. It was followed by domestic housekeepers with 59,093 in the same period.
The numbers of both occupational groups have declined compared to the first eight months of 2024. Last year, the number of deployed domestic cleaners and helpers was 95,260, while the number of domestic housekeepers was 69870.
Challenging working conditions
However, even with the implementation of the original Reform Package of 2006, the thousands of Filipino domestic workers who left the country still faced challenges.
Center for Migrant Advocacy (CMA) Executive Director Ellene Sana explained that work in a home-based setting tends to be unregulated, which leaves domestic workers performing their duties, such as doing the dishes, laundry, and house cleaning 24/7.
Some of them, she said, are also left to do care work, which she said should have a higher pay rate than domestic work.
‘As I said, a lot of the domestic workers are doing either direct care work or indirect care work, but they don’t get paid for that,’ Sana lamented.
Although her employer treated her well and considered her part of their family, Marileth said that she still performed tasks even during the evening.
‘This is especially true now that they have a little one. You no longer have privacy. They will sometimes knock on my door for help, even at midnight,’ she said.
Occupational hazards
And then there is the issue of unscrupulous recruitment agencies, who prey on OFWs, and abusive employers.
Marileth, who is no stranger to such risks, personally experienced how her recruitment agency from Malate in Manila practically abandoned her after she was deployed to Riyadh in 2018.
‘When I arrived in Saudi Arabia that time, on 2018 February 16, my agent blocked [my calls]. I had zero contact with them [recruitment agency],’ she said. ‘Thanks to the Lord, my employer has treated me well. But if I ended up with a bad employer, I don’t know where I would have ended up.’
Under the law, recruitment agencies must continue to ensure the welfare of their deployed OFWs until they complete their contracts and are repatriated.
Despite the ordeal, Marileth decided not to file a case against her recruitment agency since it led her to an employer who treated her well.
The other Filipino domestic workers in KSA, whom Marileth knew, were not as lucky.
‘Probably out of the 20 Filipinas I knew there, only three of us have good employers,’ she said.
Sana said there were still some cases wherein some Filipino HSWs died at the hands of their employer, such as in the case of Joanna Demafelis, whose remains were found in a freezer of her employer in 2018, and Jullebee Ranara, whose charred remains with a smashed skull were found in the desert in 2023. Both incidents happened in Kuwait.
Reform package achievements
Despite the flaws of the Reform Package, it also led to better welfare and working conditions for domestic workers.
Sana said it provided the legal framework, which paved the way to the creation of laws in other countries for domestic workers, especially in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries, where there are many incidents of abuse.
In a Senate hearing in 2021, POEA reported that of its 5,000 documented OFW maltreatment cases in 2020, 4,302 were from the Middle East, where the GCC is.
‘So there is progress in the legal environment, but a lot still needs to be done, especially in changing the mindset of the employers, especially in the Gulf. Because in the Gulf kingdoms, they might think you are slaves when you are not royalty, so you really need to have due diligence [in protecting domestic worker rights],’ she said.
Citing studies from civil society organizations, Institute for Migration and Development Issues (IMDI) Executive Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano pointed out that the legacy of the Reform Package was a ‘mixed bag.’
He said the Reform Package helped standardize the minimum monthly wage for domestic workers to US$400. Prior to the Reform Package, some Filipino HSWs were paid US$250, according to Sana.
‘So by setting a global average [for minimum wage], the US$400 was used by the Philippine government as a leverage to negotiate for better terms for domestic workers,’ Opiniano said.
Marileth was among the beneficiaries of the said policy because she is paid SAR 1,500 (P23,177.06), which is higher compared to the P7,000 monthly minimum wage for domestic workers in Metro Manila, which is currently the highest rate in the country.
To justify the increase, he said the government cited the mandatory certification Filipino domestic workers must obtain before working abroad to ensure they have the necessary skills.
‘The TVET [Technical Vocational Education and Training] certification was a means to ensure that the domestic workers being sent overseas are trained to know how to protect themselves.So they’re using that as a premium to [say to] these countries: Hey, that’s why it’s US$400,’ Opiniano said.
Challenging implementation
However, he said, the government faced challenges in its implementation, with some employers violating the mandatory minimum wage. Some countries have prevailing laws that set the wages for domestic workers lower than US$400 400 especially during the initial years of their implementation.
He added that such protections in terms of minimum wage and certification do not cover HSWs, who work abroad without going through the legal channels.
Migrante International has also earlier issued a statement, wherein it claimed that many Filipino domestic workers in the Middle East and Asia have suffered from underpayment and even wage theft from their employers.
A study conducted by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in 2012 reported that the prescribed US$400 monthly wage was largely ignored abroad except for Hong Kong, Taiwan, Italy, and Israel.
Enhanced reform package
In recognition of the gaps in the 2006 Reform Package, DMW launched Advisory No. 25 in August this year. The advisory aims to enhance or plug the gaps in the almost 20-year-old policy.
Among its salient features was the increased monthly wage of domestic workers from US$400 to US$500 (P28,971) and the provision of annual medical check-ups and hospitalization treatment that will be shouldered by the government.
It will also lead to the implementation of the ‘Kamusta Kabayan? Digital Welfare Monitoring System’, which will allow Filipino domestic workers abroad to file complaints or seek help from the government through an email system.
The new advisory will also enforce a ‘Know Your Employer’ policy, which will require recruitment agencies to screen the principals, who will hire their domestic workers. The DMW will present a whitelist of the law-abiding and ethical recruitment agencies that applicants can consider.
It also contained provisions for the strict standards for Recruitment Agency Accommodation Facilities; emphasizes reskilling, upskilling, and career mobility program, as well as the rights-based approach through legal and other forms of assistance under the
The new advisory was issued by DMW Secretary Hans J. Cacdac, who also served as chair of the committee that drafted ILO Convention No. 189, known as the Domestic Worker Convention.
He said the new policy aims to enhance the protection of the Filipino HSWs abroad and encourage those who are undocumented to regularize their employment status.
Stakeholder reactions
The new advisory was backed by recruitment agencies, including those affiliated with the Coalition of Licensed Recruitment Agencies for Domestic and Service Workers (CLADs), which it said will benefit the estimated 2 million HSWs worldwide.
‘The message is that Filipino workers, especially HSWs, deserve higher salaries and more benefits from employers, especially those deployed to ME [Middle East] countries. Most Asian countries and Europe offer higher salary packages than the US$500,’ LBS E-Solutions Corp. President Lito B. Soriano said in a Viber message.
A few weeks after the announcement of the new advisory, some Middle Eastern countries expressed their reservations against it. In particular, they questioned the provision raising the minimum wage of Filipino domestic workers. This concern prompted the DMW to issue a clarification that the new US$500 will be voluntary for employers.
Instead of penalizing employers who cannot comply with the new rate, Cacdac said they will provide incentives, such as faster processing, to those who can do so. He said they are targeting the implementation of the new policy by October.
Opiniano said countries may not be receptive to the new rate due to rising inflation in the aftermath of the pandemic, it may be higher than the prevailing minimum wage for their domestic workers, and some countries are refusing to ratify ILO Convention 189.
Policy solutions
Opiniano added that the new advisory positions DMW in the right direction to address the gaps of the Reform Package of 2006.
The new Digital Welfare Monitoring System, he said, can help reduce incidents of labor abuses by allowing domestic workers to promptly report to the government domestic violence and abuses online, without going to Philippine embassies and consulates abroad.
Regarding the higher minimum wage rates for Filipino HSWs, Opiniano urged DMW to consider a ‘nuanced’ country-based wage rate similar to the Philippines’ regional minimum wage rates that will make it more acceptable to host countries.
‘So the DMW should utilize its own data, which is based on all their process work contracts per country that sends domestic workers, how much is the salary in that country, and then use the data to make the bracket,’ he said.
This scheme, he said, can augment or be an alternative to the plan of DMW to publish separate rates for Filipino HSWs based on their existing certified skills.
Cacdac earlier said they are planning to release a proposed higher rate for domestic workers, who have additional skills aside from their mandatory NC II from TESDA.
Opiniano backed the said DMW initiative, which he said will help uplift the earnings of HSWs through microcredentials by availing themselves of training in their host country or online.
‘It will be better [for them] because that is their premise when they get a TVET. It will be a more protective mechanism for them,’ he said.
Ways forward
Upon learning of the Advisory 25, Marileth welcomed its provisions, particularly the higher pay, since it would help her cope with the rising cost of living as well as the free medical check-ups and treatment.
‘That [free medical treatment] will be a big help to the maid because there are employers who, even if you have a fever, won’t even take you to the hospital and have you checked,’ she said.
She is hopeful she will be able to improve her working conditions, particularly in terms of her pay, in the coming years, especially since she has no plans of retiring anytime soon because she has to pay back her existing loans to her employer, which she made for the needs of her seven children.
‘I told my employer, sir, as long as I have energy and you need me, I will stay with you even if I become old. You know why? Because the price of goods in the Philippines is high and I have no income there,’ Marileth said.
Before her flight to KSA next week, she said, she is determined to finally open her personal savings account now that three of her children have their own work.
‘I was not able to save before because my priority was the studies of my children-their expenses in their schools. I haven’t even made any improvements in our home. My salary is barely enough for my children,’ she said.
The savings account was a small step towards Marileth’s financial independence, just like DMW’s Advisory 25 is part of its long-standing march towards improving the protection and welfare of domestic workers.