Senators bat for longer maternity leave

MANILA, Philippines – Seven senators are pushing for an increase in the number of maternity leave days to a range of 98 to 180 days from the current 60 to 78 days. 

Recognizing the existing maternity leave provided for under prevailing local laws is not enough and not compliant with the internationally accepted standards, seven bills have been filed in the Senate calling for a longer maternity leave.

Senators Francis Pangilinan, Manny Pacquiao, Risa Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes IV, Nancy Binay, Loren Legarda, and Juan Edgardo Angara have filed their respective bills all calling for an increase in the maternity leave period. 

Senate Bill 1276 filed by Angara calls for the grant of 14 weeks or 98 days maternity leave with pay, which is the standard set in International Labor Organization Convention 183. 

Maternity leave benefits are provided for in the Labor Code, Republc Act 1161 or the Social Security Law and Republic Act 8282 or the Social Security Act of 1997. 

The Labor Code provides for a total maternity leave of six weeks while the Social Security Law grants a period of 60 days for women who gave birth through normal delivery and 78 days for those who underwent caesarian delivery. 

Citing a report from the World Health Organization, Angara noted that Filipino mothers have a measly breastfeeding rate of 34 percent for infants younger than six months, which failed to meet the 50 percent target of the 2012 World Health Assembly. 

It was noted that 3.3 million or 30 percent of Filipino children aged five years and younger are stunted based on the 2013 National Nutrition Survey. 

“Some argue that our short maternity leave period exacerbates this problem,” Angara said while noting that in the ASEAN region alone, the average length of maternity leave is 93 days. 

Under Legarda’s Senate Bill 1262, a total of 100 days paid maternity leave would be granted with an option to extend for an additional 30 days without pay. 

“The maternity leave benefit recognizes the importance of granting time for a new mother to nurture her newborn baby and ensure the well being of both parent and child,” Legarda said in her bill.

The same proposal was filed by Trillanes, who said that maternity is “a vital social function played by women and protects the rights of working women and their infants to proper health care.” 

Hontiveros and Binay, in Senate Bills 215 and 1152 respectively, both called for the grant of 120 days paid maternity leave. 

Under Hontiveros’ bill, solo mothers would also have the benefit of another 30 days on top of the 120 days maternity leave. 

Hontiveros said her bill also seeks to recognize the role of adoptive parents and alternate caregivers (spouse, common-law partner, relative up to the 4th degree of consanguinity) by extending to them the benefits of her proposed bill, such as allocating at most thirty days of the maternity leave to an alternate caregiver.