Cuenco hits age limit for household workers abroad

CEBU - Cebu City South District Representative Antonio Cuenco branded as unconstitutional the proposal of the Department of Foreign Affairs to increase the age limit for Filipino overseas household service workers from 23 to 30.

The DFA is pushing for the increase in minimum age requirement for Filipino domestic helpers deployed abroad.

Department of Labor and Employment undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the DFA asked the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to re-impose the 30-year-old age limit for household service workers, replacing the existing age limit of 23 years.

But Cuenco, chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs, said: “I do not subscribe to that proposal because it shall restrict or hinder one’s right to travel which is unconstitutional.”

The lawmaker, a lawyer by profession, cited that the right to travel is explicitly provided for in the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution.

Article 3 of Section 6 of the Constitution provides that the “liberty of abode and of changing the same within the limits prescribed by law shall not be impaired except upon lawful order of the court.”

“Neither shall the right to travel be impaired except in the interest of national security, public safety, or public health, as may be provided by law,” said Cuenco.

Instead of increasing the age limit for household service workers abroad, Cuenco said the government should expand the support system for overseas Filipino workers during the duration of their stay abroad.

“If our OFWs are assured of adequate assistance and protection, then their minds will always be at ease during and after work,” Cuenco added. — Garry B. Lao/LPM (THE FREEMAN)