Albay 3rd District Rep. Raymond Adrian Salceda has filed a bill seeking to overhaul the country’s decades-old labor code, aiming to strengthen safeguards for women and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Salceda stressed that the current Labor Code, which has been in place since 1974, no longer responds to the evolving needs of the workforce. “1974 pa po ang Labor Code. Matagal na pong nagbago ang mga pangangailangan ng mga manggagawa,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Filed as House Bill 3876, the measure was crafted in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Law Center’s Workers and Employers Program. Among its major provisions are expanded protections for women and OFWs, as well as a push to make maternity and paternity leave benefits equal.
Salceda underscored that equal leave benefits would help break workplace biases against women. “The maternity and paternity leave should have equal length so that women are not discriminated against at work,” he emphasized.
