Two women in war and peace
(Part 2)

Suspected of being a "kumander" (commander) of the New People's Army, Cecil Oebanda-Flores from Negros Occidental was arrested in 1983. Speaking in the International Labor Organization forum "Celebrating Working Women" in Makati, one would never guess that this woman lived a difficult and dangerous life some twenty years ago.

She moved on since then and co- founded Visayan Forum Foundation in 1991. Few people know that the woman who runs the Visayan Forum as Executive Director is a Negrense, and was incarcerated during the Martial Law years. Visayan Forum is dedicated to helping domestic workers or "kasambahay" and liberating them from their lowly status and often oppressive conditions. Visayan Forum emphasizes the need for the kasambahay to go to school so that they do not remain in their lowly status for life. Visayan Forum has offices in Bacolod, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao, Batangas and Matnog. They have help desks in Liloan and Leyte. With an estimated 1.2 million "kasambahay" Visayan Forum needs all the support it can get.

There is no law specifically protecting domestic helpers, although Visayan Forum has been lobbying for one for about ten years now. Their current ally in the Senate is Senator Jinggoy Estrada (who has a degree from the University of the Philippines College of Business Administration). He sponsored the Bill entitled, "An Act providing for additional benefits and protection to the househelpers thereby amending for this purpose Articles 141, 142, 143, 148 and 151 of Chapter 111 of p.d. 442, as amended, otherwise known as "The Labor Code of the Philippines."

Aside from very low wages, most of the kasambahay, or domestic workers, live in oppressive conditions, are expected to work round the clock with inadequate hours of sleep, inadequate nutrition and health and dental care, and suffer not only physical and verbal abuse but also sexual abuse. Cecil Oebanda-Flores told of the story of a kasambahay who was chained by her employer and treated like an animal.

Domestic workers are also at risk of being trafficked for prostitution not only within the country but also abroad. There are so many sordid tales of young girls who are promised work as domestic workers in Manila, and who end up in other Asian countries, raped, then forced to work as prostituted women. Many of these girls and women are trafficked to Kota Kinabalu through the port in Zamboanga.

Consider what our kasambahay do for us. These are the things we wouldn't want to do, or could not do because we have our own work - do the laundry, cook, take care of the kids, wash the car, take care of our pets. We would not be able to do what we do and be productive without their help. Many women succeed with the help of other women, our kasambahay, and this Women's Month, it is but fitting that we remember them and help improve their lives.*

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