Freelancers in Philippines fight back with bill that offers them same protection as full-time workers
- Freelance workers everywhere complain about the difficulties they experience with insufficient pay or non-payment
- A movement taking place in the Philippines is trying to change this with the potential introduction of a self-employment bill
Wandering into an alleyway in Manila, Filipino photojournalist Jilson Tiu has arrived just in time for pukpok palayok, a game where children break a hanging clay pot filled with confectionery.
Not wanting to miss a moment, he positions himself and begins shooting. After the pot breaks, he resumes his tour, looking for other interesting scenes of life in the city to capture.
Tiu, 27, says he loves his work, but admits it is no piece of cake.
“Being a photographer sounds great, but people don’t really realise that you can work up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes, there’s no client at all; it’s a dry month, a dry year. So you wait and hope for the best,” he says.
In some cases, Tiu says, clients simply refuse to pay up. In one instance, a leading Philippine daily newspaper hired him for an advertising shoot, to be published in print and online, offering 15,000 pesos (US$288) for the job. More than a year later, and despite repeated attempts to secure payment, the publication has failed to cough up, he says.
Tiu adds that because he did not obtain a formal written contract from the publication for his work, he has little recourse through the law. “What can I do? I can’t sue them,” he says.
