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Hontiveros bats for maternity benefits for women in the informal sector: Sen. Risa Hontiveros presides over the public hearing of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, Monday, May 15, 2023, regarding several filed bills, including Senate Bill No. (SBN) 148, or the Maternity Benefit for Women in the Informal Economy Act, which she authored. In the five years after the Expanded Maternity Leave Law was passed, Hontiveros said that while many women in the formal economy have benefited greatly from the law, there is still a large swathe of women workers who do not enjoy the same maternity benefits, especially those from the informal sector. "This proposed bill (SBN 148) aims to provide a maternity cash benefit worth the daily minimum wage times 44, or the minimum wage of two months. The money will be sourced from sin taxes," the deputy minority leader said in Filipino. Hontiveros added that the proposed measure seeks to benefit women sellers and traders in the streets and wet markets; cleaning ladies, home-based workers, and farmers, to name a few. "Enacting this measure into law is very important. It is estimated that there are 250,000 Filipino women in the informal economy that gives birth every year. The impact [of the law] will be significant for them," she added. (Joseph B. Vidal/Senate PRIB)