Finding Policies that Work: Examining the Case of Filipino Freelancers

Freelancing work is booming in the Philippines. It presents a great opportunity for Filipinos to make additional income or pursue their passion, especially among workers who are marginalized in the traditional labor standards. Although freelance work is now a reality for many Filipino employees, as well as promoted by the Philippine government through pronouncements and small-scale interventions, there persists a data gap on this labor force. More than this, there persists a legislation gap covering freelance workers in the country.

This policy brief identifies five reasons that Filipinos engage in the online freelancing gig. These are 1) flexibility, 2) fast turnaround of work, 3) potential for the marginalized sector to be included as the economy develops, 4) greater freedom to pursue passion and upward career development, and 5) higher salaries, especially for online freelancers doing specialized tasks. Aside from these, this policy brief also identifies structural factors ingrained in Philippine society that drive Filipinos to engage in online freelance work. These structural factors are 1) the Philippine government’s branding of Filipinos as industrious and service-oriented, 2) the business process outsourcing culture in the Philippines, 3) prevailing norms of labor insecurity and informality, and 4) difficult work conditions from previous jobs.

The Philippine government has harnessed its labor force and has implemented interventions to facilitate Filipinos’ employment in online freelance work. What the Philippines has not done yet, however, is to legislate laws and implement policies that protect freelancers. The common concerns of freelancers are identified to be 1) lack of social benefits, 2) lack of security of tenure, 3) lack of company-sponsored benefits, 4) lack of insurance, 5) difficulty filing taxes, 6) difficulty in organizing as a collective, 7) hyper-competitive nature of freelance work, 8) personal space blurring with professional space, 9) feeling of isolation, and 10) infrastructure problems.

Despite the Philippines being a signatory to international instruments guaranteeing decent work, there is currently no domestic legislation that comprehensively governs the work conditions of digital platforms, specifically those that relate to labor relations, work conditions, and social dialogues, to name a few. Alarmingly, this gap is only projected to increase as more Filipinos turn to freelance in a policy environment that cannot keep up. This has huge implications on two fronts: first, the Philippines is not able to fully reap the benefits of the growing freelancing labor force in terms of collecting revenues, and second, freelance workers continue to be vulnerable as compared to those in regular employment.

Responding to the gaps in data and legislation, this policy brief suggests short-, medium-, and longterm recommendations to include freelancers in the formal economy and reap the individual and national benefits freelancing has to offer. The freelance workers' sector is huge. Policies that are meant to protect freelance workers must, just like freelance work, be flexible and adaptable. It is now within the Philippine government’s initiatives to find policies that work.