New living quarters for NPO women workers hailed

MANILA — The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on Friday hailed the opening of new living quarters for female employees of the National Printing Office (NPO) as the National Women’s Month winds up this week.

PCOO Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Rafael said the NPO management has been successful in promoting gender and development. The NPO is an agency under the PCOO.

“This women’s quarter is funded by the NPO, and for all other agencies, it’s funded by their own agencies. So, I’m proud of them,” Rafael said.

“This is a very important (initiative), especially to those women who are doing their midnight shift.

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The two-floor living space has its own bathroom and kitchen with all floors filled with beds and double-decks.

Dante So, chairperson of the NPO-GAD Committee, said most of the women working at the printing office are stay-in employees and often sleep in their offices and makeshift beds.

“It is nice of this administration to give us support by providing us quarters for the women,” So told reporters on the sidelines of the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“Ang mga kababaihan po namin dito naka-expose, dahil ito po ay isang printing plant. So exposed sa mga kemikal at napakaraming papel (Our female employees here are exposed to chemicals and dirt because this is a printing plant),” he said.

NPO paper cutting machine operator, Julie Pearl Suyat, said they often sleep at the corners of their division, which is sometimes infested by rats.

“We don’t have quarters there, only makeshift beds from chairs.

With this new space, we now have privacy, at least we have a place that is safe and comfortable,” Suyat told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in Filipino.

Sixty-four-year-old Caridad Lagsac, who has been working at the NPO for more than 20 years, expressed elation over the new quarters. “There was a time when I’m all alone sleeping in our division.

For me, this new quarters would be a big help,” she said.