How to hire a verified yaya in Metro Manila

TL;DR: To hire a yaya in Manila, Makati, or Taguig, write the childcare brief first and pay at least ₱7,800 a month. That is the NCR kasambahay floor under Wage Order NCR-DW-06, effective 7 February 2026. Then match an ID, read the NBI status you actually have, call a reference with consent, and sign a written contract before any work starts.

This page is for families who live in Metro Manila and want a regular yaya. It is not the checklist for an employer hiring from overseas. That sits in hiring a helper in Manila as an expat. If this is your first hire anywhere in the Philippines, read hiring your first yaya beside this page.

The statute is Republic Act 10361. The wage floor is on the NWPC NCR page and in the NWPC domestic-worker summary as of 6 November 2026. We do not quote a Manila "going rate." The sources we checked measure the legal floor, not what a particular village paid last month.

What is the Metro Manila wage floor in 2026?

Wage Order NCR-DW-06 raised the monthly minimum for domestic workers in the National Capital Region from ₱7,000 to ₱7,800. The board issued it on 15 January 2026. It was published on 22 January 2026 in The Philippine Star. It took effect on 7 February 2026. The NWPC NCR page, updated 14 September 2026, still lists ₱7,800 as the domestic-worker rate.

Three points trip families up.

It covers a yaya, live-in or live-out. Republic Act 10361 names the yaya in its definition of a domestic worker: a person who regularly does domestic work in one household on an occupational basis. A sitter who helps only occasionally is outside that definition. The cash floor does not drop because the yaya sleeps at home, and it does not rise in the statute because the address is in Makati.

It is not the daily wage in the news. Wage Order NCR-28, effective 26 September 2026, sets daily rates for private establishments, including ₱755 for non-agriculture work. That order is for businesses. Do not multiply a daily establishment rate by 26 and call it a kasambahay salary, and do not use it to pay a yaya less than ₱7,800.

It is a floor, not an offer. A post at ₱7,800 meets the legal minimum and nothing more. A newborn, night duty, two school-age children, or housework on top of childcare is a different job. Price that work in the role, not as a vague "package." The regional wage table is the lookup when a relative in another region quotes a different floor. The salary calculator is a budgeting tool. It is not a second law.

Pay in cash at least once a month. Section 25 of Republic Act 10361 bars payment by promissory note, voucher, coupon, token, ticket, or chit. Deductions the law does not mandate need the worker's written consent. Give a payslip every payday. The kasambahay payslip template shows the lines to keep.

Which cities does the NCR order cover?

The NWPC NCR page lists one domestic-worker rate for the whole region. The coverage note names these cities: Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, plus the municipality of Pateros.

Bonifacio Global City is in Taguig. Ortigas sits across Pasig and Mandaluyong. Alabang is in Muntinlupa, which already has its own hiring note in hire a yaya in Alabang and Muntinlupa. The wage floor does not change when you cross EDSA. The commute, the building rules, and the hours do.

Browse helpers in Manila, then narrow to nannies in Makati, nannies in Taguig, or nannies in Quezon City. Who appears depends on who has a published profile when you search. An empty page is an empty page. It is not a promise that nobody in that city wants the work.

What should the hiring brief say?

Section 11 of Republic Act 10361 requires a written contract before the service starts, in a language or dialect you both understand. The contract must cover duties, the period of employment, compensation, authorised deductions, hours and proportionate additional payment, rest days and leave, board and lodging and medical attention, deployment expenses if any, any loan agreement, termination, and any other lawful condition you both accept. DOLE is required to keep a model contract available free of charge. A copy of that model is on the kasambahay contract template.

Fill this in before you message anyone. It becomes the first draft of that contract.

"Yaya" names childcare. It does not silently include the whole house. If you also want cooking or laundry, write those duties in and pay for that job. Section 22 requires the applicable establishment minimum if you assign the kasambahay to commercial, industrial, or agricultural work, such as a family shop. Section 23 allows temporary work for another household only by agreement, with extra pay of not less than the domestic-worker minimum, and you may not charge that other household for the arrangement.

The nanny job description has wording you can reuse. Keep the city facts on this page.

How do Manila, Makati, and BGC commutes change the job?

The law does not publish a travel-time table, and neither do we. What we can say is practical. A stay-out yaya's day includes the trip to your door and the trip home. If you write 7:00 to 19:00 and the real commute adds two hours, you have described a different job from the one she can accept.

Ask each candidate where they would travel from and how long that trip takes at your start and your finish. Write the agreed hours into the contract. If the commute makes the hours unworkable, change the hours or the workplace expectation before day one. Do not discover it on a Monday in the rain.

A condominium or village may have its own rule for a helper pass, a photo, or an ID at the gate. That rule is the building's or the village's. It is not a section of Republic Act 10361. Ask the administration for the list, and confirm the candidate can meet it, before you agree a start date. Do not promise a candidate that the building will "sort it out on Monday."

What does the law require on pay, rest, and a room?

Section 6 requires you to provide at least three adequate meals a day and humane sleeping arrangements that ensure safety. Those are employer duties. They are not a discount on the ₱7,800. Section 25 forbids other deductions without written consent.

Rest is separate from the wage:

• Daily. An aggregate of eight hours of rest per day, under Section 20.
• Weekly. At least 24 consecutive hours, with the day agreed in writing. If the worker's preference is based on religion, you must respect it, under Section 21.
• Agreed swaps. The same section allows offsetting an absence with a rest day, waiving a particular rest day for an equivalent day's pay, or accumulating rest days not exceeding five days. Put any swap in writing. A live-in yaya is not on call around the clock.

After one year of service, Section 29 requires five days of service incentive leave with pay. Unused leave is not carried over and is not convertible to cash. Thirteenth-month pay is due under Section 25 as provided by law. The computation and the 24 December timing are in the 13th month pay guide.

Section 24 of the Act still prints the 2013 starting floors, including ₱2,500 for NCR. Those figures are not the 2026 rate. The same section tells the regional wage boards to review and adjust. The number you must meet now is the current wage order, ₱7,800.

Which documents can you ask for, and who pays?

Section 12 says that before the contract is signed, the employer may require:

• a medical certificate or a health certificate issued by a local government health officer
• a barangay and police clearance
• an NBI clearance
• a duly authenticated birth certificate, or if that is not available, another document showing age, such as a voter's identification card, a baptismal record, or a passport

Those four become standard requirements when a private employment agency facilitates the hire. The cost is borne by the prospective employer or the agency, not by the worker.

Look at originals, copy what you need, and return the originals the same day. Section 7 guarantees the worker's privacy, including communications and personal effects. Do not ask for phone passwords, and do not keep an ID "for safekeeping."

Section 16 makes it unlawful to employ anyone under 15 as a domestic worker. Workers aged 15 to under 18 are working children under this Act and under Republic Act 7610. The Act gives them the minimum wage and the benefits in the statute, and it raises the penalty if an employer is sentenced for an offense against a working child. Do not hire a minor to "help for the summer" without reading those rules.

What should you ask in the interview?

Ask about a weekday in your house, not about personality.

• Walk me through a day with this child's actual ages, from the start time to the finish time. When do you rest?
• The child has a fever and I am in a meeting. What do you do in the first ten minutes, and who do you call?
• What will you do if two children hurt each other?
• Which language will you use with the children when I am not in the room?
• How long is your trip to this building at 7:00 and at 17:30?
• What would make you leave a job in the first two months?

Reference calls, only with the candidate's consent:

• When did they work for you, and what were the children's ages?
• What were the duties, and did they change?
• Why did the job end, and would you hire them again for the same work?

A specific answer about a routine is more useful than "I love children." Keep clearances and reference notes out of group chats. Your household's information is confidential under Section 10, during and after employment, with narrow exceptions when a criminal case is involved.

What does a check actually prove?

• An ID check helps you see whether the name in front of you matches a document.
• An NBI or police clearance is a record check as of the date it was issued. It is not a prediction.
• A medical certificate is the health officer's statement, not a promise about future illness.
• A reference is one employer's account.
• A paid trial shows a few days of work in your home. Agree the days, the duties, the hours, and the pay before it starts. A trial is work. It does not replace the contract.

How we vet helpers explains what a profile badge means and what it does not mean. No screening guarantees a safe placement. Using several checks, and staying in the house for the first days, reduces risk. It does not remove it.

Pause if you see any of these:

• Anyone asking the yaya to pay a placement or finder's fee. Section 13 forbids charging that fee to the worker, whether the hire went through an agency or a third party.
• A deposit taken from wages for future breakage. Section 14 makes that unlawful. Section 15 prohibits debt bondage.
• A job post with no rest day, no finish time, or a wage under ₱7,800.
• A request to hold the yaya's original ID or passport.

What paperwork is due in the first month?

These are separate duties. Doing one does not complete another.

1. Contract before day one. Use the model contract. Keep a signed copy for the worker and a signed copy for you. The legal hiring guide walks the national steps that are the same in every city.
2. Barangay registration. Section 17 requires you to register the kasambahay in the Registry of Domestic Workers in the barangay where you live.
3. SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG. Section 30 requires coverage after one month of service. The SSS household employer page says a new household employer files the Household Employer Unified Registration Form (PPS-HEUR1), with the specimen signature card if they file in person, and can get the employer numbers for SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG from one of the three agencies. Report the worker on the Household Employment Unified Report Form (PPS-HEUR2). SSS tells household employers to report a house helper for coverage within 30 days from the hiring date. At a wage of ₱5,000 or above, Section 30 says the worker pays a proportionate share. The SSS page says the worker's share applies if the helper earns more than ₱5,000. At exactly ₱5,000, confirm the deduction with SSS before you withhold. Contribution amounts are in the SSS kasambahay guide. PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG enrolment steps are in the PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG guide.
4. Payslips. One every payday, kept by you for three years under Section 26.
5. If you do not remit. SSS states that a household employer who fails to report a house helper can be proceeded against under Section 40 of Republic Act 10361 and under the Social Security Act. Section 40 sets a fine of ₱10,000 to ₱40,000 for unlawful acts under the kasambahay law, without prejudice to other cases. SSS separately lists unpaid contributions plus a 2 percent monthly penalty. Do not treat the Section 40 fine as the whole SSS consequence.

What should the first week look like?

These are practical steps, not extra sections of the wage order.

• Signed contract copies handed over, with the rest day and the finish time in writing.
• A written routine for each child: meals, naps, bath, school, and who may do pickup.
• Allergies, medicines, and doses written down, with the doctor's number.
• Emergency contacts on paper: both parents, a nearby adult, the nearest hospital you would actually use.
• A walk-through of the first-aid kit, the locks, and how to leave the building.
• For live-in, a room that matches what you described, with a place for personal things.
• A parent or another trusted adult at home for the first day or two.
• A short check-in at the end of each day in week one.

Raise a problem the same day. A small correction is easier than a resignation in week three. If the arrangement becomes unsafe or abusive, Section 31 says an abused domestic worker is to be rescued by a social welfare officer in coordination with the barangay. Labor disputes go to the DOLE regional office under Section 37.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum salary for a yaya in Metro Manila in 2026?

The legal floor is ₱7,800 a month under Wage Order NCR-DW-06, effective 7 February 2026. The order raised the previous ₱7,000 rate by ₱800. It applies to live-in and live-out yayas. It is not a surveyed market rate, and it is not the daily wage for private establishments.

Does the ₱7,800 floor cover Makati, BGC, and Quezon City?

Yes. Wage Order NCR-DW-06 covers the cities of Caloocan, Las Piñas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela, and the municipality of Pateros. BGC is in Taguig, so it is inside that list.

Can I deduct meals and a room from a live-in yaya pay?

No. Section 6 of Republic Act 10361 requires the employer to provide at least three adequate meals a day and humane sleeping arrangements that ensure safety. Section 25 allows no deduction from wages other than those the law mandates, unless the worker gives written consent.

Do I have to register my yaya in the barangay?

Yes. Section 17 of Republic Act 10361 requires the employer to register domestic workers in the Registry of Domestic Workers of the barangay where the employer lives. That registration is separate from SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG enrolment.

Does an NBI clearance mean a yaya is safe to hire?

No. An identity match, an NBI clearance, and a reference each check one thing. None of them guarantees safe childcare. Combine them with a specific interview, a reference call made with consent, a paid trial, and a supervised first week.

Start with the brief, then the profile

Write the duties, the hours, and a wage of at least ₱7,800. Then browse helpers in Manila and open a family account when you are ready to hire. Read the checks on each profile before you message. A badge is a record of a completed check, not a guarantee.