THE Camarines Sur bloc at the House of Representatives has refiled a bill seeking to grant media workers security of tenure and other benefits enjoyed by both government and private sector employees.
Camarines Sur Reps. Miguel Luis “Migz” Villafuerte, Luigi Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata and Terry Ridon (PL, Bicol Saro) filed House Bill No. 1985, which seeks to accord media workers hazard and overtime pay, mandatory additional insurance coverage, and other job-related benefits.
The proposed “Media Workers’ Welfare Act” seeks to “guarantee the rights of media workers to self-organization and additional economic benefits enjoyed by other workers; and to establish a safe, protected atmosphere conducive to their productive, free and fruitful work.”
“Media workers serve as frontliners in ensuring public information, promoting freedom of the press and expression, and upholding democracy, hence contributing to shaping public discourse and acting as watchdogs in government accountability issues that, at times, jeopardize their safety and security,” the bill said.
The lawmakers lamented that despite their significant role in our society and the nature of their work, “media workers face a wide array of labor standards and protection issues in the country,” they said. “These include contractualization, lack of security of tenure, and dangerous working conditions.”
The bill aims to ensure that media workers receive a minimum wage, overtime pay, night shift premiums, hazard pay, and other forms of compensation provided in the Labor Code of the Philippines and other related laws and issuances; provide media workers with social security and welfare benefits, as well as mandatory additional insurance benefits such as death benefit, disability benefit, and medical insurance benefit; classify media workers as regular employees after six months from the start of employment; and mandate the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to create a News Media Tripartite Council (NMTC), which will serve as a platform for media workers and their employers to craft mutually beneficial policies and settle conflicts.
Migz Villafuerte, chair of the House Committee on Information and Communications technology (ICT), pointed out that the pro-media bill was approved by the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress but the Senate failed to pass its counterpart bill, HB 304, which was then principally authored by his father, then Representative and now Camarines Sur Gov. Luis Raymund Villafuerte.
Migz’s younger brother Luigi said: “That this proposed measure was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress, underscored the overwhelming support in the chamber at that time for improving the welfare of Filipino media workers.”
The bill’s authors said the measure was filed pursuant to Section 10, Article XVI of the Constitution, which mandates the State to “provide the policy environment for the full development of Filipino capability and the emergence of communication structures suitable to the needs and aspirations of the nation and the balanced flow of information into, out of, and across the country, in accordance with a policy that respects the freedom of speech and the press.”
Section 18, Article II of the Charter also provides that “The State affirms labor as a primary social and economic force. It shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare.”
