GMA answers alleged violations committed leading to Eddie Garcia’s death
MANILA, Philippines — GMA Network has recently released a statement responding to the Labor Department’s probe findings on the accident of the late actor Eddie Garcia while on the set of a now shelved TV series.
As response to the Department of Labor and Employment’s allegation that GMA failed to submit an incident report within 24 hours since the accident, the TV network in a statement released on Monday night, said that Eddie’s accident was an “exception to the requirement.”
“Regarding the first finding, GMA noted that the IRR (DOLE’s Implementing Rules and Regulations), as worded, states that such a case of ‘work accidents resulting in disabling injury or death’ is an exception to the requirement that a report be made within 24 hours from the occurrence. Nonetheless, GMA submitted the report within one (1) month from the accident which occurred last June 8, 2019,” the network stated.
As to DOLE’s second finding that the network failed to “employ or designate a safety officer,” GMA said: “Secondly, on having a designated safety officer in the workplace, GMA confirms that it actually has sufficient number of DOLE-certified safety officers catering to its employees.”
According to the network, the “workplace” covered by the DOLE’s Occupational Safety and Health Law “is deemed to refer only to those places where services of the employees are regularly rendered. The IRR cannot expand the coverage of the law to include temporary, moving, or shifting locations. Extending said requirement of the law through the IRR to all temporary taping locations would unreasonably burden the industry with a requirement which is beyond the contemplation of the law.”
As for DOLE’s third finding that the network allegedly failed to employ or designate a certified first aid responder, GMA said: “Lastly, on designating first aid responders, GMA validated that three production staff who have completed the Philippine Red Cross' lecture demonstration on First Aid and Basic Life Support – CPR were present on the location site on the day of the accident. Despite the safety measures undertaken by GMA, it was determined that what happened was an unforeseeable accident.”
GMA said that upon completing its “thorough internal investigation” on the case, the network initially handed the results to Garcia’s family as “a matter of respect” and then forwarded its findings to DOLE last July 5.
In the statement, the network assured the public that it would maintain “safety and security in tapings through extensive discussions among its safety officers, the program’s officers, and staff and its contractors in coordination with Barangay officials having jurisdiction over the locations for security, traffic and crowd control matters” and would continue to cooperate with DOLE on the incident.
It can be recalled that Eddie tripped in a cable wire and broke his neck while taping a gun fight scene in Tondo, Manila, for the now shelved GMA series, “Rosang Agimat.” He was in a comatose state for over a week before passing away last June 20 at 90 years old.
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