Probe delayed pay of DepEd TV workers, DOLE urged

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should investigate allegations of delayed compensation and other complaints of media and production workers from various media organizations involved in DepEd TV, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.

He said the media workers and executive producers of a production company tapped by the Department of Education to produce TV episodes for distance learning have already demanded the release of payments, with some of them claiming to have not received full compensation for work rendered since September 2020.

“The media workers who have been part of DepEd TV have made a significant contribution to the continuation of education during this time of pandemic, so we must make sure they are not paid late in return for their services,” said Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate committee on basic education, arts and culture.

Quoting a report, he said the producers were promised that payments would be released on Dec. 18, 2020. However, this did not happen, prompting 15 of them to ask the production company owner for an explanation. When their letter was leaked to the media, the owner reportedly threatened them with libel.

DepEd clarified that its engagement with the company was, at first, purely on a voluntary basis and that it was only on Dec. 29, 2020 that the agency awarded a company with a P45.5-million contract for the first phase of the DepEd TV project.

As of the second week of March, DepEd officials said it released P9 million in partial payments, citing delays in accounting transactions.

The second phase of the project amounts to P200 million and is currently going through a bidding process.

Gatchalian also noted the claim of the executive producers that while most of them were initially promised by the company a monthly flat rate payment of P50,000 to P60,000 per person, they were told later on that they will be getting only P3,750 per episode.

Worse, they claimed that they were asked to produce official receipts because they are considered “suppliers” as they are not regular employees. If they can’t produce receipts, they were allegedly told to ask for assistance from the company’s accountant for a fee of P5,000.