Palace: 11,000 displaced ABS-CBN workers may be included in govt aid for SMEs

MANILA, Philippines — Employees of ABS-CBN who were displaced due to its shut down may be included in the government’s financial relief program for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and avail of assistance for two months, Malacañang said Wednesday.

“Dahil itong pangyayari naman po ay nawalan sila ng trabaho nang hindi naman nila ninais, hindi naman sila nag-resign, hindi naman voluntarily shut down ang ABS-CBN, baka maipasok po natin sila doon sa programa ng SMEs para makakuha po sila ng panandaliang dalawang buwan na ayuda,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over state-run PTV.

(Since what happened is that they did not want to lose their jobs, they did not resign, ABS-CBN did not voluntarily shut down, maybe we could include them to the program for SMEs so that they can get aid for two months.)

ABS-CBN went off the air Tuesday night after the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued a cease and desist order after its legislative franchise expired on May 4.

Around 11,000 workers were said to be affected by the network’s shutdown.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) lamented the NTC’s move, saying: it “aggravated” the struggle for a source of living already being experienced by workers due to the lockdowns imposed to curb the coronavirus.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved the roll-out of a P50.8-billion wage subsidy program for 3.4 million SME workers whose jobs were affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The program for middle-income workers also gives P5,000 to P8,000 per beneficiary for two months, the same as the government’s emergency subsidy program for the 18 million low-income households.

/MUF