Probe urged into delayed pay, grievances of DepEd TV workers
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to investigate claims of delayed compensation and other complaints of media and production employees involved in the DepEd TV project.
“Ang mga media workers na naging bahagi ng DepEd TV ay may malaking ambag sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon ngayong panahon ng pandemya kaya dapat naman siguraduhin natin na hindi nahuhuli ang bayad sa kanila bilang sukli sa kanilang serbisyo,” Gatchalian, chair of the Senate basic committee, said in a statement Monday.
(The media staff who worked with DepEd TV have made significant contributions to students’ learning continuity, which is why the government should not delay their compensation.)
The DepEd TV project is one of the department’s platforms under blended learning in the wake of the pandemic.
DepEd joined forces with Ei2Tech, a private production company owned by TV broadcaster Paolo Bediones, in July 2020 to create a new educational television network called DepEd TV. Later on, some employees complained about the payment delays.
READ: Off-cam, thorny pay issue stalls DepEd TV production
In December 2020, DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua denied that production workers had not been paid despite working nonstop for months, but he did admit that there had been “delays in the processing of full payments for contractors who have already completed what is required of them.”
The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives had previously requested that the chamber’s labor committee investigate the alleged delay in workers’ compensation in the DepEd TV project.
READ: Solons seek probe on alleged delay in compensation of DepEd TV workers
“DepEd has the moral responsibility to ensure that the workers under their contracted service providers should be properly compensated without delay, especially under the economic hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the lawmakers said in calling for the House probe.
