IBC workers finally get retirement pay

IBC. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

After more than two decades, 145 retired employees of the Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC) finally received P500 million in overdue retirement pay.

Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Secretary Cheloy Garafil led the awarding ceremony for the retired employees on Friday, who waited 22 long years to get the benefit.

“The President gave the instruction to help resolve their claims, as addressing the welfare of media workers is one of the cornerstones of his administration and of the PCO. It is a great honor for me to be able to be part of this much-awaited and much-deserved awarding of benefits to our colleagues in the media,” she said.

Broadcast arm

IBC-13 is one of the agencies that form part of the PCO’s media arm. The other two are the People’s Television Network, also a state-run company, and the Presidential Broadcast Service’s Bureau of Broadcast Services.

In a statement on Saturday, the PCO said it took 22 years and 28 management teams of the state-run IBC-13 before the retirement pay worth P500 million was released.

25 have died

At least 25 retirees already passed away before they received their retirement benefits on Friday. Most of the surviving retirees were already on maintenance medication or dealing with medical issues, while others were “gravely ill.”

In recent years, IBC-13 was given zero budget amid the government’s plan to sell and privatize it.

The state-run network survived mostly on congressional realignments initiated by some lawmakers from 2021 to 2023.

IBC-13 president and chief executive officer Jimmie Policarpio said the release of the P500-million retirement pay benefitted around 200 families.

“They can now look forward to enjoying their waning years with dignity and pride in having served God, country, and people,” he said.