Mikee Romero readies ‘Eddie Garcia’ bill

MANILA, Philippines — A bill instituting workplace safety protocols in television and movie production will be filed next month in the House of Representatives in honor of actor-director Eddie Garcia, who slipped into a coma and then died after an accident while taping a scene for a TV series.

The proposal will be called the “Eddie Garcia Law,” or the Actors’ Occupational Safety and Health Standard Bill, according to the proponent, Rep. Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman party list.

The bill “will be a means to safeguard the welfare and well-being of all actors working in the television and/or in the movie industry,” he said in a text message on Monday.

Mandatory insurance

Romero said the bill would compel production outfits to grant mandatory insurance for actors, provide for working hours in TV and movie production, establish medical and safety protocols, as well as emergency procedures.

Garcia’s longtime partner Lilibeth is the mother of Romero, the head of the party list bloc in the House of Representatives.

Romero asked his colleagues for support in his “quest to create a law to put a bigger meaning to Tito Eddie Garcia’s death.”

“I expect more than 100 of my fellow legislators to cosign the bill with me. And [I] likewise expect the Senate, through [Senate President Vicente] ‘Tito’ Sotto, to do the counterpart bill,” he added.

On June 8, the 90-year-old Garcia was taping a scene for a GMA-7 series in Tondo, Manila, when he tripped on cable wires, causing him to fall to the ground.

He fell into a coma for nearly two weeks before he died on June 20.