A LANDMARK proposal that would give “enhanced” security and benefits to the country’s working press has hurdled its first major obstacle after it was approved last Friday (September 18, 2020) by the Committee on Labor and Employment of the House of Representatives.
On the motion of committee chair, Rep. Enrico Pineda (1-Pacman Partylist) and seconded by his co-chair, Rep. Raymond Democrito Mendoza (TUCP), principal author, Rep. Niña Taduran (ACT-CIS Partylist) and other lawmakers present, HB 2476, shall now go to the plenary for second and final reading before being forwarded to the Senate.
Among others, HB 2476 addresses the work-related problems being encountered by media workers in private media outfits such as lack of minimum wage and hazard pay, lack of security of tenure and lack of medical and insurance benefits.
A “pet bill” of Taduran, herself a long time and respected member of the press, the proposal is the “very first” of its kind in the country, admitted Pineda.
Taduran expressed her gratitude to her House colleagues in giving their full support to her proposal, to include those who are themselves owners of media outlets.
“I cannot help but thank my media colleagues and the leadership of the House of Representatives headed by Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano and Majority Leader Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez for making this bill a ‘priority’ of the House in its calendar of bills,” Taduran said.
Proof of this, she added, is the fact that there are more than 200 other bills pending for consideration by the Labor Committee.
Taduran also expressed her thanks to Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III, for authoring the Senate’s counterpart bill, SB 1820, that would fast-track the legislative process.
“Hopefully and with more prayers, we can have this bill signed by Pres. Duterte before Congress’ adjourns in December. This would be a good ‘Christmas gift’ to our colleagues in the media profession,” Taduran told Pinoy Exposé.
The measure has the full backing of the Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) under Sec. Martin Marfori Andanar, also a former newsman, and, the country’s major media organizations like the National Press Club (NPC), Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and the Publishers Association of the Philippines (PAPI).
Meanwhile, another alleged media organization, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), is under fire after protesting the decision of the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) to classify the 2009 ‘Ampatuan Massacre’ as “resolved.”
Moez Chakchouk, UNESCO assistant director-general for communication and information, in a letter dated July 31, 2020, to Amb. Ma. Theresa P. Lazaro, Philippine Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, confirmed that the world body “will classify” the massacre as “resolved.”
In the letter, Chakchouk also sought permission from Lazaro to publish its communications with the Philippines on its official website and in the 2020 ‘Report on the Safety of Journalists’ by UNESCO director general, Audrey Azolay.
However, known NUJP partisan, Nonoy Espina, in his FB page, claimed that “a broad group of organizations and individuals” have signed a letter last September 12, 2020 protesting UNESCO’s decision.
On closer look, however, many of the purported signatories turned out to be suspected communist front organizations and individuals who have no relation at all with the media profession.
A reliable source also told this paper that UNESCO is asking NUJP to account for the grant of P150,000.00, it earlier provided and which remains unaccounted until now.
Families of the Ampatuan massacre victims are also still waiting for the NUJP to present its accounting of the millions in foreign donations the group collected previously on their behalf.
This include the EU 10,000 “in emergency assistance” given by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to the NUJP right after the massacre.