ABS-CBN willing to review positions that can be regularized, says chief exec

ABS-CBN on Tuesday expressed willingness to review the positions in the broadcast company that can be regularized amid issues being raised on its alleged violation of labor laws.

No less than ABS-CBN president and CEO Carlo Katigbak made the remark during the continuation of the House joint panel hearings on the network's franchise issue.

"We are willing to review which positions in the company deserve to be regular and hopefully to gradually implement these changes over time," Katigbak said.

"For those positions that cannot be regularized, our goal is to make sure that project employees and regular employees, at some point in time, have an identical set of benefits," he added.

The issue of ABS-CBN's alleged violation of labor laws has been raised in the deliberations on whether or not to grant another 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN.

Some of the network's former employees testified about their experiences working for the network, saying that while they were performing regular assignments, they remained talents who did not receive benefits afforded to regular employees.

ABS-CBN COO for Broadcast Cory Vidanes, during the hearing, explained the differences among regular employees, program employees and independent contractors.

"If they are engaged in a specific program, they are called program employees. If they are attached to the studio and facilities, they are regular," Vidanes said.

"Iba ang program employees sa independent contractors. Ang independent contractors na program-based ay creatives namin, director, writer at ang on-camera artists. They are program-based independent contractors," she added.

Katigbak said that as much as they would want to regularize all their employees, the company's resources are limited and this prevents them from doing the said regularization.

"If we could make everybody regular this instant, we would do it. Pero may limitasyon din ang pagpapatakbo ng isang kumpanya. As you mentioned earlier, there's a significant cost to making a decision like that," he said.

"If there are employees who have rendered continuous service for a very long period of time, I think it's something we want to look at and determine kung tama ba talaga yung practice natin ngayon or is this something we have to change," he added.

Katigbak said that as much as ABS-CBN would want to provide the "best kind of employment" to its workers, they will not be able to do so if they would not be given a franchise and resume broadcast operations.

"I want to reiterate my appeal that we can only do it if we're allowed to operate. We're not just asking for a renewal of the franchise, sana hindi na matuloy ang CDO (cease and desist order) because that also impacts our ability to keep people employed," he said.

ABS-CBN stopped its broadcast operations on May 5 after it was issued a CDO from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) following the expiration of its franchise.

Earlier in the day, the NTC issued another two CDOs to halt the direct broadcast satellite operations of SkyCable Corp., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN, and Channel 43, where ABS-CBN TV Plus programs are aired, also due to the expiration of the company's previous franchise. -NB, GMA News