DOLE urged to probe delayed salaries, worker concerns on DepEd TV project

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday called on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to investigate allegations of delayed compensation and other complaints of media and production workers involved in DepEd TV.

“Ang mga media workers na naging bahagi ng DepEd TV ay may malaking ambag sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon ngayong panahon ng pandemya," Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts, and Culture, said in a statement.

(The production workers who have been a part of DepEd TV played a significant role in continuing education amid the pandemic.)

"Kaya dapat naman siguraduhin natin na hindi nahuhuli ang bayad sa kanila bilang sukli sa kanilang serbisyo,” he added.

(We should ensure that their salaries are not delayed in recognition of their services.)

Gatchalian stated that media workers and executive producers (EPs) of Ei2 Tech, Inc., a production company tapped by the Department of Education (DepEd) to produce episodes for its distance learning efforts, have been demanding for the release of their payments.

He added that some of the workers have yet to receive full compensation for their services since September 2020.

The senator said these EPs were promised to be paid on December 18, 2020, but they never received the payments due them.

That same month, 15 EPs wrote to Ei2 Tech owner Paolo Bediones to explain the delays in their payments and to call for its release, only to be threatened with libel by the latter after the letter was leaked to the media.

Gatchalian also revealed the changing policies that concern the media workers. He said that they were initially promised a monthly compensation rate of P50,000 to P60,000 per person, but were later told that they will instead receive P3,750 per episode.

The media workers were also asked to produce official receipts at the last minute as they were supposedly considered "suppliers" since they are not regular employees. If they cannot produce these receipts, they were asked to seek assistance from the company's accountant to process the documents for P5,000.

According to Gatchalian, the DepEd claimed that its engagement with Ei2 Tech was purely voluntary at first. On December 29, 2020, the DepEd awarded the company a P45.5 million contract for the first phase of the DepEd TV project.

As of the second week of March, DepEd officials said a partial payment of P9 million had been released to Ei2 Tech, citing delays in accounting transactions, the senator said.

The second phase of the project, which costs P200 million, is currently undergoing bidding.

The House Makabayan bloc is also seeking an investigation into the issue, saying that the DepEd has the moral responsibility to ensure that the workers under their contracted service providers are properly compensated without delay, especially now that the country is still under a health crisis. — DVM, GMA News