Govt admits retrenched RPN 9 employees not given full separation pay

It was revealed Monday, during the plenary deliberation on the budget of the Presidential Communications Operations Office that the government was unable to pay in full the separation benefits of the 213 retrenched employees of Radio Philippine Network 9 (RPN 9).

 

“Not all the benefits, admittedly, were paid to the extent that they should be, simply because there were not enough cash to pay the claims,” Senator Franklin Drilon, who is defending the budget on behalf of PCOO replied. He said RPN has P200 million to P400 million accumulated losses. It also incurred a capital deficiency of more than P2 billion.

 

PCOO head Herminio Coloma Jr. was beside Drilon during the deliberation. RPN 9 is under the supervision of the PCOO, even though the government has only a 20 percent share in the network. Solar Entertainment owns 34 percent, while 32 percent belongs to Benedicto group and the rest of the shares belong to other stockholders

 

Drilon said one of the principal benefits that not fully paid due to financial constraints was the separation pay that is pegged at one and a half months for every year of service. “RPN 9 can only pay one month for every year of service but there is a continuing dialogue in order to meet this contractual obligation,” the senator said.

 

Be that as it may, Drilon also said that half of the 213 retrenched employees have already accepted their termination benefits.

 

“They were informed, it was a difficult decision to make but given the financial condition of RPN 9, there was really no choice,” Drilon said.

 

He added that another government-owned station PTV 4 was also not making money though it was not in as bad a shape as RPN 9. Also, IBC 13 was able to enter into a blocktime agreement with AKTV which is expected to generate P50 million in revenues for this year.

 

Blackmail Earlier in the day, the retrenched RPN 9 employees staged a rally in front of the Senate gate to ask the lawmakers to investigate the alleged illegal retrenchment and non payment of their separation and other benefits.

 

They also said that, aside from being retrenched and denied their salaries and benefits effective November 16, 2012, the workers’ accrued and unpaid benefits and 13th month pay are now being used to “blackmail” them into accepting the unjust separation pay being offered by the RPN 9 Board of Directors and Management.

 

They said in the last two hearings at National Conciliation and Mediation Board of the Department of Labor and Employment, RPN represented by Atty. Raul Estrella stated that the accrued and unpaid benefits will be released on the condition that each retrenched employee accept the very low and unjust separation package being offered by the management.

 

Estrella allegedly claimed that instruction came from RPN 9 chairman Wilson Tieng and RPN Board of Director William Tieng not to release the accrued and unpaid benefits of workers since 2001 which amounts to an estimated P103 million.

 

Coloma denied the allegation, saying the government has complied with the Labor Code.

 

“Walang illegal retrenchment, we need to comply with the law.  Nagkaroon ng notice of retrenchment in compliance with the Labor Code, 45 days, on October 1, which took effect in November 15, so we ensured that the company complied with the law,” Coloma said. — DVM, GMA News