By Filane Mikee Cervantes | Philippine News Agency
A total of 145 employees of the state-owned Intercontinental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC-13) have received their retirement pay, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said on Saturday.
In a news release, the PCO said the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. released the long-overdue benefits to the broadcast network’s retired employees, who had been waiting for a payout for more than two decades.
The PCO said at least 25 former IBC-13 workers have died without receiving their retirement pay.
In her speech during the awarding ceremony on Friday, PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the President made a marching order to settle the claims of IBC retirees.
“The President gave the instruction to help resolve their claims as addressing the welfare of media workers is one of the cornerstones of his administration and of the PCO. So, it is a great honor for me to be able to be part of this much-awaited and much-deserved awarding of benefits to our colleagues in the media,” Garafil said.
IBC-13 President and CEO Jimmie Policarpio said about 200 families benefitted from the settlement of the retirement benefits, noting that most of the remaining retirees are already on maintenance medicines or facing a host of medical problems while some are “gravely ill.”
“With spirits of thanksgiving, they can now look forward to enjoying their waning years with dignity and pride in having served God, country, and people,” Policarpio said.
He thanked the Marcos administration for providing the environment that helped facilitate the release of the retirement pay.
Previous administrations said since 2004, the network lost most of its income from primetime blocktime shows, or those that pay the station for air time.
It subsisted on funds released by the Department of Budget and Management and in recent years, from senators.
There were plans for the network’s privatization but they were shelved because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
