State-run IBC-13 gets zero budget again; P500 million in retirement pay still unpaid

State-run broadcasting network IBC-13, which the government is looking to sell, has decried the government's proposal to give it a budget of zero for the second straight year in 2024.

Network president Jose Policarpio, Jr. said that IBC-13 has been unable to pay P500 million in retirement pay to former employees.

"Twenty-five of them [have] died, 10 are in the hospital, while 10 are still waiting. Madam Chair, we have been under 29 different managements. How come it went this far? Why is there so much unpaid retirement?" he said during the deliberations on the Presidential Communications Office's (PCO) proposed P1.79-billion budget for 2024 before the House appropriations panel.

“Some suggested that I raise this with the [Commission on Human Rights]...nakakahiya po. We really need to give the most importance to the payment of the retirement pay,” he added.

Policarpio said that without a budget for 2024, IBC-13 will also be unable to comply with the National Telecommunications Commission's mandate for broadcasting networks to shift from analog to digital.

He said that IBC-13 has been surviving due to congressional realignments in the national budget initiated by Senators Bong Go, JV Ejercito and then-Senator Richard Gordon worth around P226 million from 2021 to 2023.

“We really need more  budget for our capital expenditure,” he said.

PTV-4

The call for more budget was echoed by state-run PTV-4's Acting General Manager Analisa Puod.

“In February, we will be 50 years old. It is a milestone and we want to mark that with regularization of our contract of service staff. The last time PTV-4 regularized its employees was in 2001,” she said.

“It has been 20 years, and they have been denied this opportunity [to be regularized]. We want to regularize 100 to 120 employees next year,” she added.

Puod also said additional funds are also needed for PTV-4 to shift from analog to digital.

PCO Secretary Cheloy Garafil then asked Congress to amend the proposed budget to include a general provision mandating government agencies to place their information campaigns or advertisements on PTV-4, IBC-13 and Radyo Pilipinas to ramp up their budgets.

House appropriations panel senior vice chairperson Stella Quimbo of Marikina city was receptive to the idea, as well as lawmakers Edcel Lagman of Albay and Sandro Marcos of Ilocos Norte. — BM, GMA Integrated News